PDF version of the Autobody News October 2014 Southeastern Edition.
48
by Lee Emmons K and M Collision LLC of Hickory, NC, has been included as a plaintiff in a lawsuit filed under the Racketeer In- fluenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) against seven major in- surance carriers and their affiliates. The suit, originally filed in an Illinois district court on April 30, accuses State Farm, Allstate, GEICO, Progressive, Farmers, Liberty Mutual, Nationwide, and many of their respective sub- sidiaries, for short pays and conspir- acy to establish “an artificial market value for collision repairs.” Kevin Michael Bradshaw, VP of Operations at K and M Collision LLC, says, “I think the lawsuit will uncover and prove what many shops throughout the country have known for years, that the insurance compa- nies are refusing to pay for proper re- pairs, and are using illegal methods to suppress the market rate.” This is the latest in a series of ac- tions taken by body shops throughout the country in an effort to push back against insurance company tactics that they believe to be unlawful. The Mis- sissippi Collision Repair Association NC Shop, K & M Collision, Joins RICO Case Against Seven Major Insurers See Open Letter Video, Page 21 A First-Person Account of the Consolidated MDL Hearing in Orlando, September 11 See K and M Joins RICO, Page 4 K & M Collision, a NC shop that is known for strong advocacy (see pre- vious story this page and search auto- bodynews.com), posted a consumer- oriented video on YouTube that it pro- duced in support of Louisiana Attor- ney General Buddy Caldwell’s ac- tion against State Farm. “These kinds of unfair trade practices aren’t just a problem in Louisiana,” owner Meredith Bradshaw states in the video. “They pose a threat to consumers here in North Car- olina and throughout the United States.” The text of a related video states “After an accident, one of the most common things you’ll hear from an insurance company is ‘if you take your car to a shop that’s not on our K & M Collision Sends Second Version of ‘Open Letter’ Video to NC Attorney General by Ron Perretta As an observer of the initial court pro- ceedings for the repairers Multi-Dis- trict Litigation against dozens of insurers in the Orlando Federal Court- house [on Sept. 11], I can’t tell you the feeling that I had and that other re- pairers present expressed while watching the proceedings. I’m not sure any words can capture the feel- ing but it was a feeling that I believe was long overdue for repairers... and insurer’s alike. While phones and cameras were not allowed in the courthouse, the pic- ture of the hearing was one I wish every repairer could have seen. I was sitting at the back of the courtroom, close to center and from my view point I saw 50 plus attorneys who were there representing the 40 plus defendant insurers, all in dark suits, sitting side by side, row after row along the entire right side of the court room. In the center, on an elevated bench were the two Honorable Judges (Presnell and Smith) who sat facing the court room, and then to my left were five attorneys sitting at the plain- See MDL Opens, Page 4 by Stacey Phillips, Assistant Editor A federal court case involving over- time payment for employees under the rules of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) was filed in State Court Feb- ruary, 2014, and removed to the Fed- eral Florida Southern District Court in July. The court’s ruling in Smoluk v. Action Auto Body, LLC, has the poten- tial to clarify confusing and contradic- tory positions from the Department of Labor and rulings by courts with re- gard to exempt status for employees in automotive repair. The plaintiffs, Jospeh Smoluk and Michelle Smoluk, are suing their former employer, Franck Tatto and Action Auto Body, LLC., for damages exceeding $15,000, excluding attor- neys’ fees or costs for breach of agree- ment and unpaid wages under the FLSA. Franck Tatto and Action Auto Body, LLC., located in Broward County, FL, deny the allegations. In court documents, the defendants say the “… Plaintiffs have been paid all wages due in full and in a timely man- ner.” According to the lawsuit, Jospeh Smoluk worked for Action Auto Body as a non-exempt service writer from October 1, 1997 to January 25, 2012. Michelle Smoluk claims she performed work as a non-exempt secretary from approximately May 2004 to January 25, 2012. The plaintiffs say they worked an average of 50 hours per week and were not paid the proper overtime rate for the hours they worked over 40 per week, as prescribed by Fed- eral and Florida law. They also say that Action Auto Body received gross revenue in excess of $500,000 per year, which satisfies the FLSA’s coverage requirements of working in interstate commerce. According to Section 7 of the FLSA guidelines, unless employees are specifically exempted from this rule, “...employers must pay covered work- ers at least one-and-a-half times their regular hourly wage for hours worked over 40 hours a week at a given job. Employers may choose to pay more than time-and-a-half for overtime or to pay overtime to employees who are ex- empt from overtime under the FLSA.” Federal Court in FL to Rule on Overtime Pay Under FLSA for Auto Repair Employees See Overtime Pay, Page 12 Meredith Bradshaw narrates the second version of the open letter video. Previous videos are viewable online Presorted Standard US Postage PAID San Bernardino, CA Permit #2244 P.O. BOX 1516, CARLSBAD, CA 92018 Change Service Requested Southeastern Edition Florida Georgia Alabama Mississippi Virginia Tennessee North Carolina South Carolina www.autobodynews.com YEARS 33 33 ww.autobodynews.com ww VOL. 5 ISSUE 8 OCTOBER 2014
Transcript
by Lee Emmons
K and M Collision LLC of Hickory,NC, has been included as a plaintiff ina lawsuit filed under the Racketeer In-fluenced and Corrupt OrganizationsAct (RICO) against seven major in-surance carriers and their affiliates.The suit, originally filed in an Illinoisdistrict court on April 30, accuses StateFarm, Allstate, GEICO, Progressive,Farmers, Liberty Mutual, Nationwide,and many of their respective sub-sidiaries, for short pays and conspir-acy to establish “an artificial marketvalue for collision repairs.”
Kevin Michael Bradshaw, VPof Operations at K and M CollisionLLC, says, “I think the lawsuit willuncover and prove what many shopsthroughout the country have knownfor years, that the insurance compa-nies are refusing to pay for proper re-pairs, and are using illegal methods tosuppress the market rate.”
This is the latest in a series of ac-tions taken by body shops throughoutthe country in an effort to push backagainst insurance company tactics thatthey believe to be unlawful. The Mis-sissippi Collision Repair Association
NC Shop, K & M Collision, Joins RICO Case AgainstSeven Major Insurers
See Open Letter Video, Page 21
A First-Person Account of the Consolidated MDLHearing in Orlando, September 11
See K and M Joins RICO, Page 4
K & M Collision, a NC shop that isknown for strong advocacy (see pre-vious story this page and search auto-bodynews.com), posted a consumer-oriented video on YouTube that it pro-
duced in support of Louisiana Attor-ney General Buddy Caldwell’s ac-tion against State Farm.
“These kinds of unfair tradepractices aren’t just a problem in
Louisiana,” owner MeredithBradshaw states in thevideo. “They pose a threat toconsumers here in North Car-olina and throughout theUnited States.”
The text of a related videostates “After an accident, oneof the most common thingsyou’ll hear from an insurancecompany is ‘if you take yourcar to a shop that’s not on our
K & M Collision Sends Second Version of ‘Open Letter’ Video to NC Attorney General
by Ron Perretta
As an observer of the initial court pro-ceedings for the repairers Multi-Dis-trict Litigation against dozens ofinsurers in the Orlando Federal Court-house [on Sept. 11], I can’t tell you thefeeling that I had and that other re-pairers present expressed whilewatching the proceedings. I’m notsure any words can capture the feel-ing but it was a feeling that I believewas long overdue for repairers... andinsurer’s alike.
While phones and cameras werenot allowed in the courthouse, the pic-
ture of the hearing was one I wishevery repairer could have seen.
I was sitting at the back of thecourtroom, close to center and frommy view point I saw 50 plus attorneyswho were there representing the 40plus defendant insurers, all in darksuits, sitting side by side, row afterrow along the entire right side of thecourt room.
In the center, on an elevatedbench were the two Honorable Judges(Presnell and Smith) who sat facingthe court room, and then to my leftwere five attorneys sitting at the plain-
See MDL Opens, Page 4
by Stacey Phillips, Assistant Editor
A federal court case involving over-time payment for employees under therules of the Fair Labor Standards Act(FLSA) was filed in State Court Feb-ruary, 2014, and removed to the Fed-eral Florida Southern District Court inJuly. The court’s ruling in Smoluk v.Action Auto Body, LLC, has the poten-tial to clarify confusing and contradic-tory positions from the Department ofLabor and rulings by courts with re-gard to exempt status for employees inautomotive repair.
The plaintiffs, Jospeh Smolukand Michelle Smoluk, are suing theirformer employer, Franck Tatto andAction Auto Body, LLC., for damagesexceeding $15,000, excluding attor-neys’ fees or costs for breach of agree-ment and unpaid wages under theFLSA.
Franck Tatto and Action AutoBody, LLC., located in BrowardCounty, FL, deny the allegations. Incourt documents, the defendants saythe “… Plaintiffs have been paid allwages due in full and in a timely man-ner.”
According to the lawsuit, JospehSmoluk worked for Action Auto Bodyas a non-exempt service writer fromOctober 1, 1997 to January 25, 2012.Michelle Smoluk claims she performedwork as a non-exempt secretary fromapproximately May 2004 to January25, 2012. The plaintiffs say theyworked an average of 50 hours perweek and were not paid the properovertime rate for the hours they workedover 40 per week, as prescribed by Fed-eral and Florida law.
They also say that Action AutoBody received gross revenue in excessof $500,000 per year, which satisfiesthe FLSA’s coverage requirements ofworking in interstate commerce.
According to Section 7 of theFLSA guidelines, unless employees arespecifically exempted from this rule,“...employers must pay covered work-ers at least one-and-a-half times theirregular hourly wage for hours workedover 40 hours a week at a given job.Employers may choose to pay morethan time-and-a-half for overtime or topay overtime to employees who are ex-empt from overtime under the FLSA.”
Federal Court in FL to Rule on Overtime Pay UnderFLSA for Auto Repair Employees
See Overtime Pay, Page 12
Meredith Bradshaw narrates the second version of theopen letter video. Previous videos are viewable online
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33VOL. 5 ISSUE 8OCTOBER 2014
2 OCTOBER 2014 AUTOBODY NEWS | www.autobodynews.com
Contents
Southeast
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, David Petro(800) 699-8251Sales Assistant: Louise TedescoArt Director: Rodolfo Garcia
www.autobodynews.com | OCTOBER 2014 AUTOBODY NEWS 3
Stacey Phillipsis our new Assis-tant Editor. Shehas written andedited for numer-ous online andprint publicationsover a 15-yearperiod. Stacey
graduated from the University of SouthernCalifornia with a double major in journalismand political science. Born and raised in LosAngeles, CA, she also lived in Calgary, Al-berta where she edited several magazinesbefore joining Suncor Energy. There shehelped create an online company newsletterthat received the Apex Award of Excellencetwo years in a row. Stacey also co-authoreda commemorative history book for theProvince’s Institute of Chartered Account-ants. After moving back to San Diego in2007, Stacey has spent the majority of hertime writing about local issues. When sheisn’t writing, Stacey enjoys playing tennis,reading and spending time with her family.
Victoria Antonelliis the newly ap-pointed onlinecontent editor atAutobody News.Victoria will bemanaging ournew website andsocial media
pages. She is originally from SouthKingstown, RI, and has lived in San Diego,CA, since August 2013. Victoria graduatedfrom the University of Rhode Island in May2013 with a BA in journalism. Previously,she attended High Point University in HighPoint, NC, for two years, and studiedabroad for a semester at Oxford BrookesUniversity in Oxford, England. Victoriacompleted two internships while in college,one with the University of Rhode IslandMarketing and Communications Depart-ment and another at Rhode Island MonthlyMagazine. Victoria’s favorite color isturquoise and her hobbies include hiking,reading, writing, and photography.
New Talent Joins the Autobody News Editorial Staff
Stacey Phillips is Our NewAssistant Editor for Print
Victoria Antonelli is Our NewOnline Content Editor
Contact Stacey at:[email protected] withyour story ideas and news items.
Contact Victoria at:[email protected] withyour story ideas and news items.
to Own a Car . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
WY is the Most Expensive State in the
US for Car Ownership . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
filed to block State Farm’s Part-sTrader parts procurement mandate inthe summer of 2013; a Tennesseebody shop filed suit against Progres-sive for steering and shortpays in No-vember of 2013, and Ray Gunder hasfiled suit to block State Farm’s Part-sTrader in Florida.
The RICO Class Action plaintiff,Crawford’s Auto Center, is a Pennsyl-vania-based automobile collision repairfacility who alleges that the defendantsconspired amongst themselves and/orothers to “suppress compensation to re-pair facilities for automotive collisionrepairs covered by insurance.”
For more on the RICO case,search ‘RICO’ at:www.autobodynews.com.
4 OCTOBER 2014 AUTOBODY NEWS | www.autobodynews.com
tiff’s table who were there represent-ing hundreds of collision repairersfrom various states. To the far left, inspectator’s area were 15 or more shopowners who were plaintiffs in the law-suits to witness this first step in whatwill prove to be, no doubt, a pivotaland historical event for the entire col-lision repair industry.
When provided the opportunity tospeak and ask quotations, few camefrom the defending attorneys. JohnEaves Jr. mentioned to the courts thatsince the litigation, some repairershave experienced various levels ofabuse from some insurers as and askedof the court to consider rendering aruling to prohibit steering and retalia-tory efforts against those repairers whoare named as plaintiffs in the litigationand to enjoin them from efforts toharm them by making disparagingcomments about them and to steerconsumers away from them. Thejudge stated in so many words that hewould not render an order at that timeas he anticipated the insurers wouldnot make it necessary to do so... but hewould consider it if indeed their be-havior warranted it. This was pivotalas it placed the concern in the judge’sminds as well as became part of therecord. Repairers will be documenting
any such instances and share themwith their legal counsel.
The five attorneys representingthe repairers were Mississippi attor-neys John Eaves Sr., John EavesJr., Allison Fry, Hal Wilkins andFlorida’s own Brent Geohagan, who,as most know, has represented RayGunder in his ongoing legal quests.
Because this was a pretrial hear-ing, the judges were cordial yet to thepoint regarding their conveying thecourt’s expectations for the attorneys.The judges made it clear to all thatfrivolous filings and unnecessary de-lays and such would not be tolerated,and due to the sheer volume of the is-sues and evidence that was to be pre-sented, that the court would be quickto discourage and stop such behavior.Based upon the limited questionsposed by the insurer attorneys, thejudge’s message had been receivedclearly and duly noted.
Upon conclusion, as the court roseto its feet and the judges left the bench,while it was quiet and subdued, therewas a sense of relief along with excitedexpectations by the repairers who werethere. They knew that this was the be-ginning of long overdue changes in theautomotive collision repair and casu-alty insurance industries normal be-havior and practices.
It wasn’t a day of reckoning…but I firmly believe it is the first day ofits beginning!
Continued from Cover
MDL Opens
Continued from Cover
K and M Joins RICO
www.autobodynews.comCHECK IT OUT!
www.autobodynews.comCHECK IT OUT!
ABRA Auto Body & Glass, a nationalcollision repair company, announcedthe acquisition of Raleigh Collision inRaleigh, NC. The deal follows otherrecent acquisitions in Fayetteville andCharlotte. Terms of the Raleigh trans-action were not disclosed. The recentgrowth in North Carolina is part of thecompany’s strategy to increase its na-tional footprint, ABRA said. ABRA’sportfolio now stands at 240 repaircenters in 19 states. “Our road mapfor growth in North Carolina is un-folding as planned,” said DuaneRouse, ABRA’s president and CEO.
ABRA Expands in NC
The Birmingham Business Journalhas reported that Alabama driverswon’t have to overpay for car insur-ance. According to data from insur-ancequotes.com, Alabama drivers areonly slightly above the national aver-age for annual premiums at 7 percent.This is compared to drivers in Detroit,who pay on average 165 percent morethan other drivers around the country.
Alabama Pays Less for Insurance
The following are excerpted from Paul Brinkman’s September 11 article in the OrlandoSeninel as referenced by Ron Perretta.
•About 55 attorneys representing insurance companies came to the Orlandocourt hearing September 11
•The judge in charge, Senior U.S. District Judge Gregory Presnell, showed dryhumor, saying, “I don’t know what we did to deserve this, but here we are.”
•Body shop attorneys said they expect another 20-25 cases to be filed in other states.•The hearing mostly set schedules and conducted introductions between attor-
neys and court staff.•Michael McCluggage with Eimer Stahl in Chicago said he would be doing
“most of the talking in court for State Farm.”•Judge Presnell said he would discourage lengthy extensions on deadlines or
filing too many back-and-forth replies to others’ motions, adding “you’ll have tocome back from the golf course to get it done [if he allows it.]”
Separately, Paul Brinkman has quoted Ray Gunder of Gunder’s Auto Center inLakeland as saying, “[I have] seen many cars that were repaired improperly at othershops under insurer-imposed expense limits.”
“One of those cars was a 2007 Toyota Camry hybrid owned by Joan Dick ofLake Wales, Gunder said. After a collision, Dick said, she had the car repaired firstat a shop that is part of State Farm’s repair program. She says the car still shook vi-olently on the road. She eventually took it to Gunder. Gunder’s inspections indicateda cracked block and bent steering column, among other problems, Dick said in aninterview. Eventually the car was declared totaled. “I had been through hell formonths,” Dick said.”
“Gunder’s attorney on the case, Brent Geohagan of Lakeland, said the courtmay need to rent a hall for all the attorneys involved.”
Excerpts from Orlando Sentinel Articles
www.autobodynews.com | OCTOBER 2014 AUTOBODY NEWS 5
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On Sept. 13, 2014, Autobody Newslaunched a new and vastly improvedwebsite, under the same domainname— www.autobodynews.com. En-hanced video handling, strengthenedsocial media connectivity, optimal or-ganization, and an eye-catching colorscheme are just a few of the many up-
grades this advanced template has tooffer. The template is fully responsive,meaning you can view it optimally onany device you carry.
The main functionality is to groupour regional coverage into RegionalContent pages, one for each of theprint issues of Autobody News.
HomeThe home page (see p. 8)displays themost recent articles in the followingcategories—Regional Content, ProductNews, National Events, Recent Asso-ciation Articles and the Video Gallery.The Video Gallery will feature recentvideos that has impacted the industry.
NewsHere you will find National News, Com-pany News, Product News, InsuranceNews, and Automakers and Dealers.Find current and timely news storiesabout automobile companies, new prod-uct releases, insurance dealings, andnews provided by dealerships.
Regional ContentRegional Content is grouped, like ourprint editions, into five major sectionsof the country—Midwestern News,Southwestern News, Western News,Northeastern News, and SoutheasternNews. National News, which is re-placing the former Industry News cat-egory, covers stories that affect allcorners of the US. The regions arecolor-coded at the top of the page tomatch the headings of each section.
Each region now has its own do-main. For example, western.autobo-dynews.com will take you to WesternRegional Content, including News,Associations, and Events. You canalso located and save RSS feeds fromeach of these regional categories.
SPSSPS stands for Shop & Product Show-case. This unique publication givesshop owners and managers a detailed,peer to peer perspective on the prod-
ucts and services being used. Down-loadable PDFs of each issue are lo-cated in this section, with the mostrecent being October 2014.
The next drop down item, Adver-tising in SPS, gives detailed informationabout advertising policies, and how youcan get your products noticed by theowners and managers of over 40,000collision repair shops nationwide.
ColumnsThis tab features articles by industry en-thusiasts. With the help of over 15 con-tributors, AutoBody News is able toproduce thought-provoking, informa-tive features.
EventsThis drop down menu not only listsmeetings, classic automobile shows,and other activities for all five regions,but also national events, including thelatest on SEMA and NACE.
6 OCTOBER 2014 AUTOBODY NEWS | www.autobodynews.com
Autobody News Launched Our New Website on September 13
with Victoria AntonelliWeb Window
See Our New Website, Page 8
www.autobodynews.com | OCTOBER 2014 AUTOBODY NEWS 7
AssociationsThe association stories come from allfive regions, as well as national associ-ation news. Examples include newsabout the Iowa Collision Repair Asso-ciation (ICRA), Automotive ServiceAssociation (ASA), and the LouisianaCollision Industry Association (LaCIA).
Digital EditionsDownload a PDF version of past andpresent regional issues.
Contact UsClick here to find numbers and emailsfor all staff members at AutoBodyNews. Information on how to sign upfor the eNewsletter or a print sub-scription can also be found here.
LoginClick this link in the top right corner tocreate and sign into your account. Youwill need to create an account and login in order to post a comment on an ar-ticle or column for example.
Social MediaOn the top left corner, you will find
links to our Twitter, YouTube, Face-book, and LinkedIn pages. On the leftside of each article, you will also seea Facebook tab, which allows you to“like” our page.
Tips for Smooth OperationIf you’re a frequent flyer on our siteyour browser may store links to ourold site in its cache. If you’re not get-ting active links, go to your historyand delete the cache file, then re-launch autobodynews.com.
Some Ugly Regional Placeholders?You’ll notice some placeholder ban-ner ads on the regional content sec-tions of the website. If you’re adealership doing wholesale parts tradein your area, consider replacing these‘eye catching’ spots with a banner ofyour own. We’ll design it for you atno charge. Email [email protected] for more information.
Take Advantage of Regional CoverageAs a shop owner or association mem-ber we want to know what’s going onwith your shop or your association inyour state. Send us an email with thedate of your meeting in advance, we’llpost it in our regional secction. Let usknow what happened with pictures orvideo. Likewise if there’s somethingspecial going on with your shop, wecan get the word out. Email your de-tails to: [email protected].
Thanks. We hope you enjoy usingour new site.
8 OCTOBER 2014 AUTOBODY NEWS | www.autobodynews.com
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Continued from Page 6
Our New WebsiteA real estate investment trust paid$3.15 million for the former Harley-Davidson motorcycle dealership sitein West Nashville, TN, and has a ve-hicle repair company lined up for thespace, according to Getahn Wardg-ward, writing in the Tennessean, andother media reports.
ABRA Auto Body & Glass plansto open its eighth Nashville area loca-tion at the 22,000-square-foot buildingthat sits on 2.35 acres at 46th AvenueNorth and Delaware Avenue. It has alease with Realty Income Properties,which purchased the property fromC&S Properties GP. The property wasonce home to Bost Harley-Davidson,which closed two years ago.
Locally, Brooklyn Park, MN-based ABRA Auto Body & Glass haslocations around downtown Nashville,Gallatin, Madison, Lebanon, Franklin,Murfreesboro and Smyrna. The com-pany gained a foothold in the marketthrough acquiring Bradshaw CollisionRepair Centers’ locations in Nashville,Gallatin, Madison, Franklin andMurfreesboro. Palladium Equity Part-ners LLC recently sold ABRA to affil-iates of Hellman & Friedman LLCalong with the vehicle repair com-pany’s senior management team.
New ABRA Location ToOpen on Former Harley Site
www.autobodynews.com | OCTOBER 2014 AUTOBODY NEWS 9
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A three-person panel will discuss key is-sues in a one-hour session, AftermarketAccess to OEM Education Resources,during the NASTF Fall 2014 GeneralMeeting, Wednesday, Nov. 5 at the SandsExpo Center/Venetian Hotel in LasVegas.
Jill Saunders of Toyota, Rob Mor-rell of WORLDPAC and Bill Moss ofEuroService Automotive will engagewith panel moderator Skip Potter ofNASTF, revealing their expert insightson the availability, use and plans of OEMtechnical training resources for the inde-pendent aftermarket.
Panelists will discuss key issuesconcerning OEM education resources,including the legal requirements on au-
tomakers, why automakers may want toprovide training voluntarily, the differ-ence between OEM dealer training andwhat the aftermarket may need, navigat-ing OEM websites to find training, OEMlicensing of resources to independenttrainers and more.
Jill Saunders is a Product Engineerfor Toyota Motor Sales, USA, in theProduct Quality and Service Support Di-vision. She is responsible for the devel-opment and support of the TechstreamDiagnostic Scantool for all of NorthAmerica and the US Territories.
Rob Morrell has been Director ofTraining for WORLDPAC since 2001.Previously, he had been lead technicianand shop foreman in a 115-bay, San Fran-
cisco area BMW-Porsche dealership.Morrell currently serves as the Inde-pendent Co-chair for the NASTF Educa-tion Committee.
Bill Moss owns a four-bay serviceshop, EuroService Automotive in VA,which he purchased in 2009. Moss is anASE Master, L-1 Technician and serveson the Boards of Directors for bothNASTF and the Automotive Service As-sociation. Skip Potter is the Executive Di-rector of NASTF.
“The OEMs provide a great deal oftraining resources to the techsin their dealer networks,” said NASTFBoard Chair Allen Pennebaker. “Whilethe resources available from some OEMsto independents is often the same and
those from others may not be as exten-sive, much of what is being provided isnot being consumed. This panel shouldgo a long way to fixing that disconnectand helping all to understand what isavailable and what is not, how to accessthose resources and what to do if theycannot.”
The NASTF meeting begins at 1pm(PT) in Casanova 605 during the Auto-motive Aftermarket Industry Week. Noregistration is necessary. Information canbe found at www.nastf.org/generalmeet-ings/. Seating is limited but the full eventand panel discussion will be broadcast onthe NASTF website, www.nastf.org, andrecorded on the NASTF YouTube Chan-nel, www.youtube.com/nastfdotorg.
Panel to Discuss Aftermarket Access to OEM Education During NASTF Meeting Nov. 5
Ron Perretta, owner of ProfessionalsAuto Body in central PA (see coverstory), held a meeting for body shopowners and employees, as well as con-sumers and vendors, who believe in-surance companies are negativelyimpacting the industry.
The meeting was held Sept. 20, atthe Holiday Inn Fort Washington PA.“...this is not about DRP or Non-DRP.This is about independence and charg-ing what's fairly owed to our shops,”
said Perretta. He encouraged industryworkers and patrons to come out andshow their support. “This gathering isto discuss what the solutions are to anever growing problem,” said Perretta.“You need to get off the sidelines andget involved. We are very powerfulwhen we join together.”
The following was addressed:● legal actions by repairers in the statesof Mississippi, Florida, Tennessee, In-diana, Utah and Louisiana, plus addi-
tional states joining the Multi DistrictLitigation against the nation’s largestinsurance companies;● Louisiana Attorney General’s actionagainst the nation’s largest propertyand casualty insurance company;● the ability for body shops to buyparts freely from other shops;● the ability to sell parts without havingto pay insurance companies that “de-stroy the parts vendors business andshops profitability;”
● the right of consumers to have repairsdone by the body shop they choose;● the right of consumers to usewhichever rental car company theychoose.
“We cannot continue to have theinsurance industry control our everymove, even to the point that shops andvendors who were frightened to comeout on Sept. 20,” said Perretta. Formore information, contact Ron Perrettaat 814-931-7669.
PA Shop Owner Held Meeting to Discuss How Insurance is Negatively Impacting Industry
10 OCTOBER 2014 AUTOBODY NEWS | www.autobodynews.com
The Boyd Group Inc. announced theopening of two new collision repairlocations, one located in Atlanta, GA,and another in Naples, FL, on Sept. 9.
The Atlanta location previouslyoperated under the name Atlanta Im-port Collision Center and is approxi-mately 22,800 square feet with 21,600square feet of production space. Thiscenter is located in the second-largestbusiness district in Atlanta, and housesone-third of the city’s highrises.
The new location in Naples, FL,the principal city in the Naples-MarcoIsland metropolitan area, is the BoydGroup’s second location here. It pre-viously operated under the nameEagle Automotive Auto Body Repairsand is approximately 6,000 squarefeet, with 5,500 square feet of produc-tion space.
“Both of these locations increaseour capacity in densely populatedareas and allow us to reach out to newcustomers and better assist our insur-ance partners,” said Tim O’Day, Pres-ident and COO of the Boyd Group’sU.S. operations. “Together, these ad-ditions demonstrate that we are ontrack to achieve our growth target ofsix to 10 percent through single store-additions.”
Boyd Group Adds GA & FLCollision Repair ShopsBarrett Smith will offer his decades
of experience in coaching and con-sulting quality oriented collision re-pair shop owners who seek toimprove their business skills andtheir businesses. His presentation,“Changing Behaviors by ReducingFears” will show you how to changeyour collision shop’s businessmodel to operate without fear of los-ing insurance DRPs. It is all aboutestablishing a level field for all in-terested parties to achieve equallysuccessful resolutions to automotiverelated property damage issues, in-cluding proper and thorough repair,reasonable repair profitability for re-pairers, equitable claim settlementsfor both claimants and the responsi-ble/paying parties.
You do not want to miss this in-formative and educational presenta-tion from one of our industry’s mostrespected leaders. Make plans nowto attend.
Meetings begin at 6:30 pmwith catered dinner. Business meet-ing starts at 7:00 and ends at 9:00.
Location: DoubleTree by HiltonAtlanta-Marietta located at 2055South Park Place Atlanta, GA 30339.
Next GCIA Meeting is Sept. 25
Law enforcement officials in sixstates have launched their 23rd an-nual “Hands Across the Border”campaign aimed at catching mo-torists driving under the influence.August 24 was the official start of thesix-day campaign, which includeslaw enforcement agencies in Geor-gia, Alabama, Tennessee, North Car-olina, South Carolina and Florida.Police, sheriff’s deputies and statetroopers will be setting up check-points near their state borders andwill also be on the lookout for drugoffenders, fugitives, drivers with out-standing warrants and those drivingwithout a license. Authorities notethe legal blood alcohol limit in everystate is .08.
Georgia, Alabama AmongStates Participating in DUICampaignCaliber Collision Centers announced
its expansion across the East Coastwith the acquisition of three Univer-sal Auto Body Centers in the Orlando,FL area along with Flagler Collisionin Palm Coast.
Caliber Collision’s new Floridalocations opened for business Aug. 22at 2024 Wellfleet Court in Orlando;430 Kane Court in Oviedo; 17649 USHwy 27 in Clermont; as well as 3 Mar-ket Place Court in Palm Coast.
Caliber’s four new facilities arelocated throughout the greater Or-lando market.
“Today’s openings in Floridafurther enhance our ability to restorecustomers to the rhythm of theirlives in the Eastern U.S., as we de-liver on our commitment to expandcustomer convenience while pro-viding industry-leading metrics inevery market we serve,” said CEOSteve Grimshaw.
“Our new Florida centers bringCaliber Collision’s total number oflocations to 186 across the Calibernetwork as we continue to grow intothe collision repair provider of choicein the nine states we now serve,”added Mark Sanders, President andCOO.
Caliber Enters FL MarketWith Four New Stores
Check out ourNEW website at:southeastern.autobodynews.com
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www.autobodynews.com | OCTOBER 2014 AUTOBODY NEWS 11
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The Smoluks are seeking dam-ages for unpaid minimum wage andunpaid overtime compensation forhours they worked in excess of 40 perweek with interest; an equal amountin double damages/liquidated dam-ages; the cost of the action and rea-sonable attorneys’ fees and additionalrelief decided by the court.
If the plaintiffs prevail, there islikely a statute of limitations for anyentitlement going back two or threeyears, at the discretion of the court,from the date on which the case wasfiled. Since the case was filed in StateCourt in February 2014, that would bethe effective date for damages.
The defendants assert that JospehSmoluk was exempt from the FLSAunder the executive and/or professionalexemptions and Michelle Smoluk wasexempt under the administrative ex-emption.
Over the years there has beenconsiderable confusion about the sta-tus of service writers and whether ornot they are exempt from the overtimepay provisions of the FLSA.
The answer appears to lie inwhether or not the employer is a deal-ership or a collision center. The distinc-tion is important, since the exemptionfor service writers only applies to serv-ice writers who work in an auto dealer-ship, that is an ‘establishment . . .primarily engaged in the business ofselling automobiles, trucks, or farm im-plements to the ultimate purchaser.’ 29CFR 372(b)(ii). If the service writerworks in a collision center, serviceshop, or some other business whichdoes not actually sell cars, then the ex-emption does not apply, according to at-torneys.
If Action Auto Body, LLC is adealership, then the service writer ex-emption pretty clearly applies. Thereis a case called Brennan v. Deel Mo-tors, 475 F.2d 1095 (5th Cir. 1973)which is directly on point, and is ac-tually binding on the court where theSmoluk case is pending.
“A body shop would have all of thegeneral exemptions available under theFLSA at their disposal,” said an attorneywith a nationwide firm that representsemployers in labor and employmentmatters. “For example, executive, ad-ministrative, professional, computerprofessional, outside sales. They just
12 OCTOBER 2014 AUTOBODY NEWS | www.autobodynews.com
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Overtime PayNonmanufacturing establishmentswith certain exempt employees undersection 13(b)(10).(c) Salesman, partsman, or mechanic.(1) As used in section 13(b)(10)(A), asalesman is an employee who is em-ployed for the purpose of and is prima-rily engaged in making sales orobtaining orders or contracts for sale ofthe automobiles, trucks, or farm imple-ments that the establishment is primarilyengaged in selling. As used in section13(b)(10)(B), a salesman is an em-ployee who is employed for the purposeof and is primarily engaged in makingsales or obtaining orders or contractsfor sale of trailers, boats, or aircraft thatthe establishment is primarily engagedin selling. Work performed incidental toand in conjunction with the employee'sown sales or solicitations, including inci-dental deliveries and collections, is re-garded as within the exemption.
(2) As used in section13(b)(10)(A), a partsman is any em-ployee employed for the purpose ofand primarily engaged in requisitioning,stocking, and dispensing parts.
(3) As used in section13(b)(10)(A), a mechanic is any em-ployee primarily engaged in doing me-chanical work (such as get readymechanics, automotive, truck, or farmimplement mechanics, used car recon-ditioning mechanics, and wrecker me-chanics) in the servicing of anautomobile, truck or farm implementfor its use and operation as such. Thisincludes mechanical work required forsafe operation, as an automobile,truck, or farm implement. The termdoes not include employees primarilyperforming such nonmechanical workas washing, cleaning, painting, polish-ing, tire changing, installing seat cov-ers, dispatching, lubricating, or othernonmechanical work. Wrecker me-chanic means a service departmentmechanic who goes out on a tow orwrecking truck to perform mechanicalservicing or repairing of a customer'svehicle away from the shop, or to bringthe vehicle back to the shop for repairservice. A tow or wrecker truck driveror helper who primarily performs non-mechanical repair work is not exempt.
Excerpt from FLSA Regulation §779.372
would not have the three commonlyused dealership overtime exemptions:salesperson, partsmen, and mechanic,”said the attorney, who is not affiliatedwith this case, adding the service writerexemption is considered part of thesalesperson exemption.
In 1966, Congress amended theFLSA and created an exemption for anysalesman, partsman or mechanic em-ployed at a retail dealership. A year laterthe U.S. Department of Labor (DOL)confirmed service writers were exemptfrom overtime pay; however, they re-tracted their statement a month later andissued an opinion letter saying servicewriters would not be included in the ex-emption. Since then numerous federalcases have ruled that service employeesare exempt from FLSA overtime.
On April 5, 2011, the Wage andHour Division of the DOL clarified itsposition. According to their website,“Salesmen, partsmen and mechanicsemployed by automobile dealershipsare exempt from the overtime payprovisions of the FLSA.”
Richard Longo, Director of En-forcement for DOL’s Wage and HourDivision in the Western Region said,“The April 2011 cleanup rule did stip-ulate our current position on this mat-
ter and that we don’t take an automaticposition that service writers are ex-empt just because of their job title.That would be consistent with how weapply any of our exemptions. We lookat the facts of the case.
“With that being said, even thoughwe’ve made these changes when ap-propriation came in for the spendingbills they basically didn’t fund some ofthe changes,” said Longo. “We’re tak-ing a non-enforcement position on thematter currently but it does not prohibitindividuals from seeking court deci-sions to determine exempt or non-ex-empt status.”
Longo said that if courts are look-ing for interpretive guidance, the mostrecent guidance would be the April2011 update.
“If the company is able to estab-lish that service writers satisfy one ofthe white collar FLSA exemptions, itwould eliminate any need to recordservice writers’ hours worked or pay
overtime for hours worked over 40 ina work week,” said the attorney con-sulted. “While service writers typicallywork long hours, they are usually paidquite well. If service writers are foundto be exempt under one of the FLSAwhite collar exemptions, this would bea great victory for body shops and col-lision centers.”
The defendant’s attorney has apolicy of not commenting on pendinglitigation. The plaintiff’s attorney alsoresponded that he did not comment onpending litigation.
Autobody News will continue tofollow this story and update readerson the status of Smoluk v. Action AutoBody, LLC.
Details about the applicable FLSAregulations are available on the fol-lowing website: www.ecfr.gov undersection 779.372.
As always, consult a qualified at-torney before acting on or reacting toany business news discussion.
www.autobodynews.com | OCTOBER 2014 AUTOBODY NEWS 13
Axalta Coating Systems hosted Con-gressman Bob Goodlatte, servingVirginia’s Sixth Congressional Dis-trict, at its Front Royal plant on Sep-tember 8, 2014. CongressmanGoodlatte is visiting select industriesin the area in support of local eco-nomic growth. Lou Papa, AxaltaPlant Manager, hosted the congress-man who addressed a large group ofemployees. “We enjoyed visitingwith Congressman Goodlatte. OurFront Royal plant manufactures anddistributes high quality paint prod-ucts for customers in the Refinishand Industrial markets. We areproud of our team members and ourproducts, and we are pleased that hetook the time to visit our facility,”said Papa. “Axalta has an importantpresence in Warren County—bothemploying many hardworking indi-viduals and helping to stimulate thelocal economy,” said CongressmanGoodlatte. “I was delighted to visitthe Front Royal facility to learn moreabout the work they are doing andtake questions from team memberson some of the issues facing our na-tion today. I thank Lou Papa and theteam members in Front Royal forwelcoming me.”
Axalta’s Front Royal PlantHosted Rep. Bob Goodlatte
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The Collision Repair Education Foun-dation has announced the winners ofseveral scholarships it administers.
The Atlanta I-CAR VolunteerCommittee awarded a $5,000 studentscholarship to Godofredo Pacheco ofMaxwell High School of Technologyin Lawrenceville, GA, through the Col-lision Repair Education Foundationthis spring. This scholarship will assistPacheco with education costs to con-tinue his technical education study ofcollision repair. Funding for this schol-arship was made possible through thecommittee hosting annual golf and carshow fundraiser events.
I-CAR Georgia State Chairmanand Atlanta Committee Chairman GerryPoirier stated “The members of the At-lanta I-CAR Committee have continuedto focus on supporting new techniciansentering the collision field. This schol-arship will be the third awarded since2012 that will help replenish our dwin-dling technician base. The fundraisingefforts are a critical part of what ourcommittee members and supportingbusinesses have done to make thisscholarship a reality. Many thanks goout to everyone who made this possi-ble.”
The I-CAR Northwest Regionhas awarded two $1,000 collision stu-dent scholarships through the Colli-
sion Repair Education Foundation.Collision students from Washingtonwere eligible to receive these scholar-ships. Funding for these scholarshipswas made possible through the local I-CAR volunteer committee hostingfundraising events.
The 2014 I-CAR Northeast Re-gion collision student scholarship win-ners include:
Anatoliy Fesenko – Green RiverCommunity College (Auburn, WA.)
Michaelangelo Vega-Ortiz –Bellingham Technical College (Belling-ham, WA.)
PPG Industries Foundationawarded four collision students with$5,000 scholarships through the Col-lision Repair Education Foundation.These scholarships are awarded tofull-time students in a post-secondaryschool with a focus or degree in colli-sion repair and who have demon-strated interest and involvement in thecollision repair community throughextracurricular activities. The fundswill be used to assist students with ed-ucational expenses such as tuition,books, tools, and equipment.
The student winners of the 2014PPG Foundation Scholarships include:
Elizabeth Mahsem (Madison Col-lege, Madison, Wis.)
ing PPG’s recent MVP Business Solu-tions Conference in Phoenix, Ariz.,and these were used to create the PPGMVP Industry Student Scholarship.The selected collision student winnerof this $2,100 scholarship is AshleyThomas from Washtenaw CommunityCollege, Ann Arbor, MI.
“PPG strongly believes in sup-porting the future professionals of theindustry and assisting them with anytype of educational barriers theymight encounter,” said Domenic Br-usco, PPG Automotive Refinish, sen-ior manager, industry relations. “PPGhas supported the Collision RepairEducation Foundation for over 20years and we look forward to contin-uing our support and growing this re-lationship in the future.”
Industry members interested inworking together with the CollisionRepair Education Foundation in sup-porting secondary and post-secondarycollision repair students, instructors,and their school programs should con-tact Director of Development BrandonEckenrode at 847-463-5244.
Education Foundation Announces Scholarship Winners Including Southeastern Students
A Florida man has been chargedwith one count of trafficking incounterfeit engine control devices—an offence that carries a maximumpenalty of 10 years in federal prison.The goods at issue are counterfeitversions of goods produced and mar-keted by Hondata for use in modi-fied Honda and Acura vehicles.
In a plea agreement filed with aU.S. District Court, the defendantadmitted that, beginning in 2009, hearranged for Hondata’s K-Pro andS300 devices to be reverse-engi-neered. The counterfeit devices boreHondata’s trademarked name, aswell as counterfeit serial numbers.The defendant also admitted creat-ing counterfeit packaging, labels, in-structions and compact discs for thedevices.
The investigation in this matterwas conducted by the Federal Bureauof Investigation. For more informa-tion on how to protect your intellec-tual property, go to www.sema.org/ipr.
Counterfeit Engine ControlDevices Found in Florida
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www.autobodynews.com | OCTOBER 2014 AUTOBODY NEWS 15
In last month’s Better BlueprintingPart One, we discussed reasons thatshops have failed at Blueprinting. Thismonth we will focus on performingBlueprinting, and how it can greatlybenefit your collision repair shop.
Blueprint Admin StaffingOver the years I tried numerous vari-ations and combinations of people tostaff a Blueprinting program. All ofthem worked better than no Blue-printing program, but some combina-tions definitely worked better thanothers. Much of what influences yourBlueprint staff is simply the size andvolume of your shop. Many clientsrun smaller shops where people wearmany hats. In a small shop it is not un-common for the manager to also bethe estimator, the parts guys and theBlueprint guy. It is pretty easy to de-termine how to staff a really smallshop, but what about a shop that is alittle bigger? I recently worked with a
client that had two estimators, one ofthem liked being in the shop and thesecond one was better at dealing withcustomers. So we moved one of theminto the shop to be the Blueprint Ana-lyst, and the other efficiently handledthe entire volume of customers as theCustomer Service Manager. You mayneed to experiment with differentstaffing combinations to make it workfor your unique needs.
Blueprint Technician StaffingThe best Blueprint team I put togetherhad an older and very knowledgeabletechnician working alongside an ap-prentice disassembly technician. Thiswas a high volume shop and the teamworked in a dedicated Blueprint work-space with a Blueprint analyst whonever left his station. Many advancedshops have taken advantage of the ben-efits that creating a team system brings.It is still possible to use a dedicatedBlueprint area with individual flat rate
techs who are not paid as a team, butthere is a lot of movement of tools andpeople. Some shops using rolling com-puter carts are finding some successperforming the Blueprinting in thetechnician’s stalls. It works, but I stillprefer a dedicated area. Again, there aremany ways to create a Blueprint staffand each shop is going to be a little dif-ferent than the next based on skill level,shop size, personalities, etc.
SpaceDon’t fall in the trap of believing thatyour shop may be too small to be suc-cessful with Blueprinting. I have ana-lyzed damage in space from 2,000 sq.ft. to over 60,000 sq. ft. and the prac-tical application is still the same.
1. Disassemble and analyze the dam-age.2. Move the car until enough parts ar-rive to continuously work on it. (No-tice I said continuously.)
3. Move the car in and fix it. The keyhere is to only allow vehicles on theshop’s repair floor once they are readyto be worked on continuously. If youfollow this discipline, you will findshop space you knew you never had! Some setups used by successful shops:● One or two dedicated Blueprintstalls inside the shop
● Laptop or dedicated computer in theBlueprint area● If possible, keep the area accessiblefor tow trucks● Keep fasteners and fluids in theBlueprint area
16 OCTOBER 2014 AUTOBODY NEWS | www.autobodynews.com
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Better Blueprinting, Part 2: How to Set Up a Blueprinting Area
Recommended ToolsIn addition to the usual hand tools, thefollowing items are needed to com-plete the inspection procedure:1. Parts cart 2. Clipboard 3. Tape measure 4. Tram gauge 5. Tread depth gauge
6. Small mirror 7. Flash light/drop light 8. Mobile Estimating system 9. Creeper 10. Collision estimating system11. Access to OEM parts schematics12. Colored markers 13. Heavy Gloves 14. Safety Glasses
Better Blueprinting TechniquesStep 1. Vehicle Check-inEven though the process of perform-ing a “check-in” with the customerduring vehicle drop-off may not beconsidered a part of the Blueprintprocess, the information obtained isabsolutely vital to the Blueprint. Withthe customer present, this process in-volves walking around the vehicle and
communicating and documenting thefollowing. It is a great way of com-municating the customer’s concernsindirectly to the Blueprint Analyst toensure things don’t get missed!● What damage is a result of the acci-dent?● Unrelated prior damage?● Upsell opportunities?● MILs such as check engine warninglamps on dash – prior or related?● Anything unusual about the vehi-cle’s performance mechanically?● Touch-up paint and other “freebie”promises
Step 2. Identify Mechanical IssuesIdentifying mechanical issues prior todisassembling and disabling a dam-aged vehicle is always preferable. (Butnot always possible.) Everyone can re-late to the delays that are caused whenthese problems are discovered on theday the car was supposedly going to beready! In a collision, mechanical issuescould involve many things; howeverthe most common are suspension, airconditioning /cooling system, wiringand supplemental restraint systems. Irecommend that first you address theseitems by:● Review the customer concerns onthe check-in sheet● Test driving● Performing suspension alignmentprior to disassembly (if possible)● Using a scan tool to help diagnosetrouble codes (check engine lights, etc.)● Always ask the customer how manypassengers were in the car, especiallyif restraint systems were deployed.Check those seatbelts!● Check interior electronics, heat/air,etc.● Check fluid levels
Step 3. Communication between Esti-mator and TechnicianHow many times have you seen a tech-
www.autobodynews.com | OCTOBER 2014 AUTOBODY NEWS 17
See Better Blueprinting, Page 18
nician take the front bumper off a carthat was in the shop to get the rearbumper fixed? This is not a compli-cated step, but one that is often skippedwith costly results. Shops need to in-clude this step as a standard procedureand hold people accountable becausethe technician must be properly in-formed prior to touching a singlewrench to the vehicle! Make it part ofyour program to have the estimator orBlueprint Analyst go over the check-in sheet with the technician and alsoreview the estimate if one had beenpreviously prepared. Use the next step(visual mapping) to help with thiscommunication as it will clearly indi-cate what parts need to be removed inorder to properly analyze the damage.
Step 4. Visual MappingA great form of communication be-tween the Blueprint Analyst and thedisassembly tech is the use of a coloredwater marker to write on the vehicle or“visual mapping.” It can sometimes bedifficult to pull the technician aside foran extended period of time to discuss
the details of a particular vehicle’s dis-assembly requirements. This techniquecan help by writing the instructions onthe car in advance. This technique canalso be used by the customer servicerep who is identifying damage duringvehicle check-in and is particularlyhandy when there are multiple dents orscratches on a single panel, somewhich are supposed to be repaired, andsome that are not. When doing visualmapping, you can use any color youwish; however, I prefer to use trafficlight colors: red, yellow and green.
● Red = Don’t fix● Yellow = Caution, Don’t know iffixing yet?● Green = Fix it!You can come up with your own sys-tem of words, abbreviations, or sym-bols to mark the vehicle, but here area couple of the most common ones.
● X = Replace● R = Repair● RI = Remove and Install
Step 5. Meticulous Disassembly in Se-quence (if Possible)In this step, it is time to start disas-sembling the damaged vehicle. If youhave a dedicated Blueprint Analystwho will be keying-in the estimate asthe technician removes the parts, itwill be much easier to remove theparts in approximately the same groupsequence as your estimating systemparts groups i.e. bumper, grille, lamps,etc. This method is not always possi-ble, but you will find that removingdamaged parts and entering damageinto the estimating system with bothpeople following the same group se-quence (Step 10) will make your lifeeasier. You have probably heard the
terms “meticulous disassembly” or“100% Teardown.” This refers to thepractice of taking off EVERY dam-aged component that is bolted or oth-erwise fastened to the vehicle. Thispractice should not only include dam-aged parts but also parts being re-
moved for blend panels or that need tobe removed for access. Damaged as-semblies such as bumpers should notonly be removed as an assembly, but
18 OCTOBER 2014 AUTOBODY NEWS | www.autobodynews.com
Continued from Page 17
Better Blueprinting
See Better Blueprinting, Page 22
www.autobodynews.com | OCTOBER 2014 AUTOBODY NEWS 19
The Automotive Service Association(ASA) announced that NACE | CARS2015 will again be held in The MotorCity, July 23–25 by ‘popular demand.’
The ASA Board and managementconsidered feedback from attendees,exhibitors, and other industry con-stituents. Dan Risley, ASA ExecutiveDirector, stated “The response for De-troit was overwhelmingly positive.Many said this was the best event in re-cent memory. Attendees were pleasedwith the education and training, and nu-merous exhibitors made significantsales on the show floor. There weremany requests for the exhibition to con-tinue through Saturday, and we will in-corporate that for 2015.”
Partnering with industry organi-zations and associations is key to thesuccess of Industry Week, and that for-mat will continue. I-CAR, CIC, CCIF,MERA, NABC, and CREF have al-ready committed to Detroit next year.
I-CAR will again host the centerstage in the exhibit hall to provide ed-ucation and awareness on advancingvehicle technologies and related repairand industry trends, maintain a boothfor membership, provide live techni-cal demonstrations in the demo zone,
and offer add-on I-CAR training ses-sions in classrooms.
John VanAlstyne, I-CAR CEO &President, said “We are very pleasedwith the results of Industry Week thisyear. Attendance was up significantlyon the NACE floor and the I-CARConference was a great success. We arecommitted to NACE and will continuewith a similar footprint in 2015. Wealso plan to continue holding the I-CARConference in conjunction with Indus-try Week moving forward, shifting to abiennial cadence, so make plans to at-tend our next Conference in 2016.”
● CIC will once again host thesummer quarterly meeting during In-dustry Week following a successfulmeeting this past July in Detroit.
● CREF will hold its annual golffundraising event during the week.
● After drawing a larger-than-ex-pected Canadian contingency, and withclose proximity to the growing Cana-dian market, CCIF will be back onceagain with their education program,sessions, and a keynote speaker.
● MERA will host a series of ses-sions again in 2015.
● NABC will produce the Recy-cled Rides program on the exhibit floor.
Other organizations are currently eval-uating co-located meetings and an-nouncements are forthcoming.
“On behalf of the ASA members,the board of directors, and our team,we are pleased to be working with I-CAR, CIC, CRES, CCIF, MERA,NABC, and others for the benefit of theautomotive repair industry,” said Dar-rell Amberson, ASA Chairman. “Withour organizations working together wecan provide the most current educationand training in the market. We look for-ward to seeing everyone in Detroit theweek of July 20, 2015.”
20 OCTOBER 2014 AUTOBODY NEWS | www.autobodynews.com
ASA Confirms Detroit as Location and Dates for Next NACE-CARS Expo
General Motors has posted its best Julysales since 2007. GM sold 256,160cars in July, a 9% uptick from July2013. Retail sales were only up 4%,though—perhaps a sign that those whobuy cars for fleets have more faith inGM than individual customers. This isthe ninth straight month of year-over-year sales growth for GM, and an im-provement from June when yearlygrowth was at around 1%. Toyota saidit sold 215,802 cars last month, an11.6% increase over a year ago.
GM Posts Best July SalesSince 2007, Toyota Also Up
A Ludlow, Massachusetts woman isaccused of stealing more than $18,000from an auto body shop in FeedingHills, according to police. JenniferAsta-Ferrero, 33, is charged in West-field District Court with larceny over$250 by a single scheme, larceny over$250 from a disabled person and pos-session of a class E drug. At Asta-Fer-rero’s arraignment on August 21,Judge Philip Contant set bail at $2,500.Asta-Ferrero was hired in 2012 andwas responsible for the business’s bills,gaining access to a Capital One creditcard and the business’s bank account,the report said. The business ownersaid Asta-Ferrero sent him an email thenext day saying that she would not re-turn to work because of racial com-ments made by a coworker, the reportsaid. After working with a Capital Onefraud investigator, police found thatAsta-Ferrero had used company re-sources to pay $18,355.73 on a per-sonal credit card between October2012 and April 2014, the report said.After a search warrant was returned inJuly, police interviewed Asta-FerreroAug. 20 and arrested her. The ownerof the body shop has Parkinson’s dis-ease, which is why Asta-Ferrero wasleft in charge of finances.
Employee Stole $18,000 fromMA Auto Body Shop, Police Say
www.autobodynews.com | OCTOBER 2014 AUTOBODY NEWS 21
referral program or preferred list, wewon’t warranty or guarantee the re-pair’.
“This statement isn’t just mis-leading, It’s completely false. The in-surance company does not, has notand will not warranty the repair evenif your car is repaired at their directrepair facility.
“Let’s say you do follow theirrecommendation, and take your car toone of their shops. If there are prob-lems with that repair, the shop itselfis liable, in exactly the same way thatK&M is liable for any of the repairsthat we perform.
“The shop you choose, whetherit be an insurance preferred shop oran independent shop, is solely re-sponsible for the warranty on the re-pairs to your vehicle.
“So why do insurance compa-nies make this misleading statementto their policyholders? It’s just an-other scare tactic.
“In reality, the insurance com-pany itself doesn’t provide any guar-antee. In fact, with the pressure theyplace on their shops to turn out high
volume, they create an environmentthat’s more likely to result in bad re-pairs.
“But they don’t have to worryabout that. Because ultimately, theshop is responsible.
“At K&M Collision we don’tparticipate in referral networks. Ouronly priority is to serve our customersby fixing their car the right way. Youcan rest assured that any repair thatcomes through our doors is guaran-teed for life.”
A previous version of the videowas suspended from YouTube be-cause of a copyright complaint fromthe Insurance Institute for HighwaySafety (IIHS) due to its use of one ofthe organization’s crash test clips. K& M Vice President of OperationsMichael Bradshaw alleges StateFarm persuaded IIHS to file the com-plaint.
“The basis of their complaintwas that we used a few-second clip ofa crash test to give our viewers asense of the way a ‘crash manage-ment system’ works,” says Bradshaw.“We found this clip on YouTube, cre-ated by what we thought was an in-dependent, nonprofit organizationdedicated to consumer safety. We’realso certain that our brief, educational
use of this clip constitutes ‘Fair Use.’However, we didn’t notice that this‘independent, nonprofit organization’was founded by State Farm.”
Bradshaw says K & M has coun-tered the copyright claim throughYouTube and is awaiting word on theoutcome. He says the video has got-ten the attention of the North CarolinaAttorney General’s office, and theyhave even taken an interest in theIIHS’s effort to remove K & M'svideo from YouTube.
“We will be documenting StateFarm’s efforts to get our content re-moved from the Internet and will con-tinue to fight back and notify theindustry press about their actions,”Bradshaw says. “People should knowthat the IIHS, supposedly a non-profitorganization dedicated to highwaysafety, is nothing more than a puppetof State Farm, an organization re-sponsible for putting unsafe cars onthe road.”
The new version of the video canbe viewed directly at http://kandm-c o l l i s i o n . c o m / o p e n - l e t t e r / ?utm_source=YouTube&utm_medium=Video&utm_campaign=2ndVer-sionofAGLetter
A link can also be viewed at au-tobodynews.com.
Continued from Cover
Open Letter VideoThe Inter-Industry Conference onAuto Collision Repair (I-CAR)named Service King teammateDustin Harrier winner of the pres-tigious Jeff Silver Award for hisoutstanding commitment to the in-dustry.
Harrier, Service King’s West-ern U.S. Quality Control Managerand an I-CAR instructor, receivedthe award July 30 at the Interna-tional Autobody Congress and Ex-position in Detroit. The Jeff SilverAward is presented annually to anI-CAR Platinum individual whodemonstrates passion for training,professional growth and improve-ment of the industry’s image.
“Dustin is a multi-talented I-CAR instructor, and Service Kingis proud to have a teammate thatshows so much dedication to hisstudents and the collision repair in-dustry,” said John Halbrook, Serv-ice King Project Specialist. “Hisinstruction has led to thousands ofhigh quality collision repairs forService King’s customers.”
Service King Team MemberWins Jeff Silver Award
www.a
www.autobodynews.comCHECK IT OUT!
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should also have all the grilles, lamps,moldings, fasteners, etc. removed.There are three main reasons that100% Teardown is recommended.
1. To reveal all hidden damage2. Ensure fasteners will be reused3. Facilitate ease in mirror matchingthe replacement parts
Step 6. Divide Parts by Good and Bad(R&R and R&I)As the technician is disassembling thevehicle, the parts being removed shouldbe separated and placed in two visuallyseparate spaces. One space for damagedparts (Bad) and another for parts justbeing removed and later re-installed(Good). I prefer to use a table to lay partsout, but you could also use the floor.
Step 7. Using a Clip SheetClips and fasteners tend to be an oftenoverlooked part of the damage analy-sis process and with costly conse-quences. Some shops consider clipsand fasteners an expense. When dam-aged or missing fasteners are captured
and billed out on the initial Blueprint,they become a profit center! I haveseen several ways to capture and recordthese, but my favorite technique is touse a clip sheet. By the tech taping asample of the damaged clip to a clipsheet and writing out the quantityneeded, the person entering the infor-mation into the estimating system willhave the information. There are two ad-ditional benefits to using this system.1. You can take a photo of the clipsheet to send to the parts vendor.2. The clips are where you can mirrormatch them until the new clips arrive. If your company stocks the neededclips, you should put the new replace-ment clips in a marked bag along with
the old re-usable clips so when itcomes time to reassemble the vehicle,everything the tech needs will bethere. It’s a term called “kitting” be-cause you are actually building a kitwith everything needed to assemblethe car on a parts cart.
Step 8. Re-backing Moldings and TrimAs mentioned, we are trying to build a“kit” for the technician during reassem-bly so cleaning the adhesive and apply-ing new adhesive backing on moldingsand emblems should be done immedi-ately after removing them. There areadvantages to re-backing the trim now.● If molding is painted, lessenschance of damaging paint later on● If they are going to break, it is bet-ter to know now so it can be added tore pair plan
● Is ready to go back on during as-sembly (part of the “kit”)
Step 9. Sequenced Analysis of Dam-age Using Arrow-Down MethodThere are several schools of thoughtabout what sequence to put damage en-tries onto the estimate. Most of us weretaught to start with the point of impactand then work outwards. I don’t agreewith this because it opens up too muchroom for error. Nearly 10 years ago, agood friend suggested that I should usethe information in the estimating systemand take it to the damaged car, insteadof the other way around. By keyingdown through every part in each group,you will now catch parts that may havebeen completely destroyed or torn offduring the accident. I also highly rec-ommend using actual OEM diagrams.
Step 10. Photo DocumentationIn addition to your company’s photostandards, I suggest getting photos ofthe parts as they are being laid out onthe table or floor. Your local insuranceadjuster will most likely appreciate it.
Step 11. Blueprint Verification Process,Loading Parts Cart
22 OCTOBER 2014 AUTOBODY NEWS | www.autobodynews.com
Continued from Page 18
Better Blueprinting
See Better Blueprinting, Page 35
www.autobodynews.com | OCTOBER 2014 AUTOBODY NEWS 23
24 OCTOBER 2014 AUTOBODY NEWS | www.autobodynews.com
For more collisioninfo, go to:collision.honda.comairbagaware.honda.comcrashrepairinfo.com
20 Years Ago In The Collision RepairIndustry (October 1994)Responding to complaints from thecollision repair industry, ADP will bepulling the plug on a program that al-lowed dealers to promote discount re-tail parts prices using ADP’s “PartsExchange New” system.
“As a result of the issues that re-sponsible parties of the industrybrought to our attention, we will betaking discounted OEs off the ‘PartsExchange New’,” ADP’s Rick Tuuriannounced at the Collision IndustryConference (CIC) held in Nashville,TN. “They will be off the system byJanuary 1, 1995. I want to emphasizethat this is no reflection on the waythe discounted OEs themselves aredoing business.”
Although the parts prices listedin the ADP database are the manufac-turers’ suggested retail prices, the“Parts Exchange New” system al-lowed the names of dealers discount-
ing these retail prices to be listed onan estimate. More than 30 dealerswere discounting retail prices throughthe system.
Shop owners at a previous CICmeeting had pointed out that whilethe discounted retail prices affected
what insurers will pay, the shop wasstill being charged the same whole-sale price.
“The dealers are not giving a dis-count, they’re not givinganything up,” Californiashop owner Darrell Malottsaid. “They’re selling atwholesale anyway. Allthey’re doing is putting a dif-ferent retail price downthere. They can mess withthat list price all they wantbecause it doesn’t changewhat they sell it for. The sys-tem encourages them to playthat game and at no cost tothemselves. They’re givingaway our margin for their ad-vertising so that they can beselected by a third-party tomake us buy from a particu-
lar OE vendor, and they didn’t haveto give up a thing.”
►As reported in Autobody
News. ADP’s Claims Services Group(including its estimating system) wasacquired by Audatex (now AudaEx-plore) in 2006. Tuuri (who left Auda-tex in 2004 and spent four years withI-CAR) became AudaExplore’s vicepresident of industry relations in2007. Malott died in 1999.
15 Years Ago In The Collision RepairIndustry (October 1999)After losing a $456 million class ac-tion jury verdict and being assessedan additional $730 million by the trialjudge, State Farm has stopped writ-ing for non-OEM crash parts on itsestimates.
The class action trial concludedearly in October in Marion, IL, withthe 4-man, 8-women jury findingagainst State Farm. A week later, trialjudge John Speroni assessed the in-surer a financial penalty, including$600 million in punitive damages.The total judgment against State
26 OCTOBER 2014 AUTOBODY NEWS | www.autobodynews.com
www.donreidford.com www.fordparts.com/donreidford1875 South Orlando Ave., Maitland, FL 32751
October Retrospective—ADP, Non-OEM Parts, AAIA Study
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].
California shop owner Darrell Malott was among thosecritical in 1994 of an ADP tool that allowed dealers topromote discounted retail parts pricing through the ADPestimating system. ADP eliminated the system inresponse to industry criticism.
Farm came to $1.1 billion. The in-surer plans to appeal.
In response to the verdict, StateFarm stopped promoting non-OEMcrash parts. A State Farm memo to itsemployees dated October 6 said, “Ef-fective immediately, State Farm willtemporarily suspend quoting non-OEM crash parts on repair estimates.This decision applies countrywideand in Canada, until further notice.”
►As reported in Hammer &Dolly. Other insurers also halted useof non-OEM parts temporarily, butmost returned to the practice of call-ing for their use. State Farm has not,at least in the case of 25 parts types,including hoods, fenders, doors anddecklids. The insurer did, however,appeal the ruling all the way to theIllinois Supreme Court; in 2005, thatcourt overturned the lower court’sjudgment against the insurer. Thecase remains in the news, however,because of a pending lawsuit overwhether one of the judges on the Illi-nois Supreme Court at the time itoverturned the verdict should haverecused himself from the case be-cause of election campaign donationsthe lawsuit alleges he received fromState Farm.
10 Years Ago In The Collision RepairIndustry (October 2004)The Automotive Aftermarket Indus-try Association’s recently releasedstudy, “Collision Repair Trends,” ex-amines a number of the trends thatcontinue to reshape the collision re-pair industry in the United States.
“Total collision repair-relatedsales by aftermarket repair shops in-creased 5 percent in 2003 to $34 bil-lion,” the report states, noting thatthis was driven by an increase in thenumber of miles driven and the in-creasing cost of collision repair pervehicle.
The study forecasts that saleswill increase 5.4 percent in 2004 andan additional 5.1 percent in 2005.
AAIA found that there wereroughly 43,360 shops that specializein collision repair—34,700 independ-ents and 8,600 dealership affiliatedbody shops. That’s a decline of about2,000 shops since 1999.
►The AAIA earlier this year re-branded itself as the “Auto Care Asso-ciation.” The total collision repairmarket is now estimated at about $33.7billion—about the same amount as adecade earlier—but if total industryrevenue had grown just by the rate of
inflation over the decade, today’s col-lision repair market would need to beabout $44 billion to be equivalent. Thecurrent total number of shops is esti-mated at about 40,100—about 3,200fewer than a decade ago, a decline of7.4 percent. Dealership shops accountfor much of that decline, dropping toabout 6,350 (down by more than2,200) while there are about 900 fewerindependent shops.
5 Years Ago In The Collision RepairIndustry (October 2009)Last month’s press conference by Con-necticut Attorney General RichardBlumenthal in which he condemnedsteering by insurers prompted a Hart-ford Business Journal columnist towrite that, “It’s probably not the state’sbusiness whether you, your insurer, oryour Momma chooses the body shopthat fixes your car.”
If someone trusts an insurerenough to do business with them,freelance writer Laurence Cohensaid, why wouldn’t they trust them tosuggest a particular body shop evenif other shops “are unhappy about notbeing included in the big hug fromthe insurers” and say that the pre-ferred shops “often attach new equip-
ment with used chewing gum.”In a letter to the editor of the
paper, Bill Denya, owner of Denya’sAuto Body in Meridan, CT, and aboard member of the Auto Body As-sociation of Connecticut, said whatcustomers “don’t know about thosesecret deals is that the insurance com-panies typically put huge pressure onthese preferred body shops to reducecosts—and increase insurance com-pany profits.”
Denya said Cohen may havebeen joking about “chewing gum”being used in repairs, but that the as-sociation has “documented countlessinstances of these shops doing signif-icantly substandard repairs.”
“If you needed heart surgery,would you allow your insurance com-pany to select the least expensive sur-geon for the job or would you want thebest surgeon possible?” Denya wrote.
►As reported in CRASH Net-work (www.CrashNetwork.com), Oc-tober 12, 2009.
www.autobodynews.com | OCTOBER 2014 AUTOBODY NEWS 27
www.autobodynews.com
www.autobodynews.com
The Roseville Police Department in MNhas hired a new auto body shop after em-ployees from its former vehicle repairvendor reportedly drove squad cars at“irresponsible” speeds on the way to befixe, as reported by Johanna Holub atLillieNews.com.
On the morning of Thursday, Sept.4, there were two phone calls from “con-cerned citizens” regarding two markedsquad cars “being driven at excessivespeeds” on County Road C, which has a40 mph speed limit, from Victoria Street
to Western Avenue. The departmentfound the vehicles were being driven byemployees from a local auto shop the de-partment used for repair services. Theemployees came to the Roseville PublicWorks garage to pick up two squad carsthat needed body work following a po-lice pursuit that took place overnight, andwere supposed to drive the vehicles tothe repair shop. They had authorizationto do so. The department decided to “endbusiness dealings” with the shop.
“The department recognizes its ac-
countability to the community,” the state-ment reads.
Lt. Lorne Rosand said the vehicleswere equipped with everything “exceptthe rifle,” which is secured in the policearmory before a vehicle is taken to anylocation for repair work. Because the de-partment contracts several vendors forservice including a local dealership,Rosand said mechanics often pick up po-lice vehicles and drive them to the shopfor repairs. Certain repairs also require atest drive to be sure the problem is fixed.
They’ve never had a problem with ven-dor employees driving their vehicles un-professionally until now.
“It’s not uncommon for civilians todrive our cars,” Rosand explained. “Wejust hope they do so in a manner that rep-resents the city in a very positive way.These two individuals did not.”
But, from now on, the departmentplans to put in the “best effort possible”to have a city mechanic or police officerdrive squad cars to be repaired, Rosandadded.
28 OCTOBER 2014 AUTOBODY NEWS | www.autobodynews.com
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Roseville, MN, Police Replace Local Auto Body Shop as Provider After Employees Take Squad Cars on Joyride
Nancy Friedman was recently featuredin a column by Ed Attanasio, so we werepleased to see that she’ll be back at theSEMA Show this year with her session,“Have You Asked Your Customer toMarry You? (Are You Really En-gaged?).” The session will be offeredtwice during SEMA Education Days.
Friedman spoke with SEMA aboutwhat attendees can expect from her ses-sions.
SEMA: What is a Telephone Doc-tor?
Nancy Friedman: I got that namefrom an editor in Davenport, Iowa, whosaid, “You’re the doctor. You’ve got theprescription for everything.” We knowmore business is lost to poor customerservice and poor treatment than to poor
products, and it’s usually done on thephone. There are people in businesseswhose job is to answer the phone andhave more of a service mentality than asales mentality, and that’s so wrong.
SEMA: What is the right thing fora business to do after the phone rings?
Friedman: There are many leadgenerators around the country who cantell you how to make the phone ring.That’s great, but what happens when itdoes ring? The phone can ring, but turn-ing it into a sale is what matters. Com-panies hire people to pick up the phonewhen it rings, but often they get screwedup and lost when somebody answers.
SEMA: What’s the biggest tele-phone mistake businesses make?
Friedman: We’re just not friendly
enough. Companies spend hundreds ofthousands of dollars to make that phonering and, if it’s not handled just right, allthat money is wasted. We answer thatphone and we’re in a bad mood. We let itring too long. We answer the phone im-properly or without a name. You get lessthan 30 seconds to build that rapport.
SEMA: Your session includessomething called “Poor Man’s Jeopardy.”What’s that?
Friedman: If you watch “Jeop-ardy,” you know there’s a big board withbells and whistles. We don’t have thebudget for all the bells and whistles andthe big board. Instead, I bring a bag, andthe bag has golden nuggets, little piecesof information. I go through the audi-ence. They get to pick out a nugget and
the nugget may say “irate caller.” Itmight say “closing skills” or “telephonegreeting” or “voice mail phrases.” Theyget to pick a nugget and each nuggetcould represent one hour of information.However, we have scaled it down to twoor three minutes. By the end of the hour,we will have covered 15 to 20 goldennuggets of sales and service.
SEMA Education Days will featuremore than 60 educational sessions in 12different tracks, ranging from new-vehi-cle technology to best business practicesto marketing strategies and emergingtrends in the industry.
The complete schedule of SEMAShow Education courses and educationalevents is available at:www.SEMAShow.com/education.
Crowd Favorite the “Telephone Doctor” Returns for SEMA Education Days
www.autobodynews.com | OCTOBER 2014 AUTOBODY NEWS 29
by Ed Attanasio
In most parts of the country, snow, tor-nadoes, floods and other severeweather can lead to an unexpectedwindfall for body shops. But most ofCalifornia isn’t usually affected bydramatic seasonal weather. However,when an earthquake hits, like the onethat shook Napa, CA, on August 24 at3:20 a.m. and measuring at a 6.0 onthe Richter scale, everyone, includingbody shops, are impacted. Thequake’s epicenter was located approx-imately 3.7 miles northwest of Amer-ican Canyon near the West Napa Faultbeneath the Napa Valley Marina, justwest of the Napa County Airport.
The earthquake was the largest tohit the San Francisco Bay Area sincethe 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake 25years earlier. Significant damage andseveral fires were reported in thesouthern Napa Valley area, and therewas also damage in the nearby city ofVallejo, in Solano County.
Napa, of course, is best knownfor its wine industry, and certainlywineries were damaged. So were dis-tributors and retailers whose inven-
tory was subject to breakage. BistroDon Giovanni in Napa lost about athird of its wine and liquor inventory,worth $20,000 to $30,000, said Cur-tis Bradford, the restaurant’s man-ager. The quake could lead toeconomic losses of as much as $4 bil-lion from wrecked wine stock andshuttered businesses that rely on
tourists, according to an estimatefrom Kinetic Analysis Corp.
Brent Blackwood, the owner ofBlackhawk Body Shop in Napa wasobviously concerned about his shopwhen the earthquake hit, but once herealized that the damage was minimal,his focused shifted to repairing cars.“There was a little sheet rock damageand quite a bit of broken glass here atthe shop. A few tool carts and a jackfell over, but other than that we werefine. It was just enough to make a bigmess, that’s all.”
Since the earthquake, BlackhawkBody Shop has been inundated withcustomers and business is up at least40%, Blackwood explained. “On anormal day, we do 4–6 estimates, butsince the earthquake, we’re doing 15or more every day. It’s mostly PDR(Paintless Dent Removal) work, but insome cases if the paint was affected,we need to do more than just PDR. Weknew that we would get a spike inbusiness, so we came in the day afterthe shaker and made sure we’d be pre-pared. We have a PDR guy that wework with regularly and he’s normallyhere once a week, but now he’s been
down here almost every day.”A second-generation body shop
owner, Blackwood and his father haveseen a few earthquakes over the years,including the 1989 Loma Prieta quake,but this one hit closer to home. “[LomaPrieta] impacted us, of course, andsome people here in Napa lost theirhomes,” Blackwood said. “We’ve beenhere since 1957 when my dad openedthis shop, so we have second and third-generation customers. We’ve devel-oped relationships with them over theyears, so seeing their cars coming inand asking them about their homes wasdifferent. In this industry, we makemoney when people get into accidents,but when things like earthquakes hap-pen, everyone is affected and anyone’sproperty can be damaged.”
Mike’s Auto Body in Napa experi-enced some toppled shelves andflipped chairs, but overall the shopcame through without damage, accord-ing to the shop’s Manager BradWoodland. “We were extremelylucky,” he said. “The city green-taggedour building, which means we’re clearfor business as usual. I live here inNapa and we know people whose
30 OCTOBER 2014 AUTOBODY NEWS | www.autobodynews.com
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Napa Body Shops Jolted After 6.0 Quake
Most cars damaged by the Napa Earthquakeneeded just cosmetic work, but obviouslysome vehicle required much more. (Photocourtesy of Michael Smith)
homes have been red-tagged or yellow-tagged and some that came down com-pletely.”
Business was already brisk evenbefore the quake hit, so now Wood-land’s workload is over the top, heexplained. “The repairs are all earth-quake-related, involving dentedroofs, hoods, fenders and trunks. The
earthquake has been goodfor us from a businessstandpoint, but in the endwe’re more focusing onhelping people in need aftera disaster like this.”
Randy Lichau, a Napanative and the owner of LitoAuto Body near downtownwas shocked by the magni-tude of the quake. “Our re-frigerator danced across theroom and it’s a very largeunit, so I was impressed bythat,” Lichau said. “We losta lot of good buildings andseveral parts of the towntook it hard, but we nevershut down and we have beenworking hard to fix all thecars that have been cominghere.”
Lichau has been fasttracking his production to meet the in-creased need and getting his cus-tomers back on the road as quickly ashe and his crew possibly can. “We’recoming in early and working on Sat-urdays, because we were actually busyeven before the quake,” he said.“We’re doing all of the glass-relatedrepairs first, replacing windshields,
headlights, side mirrors and thingsthat make the cars unsafe to drive.We’ve definitely seen a spike in busi-ness, but as someone who was bornhere and grew up here, a tragedy likethis is never a good thing. We’rehappy to be helping people by fixingtheir cars and allowing them to returnto their normal lives.”
Insurers will probably coverabout $2.1 billion in damage, accord-ing to research firm Kinetic Analysis.Costs borne by the insurance industrymay be limited because many home-owners don’t have earthquake cover-age, according to the InsuranceInformation Institute. The costliestearthquakes in the U.S. have occurredin the state.
But just 10% to 11% of Califor-nia homes with homeowners insur-ance have earthquake coverage, whichmust be obtained on top of the stan-dard homeowners policy, according tothe California Earthquake Authority, astate-managed earthquake insurer.California residents seeking a CEApolicy can contact an insurance agentfor a premium quote, or go to Califor-niaRocks.com for an estimate.
“I’m sure more people are goingto buy earthquake insurance now,”
Amy Bach, executive director of SanFrancisco-based consumer advocacygroup United Policyholders. Ms.Bach’s main buying tip is: “Don’tforgo buying it because you think thehigh deductible is a rip-off. No earth-quake insurance means you’re carry-ing a 100% deductible!”
www.autobodynews.com | OCTOBER 2014 AUTOBODY NEWS 31
Some older buildings in Downtown Napa didn’t fare wellduring the 6.0 temblor. (Photo courtesy of Michael Smith)
Mercedes-Benz launched its firstelectric vehicle in 1906. Over a cen-tury later, the company has returnedwith a vehicle that is 100 percentelectrically powered. The new vehi-cles are built on the same assemblylines as models equipped with gasand diesel engines, and retain thesame structural characteristics. Theelectric engine, developed by Tesla,is integrated in the engine block. Thebatteries are housed underneath thepassenger cabin.
For the underframe check,Celette says to use the existing MZ+fixtures 7246.510 B Class W246 andthe complementary set 7156.509GLA X156. For side repair, use theexisting overhead gantry 7246.810B Class W246.
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32 OCTOBER 2014 AUTOBODY NEWS | www.autobodynews.com
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Some body shops swear by Angie’sList and call it the “Anti-Yelp,” but inthe end, isn’t it just another advertis-ing-based review system? If you’renot familiar with Angie’s List, it’s apaid subscription supported websitecontaining crowd-sourced reviews oflocal businesses. They currently have2.3 million paid members, althoughthe company lost $1 million last year.
Right now, Angie’s List is underfire and many small service companieshave put her on their enemies list. PoorAngie is getting bad feedback fromsubscribers, investors and businessesalike, for bad reviews from low-ratedbusinesses, disappointing earnings, ex-ecutive departures, and lawsuits alleg-ing misleading practices. Then, there’sthe younger, hipper competition offer-ing similar information for free.
Angie’s List wants users to thinkthey’re consumer-driven, when in fact70% of their revenue comes from ad-vertising. “It’s not advertising from
Coca Cola, it’s advertising from thecompanies they rate,” Jeff Blyskal, asenior editor for Consumer Reportsexplained.
While companies do not pay to belisted on Angie’s List, companies canpay to appear higher up in the searchresults—which Blyskal believes com-promises the validity of the Angie’sList sorting system.
“If you’re looking for a contrac-tor, you’re only going to look at pageone or two. That skews the ratings,”said Blyskal. “It’s about who adver-tises and I don’t think they’re beingstraight with the public on that.”
In a recent statement, Angie’s Listfounder and CMO Angie Hicks said,“Angie’s List is built on a foundationof fairness and transparency. Every-thing at Angie’s List starts with theconsumers. The consumers give the re-views and assign grades. The compa-nies’ A–F ratings are the average of theconsumer reviews we receive. Com-
panies that are A–B rated are eligibleto advertise with Angie’s List, but theymust offer a discount with that adver-tisement and if their grades fall belowa B, we pull their advertising.”
Hicks also noted that the companyputs itself through an outside audit inorder to determine that the data-han-dling process is fair to all businesseslisted on the site, and that these auditshave “always found Angie’s List re-views a fair, impartial, trustworthysource.”
Angie’s List has been criticizedfor the fundamental contradiction be-tween its mission statement whichstates, “Companies can’t pay to be onAngie’s List,” while in reality its top-rated businesses are allowed to adver-tise. Small business owners (like bodyshops) are crying foul, because they’reaware of the fact that if a company ad-vertises with Angie’s List, their nega-tive reviews will be removed. Thecompany’s effort to keep advertisers
happy reveals their conflict of interest,which is why subscribers and busi-nesses are claiming that Angie is play-ing favorites.
Angel Iraola from Net BusinessConsulting & Solutions in Santa Rosa,CA has advised his clients in the pastto use Angie’s List, because for manyyears it was better and more crediblethan Yelp, he claimed. But no longer,Iraola said. “The A- and B-rated com-panies on Angie’s List can buy theirway to the top of the default search re-sults and that makes it patently unfair.My automotive repair clients are grav-itating more now toward Yelp, becausethey’re not so blatant about giving spe-cial treatment to advertisers.”
One body shop owner (who choseto be anonymous fearing bad reviewsfrom Angie) said the following: “Itseems to me that just a few short yearsago Angie’s TV commercial was com-pletely different. She seemed to end
with Ed Attanasio
Social Media for Shops
Ed Attanasio is an automotive journalist based inSan Francisco, California. He can be reached [email protected].
Is Angie’s List Impartial or Is She Playing Favorites?
See Angie’s List, Page 35
www.autobodynews.com | OCTOBER 2014 AUTOBODY NEWS 33
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Cooks Collision Centers, based inRosedale, CA, has acquired six colli-sion repair locations from HolmesBody Shop. Holmes will continue toown and operate the original HolmesBody Shop location in Pasadena, CA.The transaction is Cooks Collision’s
first MSO acquisition in the SouthernCalifornia market. Terms of the agree-ment were not disclosed.
The Holmes Body Shop loca-tions solidifies Cooks’ position as thelargest independently owned and op-erated collision repair organization inCalifornia, with 25 locations through-
out the state. The Holmes collision re-pair centers are located in Alhambra,Canoga Park, Duarte, El Segundo,Riverside and Westlake Village, CA.
“We are very excited about CooksCollision assuming ownership of oursix locations,” said Tom Holmes,owner and CEO of Holmes Body Shop.“Since 1972, our team has focused ondelivering outstanding customer serv-ice and quality collision repairs to ourcustomers. We made our finaldecision to join the Cooksteam based on the honesty andintegrity of the entire Woodfamily and Cooks employeesthat we met and dealt with.Our team is excited to join theCooks Collision organization.”
Cooks Collision saidHolmes will continue to ownand operate the Holmes Body Shoplocation in Pasadena, CA.
“The acquisition of the sixHolmes locations is a key step in exe-cuting our strategic plan by expandingto the Los Angeles basin and servingSouthern California consumers,” saidRick Wood, co-CEO of Cooks Colli-
sion Centers. “Cooks Collision is com-mitted to providing our new SouthernCalifornia customers the same highquality collision repair, customer serv-ice and value that our Northern Cali-fornia customers have come to expectfor the past 33 years.”
Chris Rose, vice president ofSouthern California operations forCooks Collision, said the companyplans to add several more collision re-
pair locations throughout the South-ern California market in the future.
Symphony Advisors consultedwith both Cooks Collision Centersand Holmes Body Shop throughoutthe acquisition process and separatelyVeritas Advisors, Inc. assisted CooksCollision Centers.
34 OCTOBER 2014 AUTOBODY NEWS | www.autobodynews.com
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Six Holmes Body Shop Locations Acquired by Cooks CollisionCenters, All but Original Shop in Pasadena
The original Holmes Body Shop location inPasadena, CA, from which it grew into an MSOwith seven collision repair centers throughoutthe Los Angeles area. This location will continueto be owned and operated by Tom Holmes
CarMax Inc. said it is recruiting formore than 1,000 positions to fillacross the country. The used-car re-tailer in Richmond, VA, said in astatement that it is offering full- andpart-time permanent positions. Mostof the openings are in sales and serv-ice operations, which include detail-ers and technicians, CarMax said in astatement. The retailer also has open-ings in purchasing and in its businessoffice. “While many retailers are hir-ing for the holiday rush, we are look-ing for individuals who are lookingfor a long-term career,” CarMaxspokeswoman Michelle Topping Ell-wood said. CarMax plans to open 10to 15 stores during the next year, Ell-wood said.
CarMax has 139 superstores in70 markets, but cities with the mostjob openings are Sacramento, CA;Bakersfield, CA; Cincinnati; Atlanta;Lancaster, PA; and Huntsville, AL. Jobseekers can apply at carmax.com/ca-reers. Most positions, with the excep-tion of technicians, require no priorautomotive experience.
CarMax Recruiting forMore than 1,000 Jobs
The seven locations of Holmes Body Shop are dispersedover a wide area of greater Los Angeles
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each one with the statement ‘no com-pany can pay to be on Angie’s list.’But, now they’re forced to makemoney and advertising seems to be theway they’re doing it. I think ‘truth inadvertising’ should pertain to everyone,especially those that claim completetransparency but don’t adhere to theirown claims. Do we even know if Angieis the real owner or just a paid actorlike Flo on the Progressive commer-cials? I’ve lost my faith in this site, sowe don’t use it anymore and we tooktheir link off our web site as a result.”
How can a body shop owner becertain that Angie’s List is on the up andup or playing games with your re-views? Iraola says do your due dili-gence and get everything in writing.“Angie’s List is just like any other re-view site” Iraola said. “They need tomake money somehow and at the be-ginning they were going to the cus-tomers to get it. But, how many peopleare going to pay $100 annually to findgood, honest companies if they knowthat these companies are also paying fortheir positions on Angie’s List? That’s
one of the biggest problems withAngie’s List. Are the top-rated compa-nies really there because they do excel-lent work or are they there because theybought that spot? Once any review siteloses its credibility and the end usersdoubt its validity, problems will follow.I hope Angie’s List can figure out a wayto re-invent itself, so that my clients willwant to get involved and the customerswill believe in it again.”
When it comes to review-basedsites, Iraola prefers Yelp to Angie’s List,especially for body shops. “Yelp ismore relevant and many shops stilldon’t like it, but in the end it’s their bestway to go. I tell collision marketingpeople to manage your Yelp page andrespond to every review, both positiveand negative. Use it as a tool and stayon it, because if you let a bad review sit,it looks like it’s justified. And stay awayfrom Angie’s List at least for now. Theywill undoubtedly re-invent itself to acertain degree very soon, because rightnow they’re losing traction.”
Curtis Nixon is the president ofAutoBody-Review.com in Chino Hills,CA, a company that verifies everycustomer review by tapping into adatabase that confirms their identityand thereby gets true reviews for its
body shop clients. “The big problemwith these review sites is that they donot contain verified reviews,” Nixonsaid. “We make sure that the customerdoing the review indeed had their carrepaired by the shop they’re review-ing. We illicit the reviews by doing acustomer satisfaction survey andwe’re finding out that about 25% ofthe customers are writing reviews onour site as a result. This way, bothbody shops and customers can rely onthese reviews, because they’re real.”
AutoBody-Review.com chargesits body shop clients a monthly feeand does not offer advertising to getany shop at the top of any list. “Stay-ing objective is crucial and that’s whyour reviews carry weight. We nevermanipulate reviews or call customersto have them changed or delete anyreview, negative or positive. Our play-ing field is 100% level, so if a shopdoes good work, they get praised andvice versa. Selling ads for prime posi-tions is definitely a clear conflict ofinterest and not the right way to dothings, in my opinion. The customersshould dictate position, not thealmighty dollar and that’s why we willnever sell ads to our body shop mem-bers—ever!”
This is the most important step! Printthe estimate out. Check off each dam-age entry on your estimate as the cor-responding part is loaded onto the cart.If you have everything checked offyour estimate and there are still dam-aged parts on the table or floor, you
may have missed something. It’s a sim-ple but very powerful technique. Fi-nally, be sure to place the parts in thesame manner as discussed in Step 6.When you orderly divide the good andthe bad parts on the cart, it makeschecking the replacement parts for cor-rectness (mirror matching) easier to do.
For more information or toschedule a Blueprint Clinic at yourshop, please contact David Luehr at:[email protected]
www.autobodynews.com | OCTOBER 2014 AUTOBODY NEWS 35
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The Boyd Group Inc. has signed a de-finitive agreement and concurrentlyclosed the acquisition of Champ’sHolding Company, LLC (“Champ’s”)the company announced in a news re-lease on Sept. 12.
Champ’s is a premier full-serviceauto collision repair service providerin southeast Louisiana, owning andoperating seven collision repair cen-ters. Champs locations are in NewOrleans, 4047 South Carrollton Ave.;Elmwood, 200 Edwards Ave, Hara-han, LA; Kenner, 1601 22nd Street;Westbank, 3621 Lapalco Blvd., Har-vey, LA; Northshore, 2501 FloridaStreet, Mandeville, LA; Hammond,500 South Morrison Blvd.; and BatonRouge, 6137 Siegen Lane.
Champ’s has grown significantlysince its inception in 1978 and gener-ated sales of approximately $37 mil-lion for the trailing twelve monthsended June 2014. This acquisition in-creases the number of Boyd collisionrepair locations to 313 across 16 statesand five provinces.
“We are very pleased to enter theLouisiana market which will expand
our reach to new customers, increaseour geographical footprint for our in-surance industry partners and also pro-vide us with another new market fromwhich to execute our single locationgrowth strategy,” said Brock Bul-buck, President and Chief ExecutiveOfficer of the Boyd Group. “With thisacquisition we strengthen our positionas the largest multi-shop operator inNorth America in terms of number oflocations, and demonstrate our abilityto add attractive multi-shop operationsin line with our growth strategy.”
“Our team is proud of the busi-ness we have built over the last 36years,” added Champ’s PresidentDanny Kingston. “Champ’s decadesof growth and success in the collisionbusiness are a direct result of the ef-forts of our knowledgeable, friendly,and professional team. We are excitedto build on our accomplishments aspart of the Boyd team.”
The total purchase price consider-ation of approximately $35.0 million.It is within the range of other recentmulti-location acquisitions completedby Boyd.
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The North Carolina auto accidentlaw firm of Riddle & Brantley LLP,is urging consumers to use the Na-tional Highway Traffic Safety Ad-ministration’s (NHTSA) new OnlineRecall Check feature on their web-site. Drivers can now use this tool tosearch for recalls which may affecttheir particular vehicle by enteringtheir car’s Vehicle IdentificationNumber (VIN).
“As we saw with General Mo-tors’ defective ignition switches, it isextremely important for consumersto stay up-to-date on recalls whichmay affect the safety of their vehi-cles,” said attorney Gene Riddle,partner at Riddle & Brantley. “Ourfirm is urging drivers to use theNHTSA’s tools to keep their familiessafe.”
According to an August 20,2014, report from the AssociatedPress, U.S. automakers have recalledover 40 million vehicles this yearalone. Over 29 million of these vehi-cles were the results of extensive re-calls from General Motors after faultyignition switches blamed for causingmultiple accidents leading to over adozen fatalities and many more in-juries.
Before the creation of the tool,drivers had to search multiple sourcesto make sure that their vehicles hadnot been recalled. According to theNHTSA’s VIN checker website, thisnew tool lists all ongoing safety re-calls, any recalls which have beenconducted in the past 15 years, and allrecalls by major car and motorcyclemanufacturers. The checker does notcover non-safety related recalls, re-calls for international vehicles orultra-luxury cars, or vehicles whichare over 15 years old.
According to an August 14,2014 press release from the NHTSA,consumers were previously limitedto searching using a car’s make andmodel year. Now, the addition ofVIN searches will allow consumersto find alerts specific to his or herparticular vehicle. In addition to thecreation of this checking tool, theNHTSA is also mandating that automanufacturers maintain a list of cur-rent recalls which affect their modelson their websites. Automakers mustupdate this information at least oncea week.
To use the NHTSA’s recallchecker, consumers should visit:https://vinrcl.safercar.gov/vin.
NC Auto Injury Attorney Urges Drivers to Use the NewNHTSA Online Recall Check
Since the Alliance of AutomotiveService Providers of Pennsylvania(AASP-PA) formed in 1955, it hasbeen a member association for shopowners in the state, but now, the as-sociation has decided to offer twonew membership levels. For thefirst time, AASP-PA will offer freememberships to students studyingin the automotive field in a PAschool, and the association will alsooffer a low-cost membership to in-dustry professionals, such as tech-nicians, towers and service writers,among others.
AASP-PA’s goal in offeringthese two new levels of membershipis to continue to further their initia-tive of educating all automotive serv-ice providers throughout the state ofPA, and the Student Membershiplevel in particular will aid in their at-tempts to engage the younger gener-ation and show them the value ofeducation, leadership and involve-ment in industry associations.
The association’s Student Mem-bership level is available to studentsstudying in the automotive field in aPA high school, technical school or atthe university level. The free StudentMembership includes an electronicversion of “Pennsylvania Automotive
& Insider News,” the association’s bi-monthly magazine, and invitations toselect chapter meetings and trainingevents as well as free enrollment inASE’s Student Certification Program(a $30 value). To sign up, studentscan visit www.aasp-pa.org/member-resource/student-membership.aspx.
The Technician Membership isavailable to anyone working in theautomotive industry in PA, such astechnicians, tower and service man-agers. Technician Members will re-ceive an electronic copy of“Pennsylvania Automotive & In-sider News” bi-monthly, invitationsto select chapter meeting and train-ing events, reimbursement for thecost of up to three ASE Certifica-tions, and potentially, a discount onpersonal electric bills. The cost of aTechnician Membership depends onwhether the individual’s employershop is a member of AASP-PA; thefee is $50 per year for employees ofmember shops, or the TechnicianMembership costs $100 annually ifthe employer is not an associationmember.
For more information or to signup, visit www.aasp-pa.org/member-resource/technician-member-ship.aspx.
AASP-PA Offers Two New Membership Levels
www.autobodynews.com | OCTOBER 2014 AUTOBODY NEWS 37
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Over the past two issues (see Augustand September Autobody News), in-dustry attorney Erica Eversman hasoffered some insights into the varioustypes of documentation that collisionrepair facilities can use to protect theirinterests and help them obtain propercompensation for work performed. Inthe final installment in this series onrepair documentation, Eversman helpsexplain the purpose for and how to usethe Parts Notice/Authorization and theIndemnification/Hold Harmless Let-ter, with a few additional documents.
The Parts Notice/Authorization isan important form for repair shops toutilize since most states have statutespertaining to the use of used or after-market parts which requires the shopto notify the consumer if these typesof parts are used to repair their vehi-cle. When choosing the parts to use ina repair, the facility has several op-
tions: new OEM parts, aftermarketparts, or salvage yard parts (which theinsurance industry commonly refers toas “recycled parts”), but dependent onand subject to state laws, the repair fa-cility must be sure that the consumerunderstands which parts are being uti-lized in their vehicle—and that dis-closure can be easily be substantiatedby having their customers sign a PartsAuthorization.
Often, the insurance company in-structs the repair facility to utilize af-termarket parts in the repair, butultimately, the consumer is puttingtheir life in the repairer’s hands, notthe insurer’s. “Nothing gives a re-pairer the right to knowingly put anunsafe part on someone’s vehicle,”Eversman admonishes; however, therewill be situations that repairers facewhen they are not entirely comfort-able with the insurer’s suggestion touse particular used or aftermarketparts in the repair. In those situations,
if the consumer is unwilling/unable topay for new or new OEM parts whenthe repairer has concerns about usingused or aftermarket, Eversman states,“the repair facility is ethically respon-sible for performing a safe repair, de-spite pressure from insurers, so therepairer must ensure that the con-sumer is notified that the repairer re-ally prefers to use different partsduring the repair process.”
Although aftermarket or recycledparts may work just fine the majorityof the time, there is always the poten-tial for problems when parts used inthe repair are not new OEM. In theevent of an accident related to the fail-ure of these parts, the repair facilityneeds to make certain it has protecteditself by proving the insurer refused topay for new OEM parts, the consumerwas informed about the use of theseparts but refused to pay the differencefor the preferred parts, and the repairerpossesses this signed document estab-
lishing the consumer’s notificationand consent. “People don’t want tothink about accidents,” Eversmanpoints out. “Generally, they don’tthink of it until after an accident whenthey’re already vulnerable. We, as anindustry, need to do a better job of ed-ucating consumers in advance.”
In addition to the Parts Notice/Au-thorization, repair facilities that areaverse to installing certain used or af-termarket parts should also ask theircustomers and the customer’s insurerto sign an Indemnification/Hold Harm-less Letter which explains that the re-pairer is only using the specified partsbecause both the customer and the in-surer insisted on them. This documentmakes the insurer liable for the use ofthe specific parts and documents theiragreement to pay for any lawsuits ordamages the repairer suffers for prob-lems with the parts. Insurers rarelyagree to sign this document, often opt-ing to pay for the appropriate part in-
38 OCTOBER 2014 AUTOBODY NEWS | www.autobodynews.com
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Parts Authorization, Indemnification and More—Documentation Part 3
with Erica EversmanThe Legal View
Erica Eversman is an attorney, frequent speaker and author on automotive legal topics.She has been quoted in such publications as The Wall Street Journal Online, USA Today,Kiplingers Personal Finance, Cars.com, Yahoo! News and other trade magazines.
stead, but if the insurer insists on theuse of potentially unsafe parts and thecustomer agrees, the repair facilitymust protect itself from the insurer’sinfluence; otherwise, the insurer willclaim it has no responsibility for theuse of those parts in the repair.
Because manufacturers don’toffer a warranty on aftermarket parts,using these in a repair can lead to apartial or complete restriction on thevehicle’s bumper-to-bumper warranty.OEMs cannot automatically void awarranty due merely to the use of af-termarket parts, but they can restrictor void the warranty if the aftermarketpart results in problems with the vehi-cle or causes an accident due to partfailure or malfunction. Still, many in-surance companies’ DRP contracts re-quire the use of aftermarket parts, yetthey will not insure the shop’s liabilityif there is an issue.
Though insurers say they will“guarantee” the work of a DRP shop,doing so requires assuming liability,which insurers invariably try to avoid.While they generally say they offerwarranties on the aftermarket or usedreplacement parts, insurance compa-nies’ warranties do not cover the facil-ity’s workmanship unless specifically
stated. As a result, consumers are toooften told by insurers that the insurer“guarantees the repair”, but if a con-sumer actually reads what the insureris guaranteeing, it is often nothingmore than a statement that it will try toaddress a problem with an aftermarketpart after the consumer has addressedthe warranty problem with the partmanufacturer. Eversman states, “theinsurance company’s guarantee is use-less. Warranties are like insurance poli-cies – they contain more exclusionsthan actual coverage. The insurers willsay they don’t fix cars—they just payfor repairs and that all of the decisionsfor how the vehicle was repaired werethe collision facilities; however, theirads brainwash consumers by creatingthe impression that insurers are in-volved in the repair. These ads focuson a magical restoration without theinvolvement of the consumer or the re-pair facility. Much of this glib adver-tising creates the wrong impression forconsumers that doesn’t reflect reality.”
Eversman also strongly discour-ages shops from offering a warrantyon anything besides their workman-ship, especially on parts. Thanks to theMagnuson-Moss Warranty Act, insur-ers can offer a warranty for the re-
pairer’s workmanship and parts usedin the repair, though this puts them onthe hook to assume liability in theevent of a problem. Eversman advisesshops to “refuse the insurer’s demandsto offer aftermarket or recycled partswarranties. Repairers should clearlystate in all customer documents thatyou guarantee your services and repairwork, but never offer a warranty forany part used in the repair. Doing soonly subjects repairers to potentiallawsuits involving double or trebledamages and the payment of the con-sumer’s attorney fees if there are is-sues with the parts.”
In addition to the documentsdiscussed in detail throughout thisthree-part series, Eversman feels thatshops should also be aware of someadditional documentation that theymay find useful. The Customer No-tice of Insurer Deficiency is a formthat serves to inform the consumer oftheir insurance company’s refusal topay for a proper, safe repair. Evers-man notes, “this form can help withthe public relations battle; the insur-ance companies don’t like to becalled out on their actions, so theyare more likely to handle the prob-lem. It also reminds the customer
that you are the collision repair pro-fessional and that you are refusing toperform an unsafe repair, despite theinsurer’s demand that you breachthis part of your contract with yourcustomer.”
The Customer Notice of InsurerDelay keeps the consumer in the loopby alerting them to the fact that theinsurer is causing a delay in the re-pair process. The Vehicle Damage In-surance Election Form, which onlyapplies in first-party cases, is a docu-ment that the customer can send totheir insurance company demandingto know what specific remedy underthe insurance policy the insurer ischoosing. This forces the insurer todefine whether it is “electing to re-pair” and accepting all liability forthe repair or paying for the loss inmoney. Though the insurer is un-likely to sign this document, the cus-tomer can note their refusal toresponds to the request, and this canbe useful if a trial is necessary as theinsured has the right to demand a re-sponse from the insurer to questionsrelated to their claim.
A Notice of Additional Cost is anice way to inform the insurance com-
www.autobodynews.com | OCTOBER 2014 AUTOBODY NEWS 39
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The marketing world has changed sig-nificantly during the past few years. Somuch has moved on-line that mostother marketing expenditures may nolonger make sense in your area. If youtrack results from your marketing ef-forts, you have probably noticed thelack of business coming from print ads,print version yellow page, and otherphone book ads. It may be time to pullthe plug on non-productive marketingand make better use of those funds. Asinsurance companies establish toll-freenumbers to report claims, you shouldprobably stop marketing to most agents.Unless you have nearly unlimited fundsto advertise just to keep your name infront of the public, you should proba-bly end off radio and TV advertising.And stop paying for useless advertisingschemes. These moves should free upmoney to pay for real marketing results.
So where should you redirectthese funds? Mainly you want to dou-ble up on-line and live contact efforts.On-line yellow page, Superpage, and
similar services will allow prospectivecustomers to find you. Enhancing yourwebsite, Facebook page and other so-cial media will be one good use for ex-panded expenditures, but this shouldonly be a start. As the volume of colli-sion repairs decline due to advances invehicle accident avoidance technology,to survive shops will have to embraceother profit centers. This may call for anew mindset not familiar to most shopowners and managers. For example,merchandise store marketing rule num-ber one is “Get as many people as pos-sible into the store!” People like to goto familiar places and prefer not to haveto try out a new place if they are happywith the old one. The intent is always tomake a prospective customer’s first ex-perience so incredible, they will alwayscome back first before trying out anyother place. How can a shop make useof this fundamental principle?
Perhaps it’s time for shops tocopy what dealerships have done fordecades. Shop owners and managers
accustomed to $2000 repairs and up,may scoff at a couple of hundred dol-lars here and there in profits fromvending machines, accessories, audiosales, and cosmetic automotive mer-chandise. But keep in mind that many“profit-centers” have a second benefitas marketing opportunities. Every newperson that comes into the shop shouldbe given a powerful propaganda piece.This should be a booklet featuring theshop’s “special” features. Shop per-sonnel often think prospective cus-tomers know what equipment shopshave, and what they do, but this israrely true. A booklet should spell outwhy a shop’s frame machine, weldingequipment, and painting capabilitiesare better than the competition, andwhy special skills in repairing hybrids,electric vehicles, exotic cars and moremake this the best shop to repair a ve-hicle. The reality is the public is gen-erally unaware of shop expertise, andthe unspoken message of the bookletis that our competitors are unlikely to
have this high quality equipment andsystems (even though they may haveit too).
Sharing or piggybacking busi-nesses is increasingly popular as rentsgo up. Local grocery stores now oftenhave a Starbucks or similar concessionin the store. Some hamburger chainsnow have a donut vendor concession ora pizza concession sharing the space.Sharing the cost of a space again freesup funds for marketing and perhaps ad-vertising deals on line using Craig’sList, eBay and other sites. Auto glass,headlights, accessories, cosmetic fixes,running boards, pet restraints,, childproofing, older cars with no GPS are allprofit-center prospects for sales and/orinstallations and add new names to ane-mail marketing list. A shop mightwant to partner with an automotive ac-cessories vendor and provide an alter-nate display area—and not only sharein the sales profits, but also profit frominstallations and again capture prospectnames. In a shop where estimators only
40 OCTOBER 2014 AUTOBODY NEWS | www.autobodynews.com
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pany of an additional repair cost,granting them a specific amount oftime to respond before resuming therepair, since this saves rental car timefor the insurer. It also gives the im-pression that the insurance companymust respond to you because you’rein control of the repair process. Lastly,an Authorization and Release givesyou the right to use photos or videos
of the repaired vehicles for your ownpurposes (such as on your website).
Obtaining proper repair docu-mentation is essential to providingcustomers with the best possible re-pair. Eversman encourages all colli-sion repair facilities to protect theirbusinesses by contacting a local attor-ney to begin drafting these vital doc-uments.
Erica Eversman is the ChiefCounsel for Vehicle Information Serv-ices, Inc. and founder of the Automo-tive Education and Policy Institute.
Continued from Page 39
Documentation Serieswrite estimates a few hours a week,product sales and installation fees canbe an on-going supplemental commis-sion opportunity.
Beyond front office space, a col-lision repair shop also has a hugeamount of space compared to mostbusinesses. Some shops open up re-pair space for mini-trade shows, andnot only for collision repair products.Convention centers are costly placesto hold trade shows, and small groupslike furniture and equipment vendorscould appreciate a local space to show
products. This could bring in localbusinesses with company vehicles andprovide an opportunity to solicit theirvehicle repairs. Another alternative ismore community-based uses of space.Sundays some shops make open spaceavailable for meetings, church groups,school groups, and boy or girl clubsor activities.. Kid’s activities bringparents, especially moms who can begood prospects for vehicle repair.Redirecting marketing funds like thiswill generate far more sales than old-style advertising and promotions.
www.autobodynews.com | OCTOBER 2014 AUTOBODY NEWS 41
Lawmakers and regulators on a state,federal and international level areworking to make sure they can stayahead of the quickly-developing “dri-verless vehicle” technology—but whatwill it mean for collision repairers?
That was one of the questionsconsidered in a presentation at themost recent Collision Industry Confer-ence (CIC), held in Detroit, Mich. Thecommittee looked at what laws andregulations are being enacted sur-rounding the technology, and what thatcould mean for collision repairers, in-surers and other industry segments.
Steve Regan, chairman of thecommittee, said that for insurers, thenew and costly safety-related equip-ment involved in autonomous carswill impact repair costs. Access to oruse of “black box” data will continueto be an issue. And liability related tothe repair of the vehicles could be anissue for insurer offering garage-keep-ers, as well as liability policies for col-lision repairers.
The auto manufacturers and sys-tem suppliers will potentially face lia-bility if their systems are controllingthese vehicles, Regan said, but someof that liability is addressed in thestate and federal regulations being en-acted.
“We started tracking these lawsand noticed the missing component,”Regan said. “There’s no protection inany of these laws for those who are fix-ing the cars.”
That’s an issue the industry willneed to continue to monitor, Regansaid.
‘Length of rental’ formulas discussedAlso at CIC in Detroit, a panel tack-led a new twist on the issue of cycletime. The topic: Do insurer formulasused to calculate the number of “rentaldays” on an initial estimate drivedown cycle time? Do they set unreal-istic expectations for consumers? Dothey add friction and inefficiencies?Or do they do some combination of all
of these things?Pat O’Neill of Bodyshop Revo-
lution, who moderated the discussion,noted that there is a wide variation inthe formulas shops and insurers use todetermine expected “length of rental”(often used as a proxy of “cycle time”)and even in the statistics about averagelength of rental that are reported by the
rental car compa-nies or informationproviders.
Data providedby Enterprise Rent-a-Car, for example,found that lengthof rental in the sec-ond quarter of this
year averaged 10.7 days nationally, butranged from a low of 8.9 days to a highof 14.1 days in another. With a 5-daydifference between some states, repair-ers on the CIC panel asked, is it reason-able for an insurer to set length of rentalexpectations using a national formula?
Panelist Darrell Amberson of
LaMettry’s Collision in Minnesotaread some of the formulas that theCIC committee had collected that in-surers use (or require their direct re-pair shops to use) to establish theinitial completion date, which may beincluded on the paperwork given tothe vehicle owner. Those formulasranged from one day for every threehours of labor to one day for every sixhours of labor on the estimate. Someformulas allow the shop to excludeweekends or delays caused by parts.
Panelist Aaron Schulenburg ofthe Society of Collision Repair Spe-cialists said one insurer acknowledgedto the association that it recognized itshours-per-day formula for its direct re-pair shops was outside the norm forthe industry, but that it set that goal tomake sure its shops prioritized that in-surer’s work over one who had set anunrealistic hours-per-day goal to try toget its work prioritized.
If the goal is to drive perform-ance, Schulenburg said, that’s one
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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].
CIC Committees Look at Autonomous Vehicle Issues, Impact of “Length of Rental” Formulas
Pat O’Neill
thing. But when it establishes unreal-istic expectations for the consumer,and requires multiple adjustments bythe shop and rental car company to thecompletion date information, that im-pacts efficiency and customer satis-faction. He said it’s also unfair for ashop to have to pick-up the cost of arental if repairs exceed a calculationbased on an unrealistic formula.
“The shop didn’t sell a rentalcoverage policy, and they didn’t profitfrom the sale of that policy,” Schulen-burg said.
“My concern is: Is that the bestway to drive behavior,” Ambersonasked about the formulas. “If you’regoing to push us to fix cars faster, isthat really the best way to do it? Imight suggest there are more cooper-ative ways to do this. This feels like anegative approach with a negativeconsequence if we don’t achieve whatyou’re looking for, and on top of thatcauses us to create an unrealistic ex-pectation to the customer, which onlyirritates and frustrates them.”
Amberson said that his companyis making an effort to reduce cycle timeby using blueprinting – but that “theformulas insurance companies usehave very little to do with the improve-
ments we’ve shown in our numbers.”Chris Andreoli of Progressive In-
surance, the lone insurance companyrepresentative on the panel, agreed thatthe customer should not be given inac-curate completion date information, butthat length of rental formulas can beused as a starting point in that conver-sation.
He agreed that using the same for-mula for every vehicle across the na-tion isn’t as accurate a system as he
believes the indus-try will develop asdata sophisticationimproves. He pre-dicted that at somepoint shops and in-surers will be ableto establish moreaccurate comple-
tion dates based on data that will in-clude year, make and model of vehicle,as well as market or region.
“I think that’s where the level ofsophistication needs to go in the in-dustry,” Andreoli said.
Not a lot of consensusThe panel did not seem to agree on howoften consumers currently are beinggiven an accurate completion date.
Curtis Nixon of UpdatePromise.comsaid his company’sresearch indicatesshops are hittingpromise dates 88percent of the time;however, he shareddata showing theimpact on CSIbased on the num-
ber of times a promise date changes, achart that showed the impact on CSI foras many as 12 such promise datechanges on a job.
The rental car companies on thepanel seemed to experience morechanges to the initial completion dateinformation than an 88 percent accu-racy stat indicates.
“We do see a lot of changes,” saidMckenzie Spalding of Choice AutoRental, a regional company in the TwinCities market of Minnesota. “It happensa lot.”
“We see an average of 2-4 changesthat occur per claim,” concurred FrankLaVioila, assistant vice president forcollision industry relations at Enterprise.
Amberson said using better datainstead of arbitrary formulas could re-duce or eliminate such changes, whichimpact shop and rental car company
efficiency as well as potentially lowercustomer satisfaction.
Because of such formulas, Am-berson said, “Sometimes we meet thecustomer’s basic expectations butwe’re not exceeding the customer’s ex-pectations. We’re not wow’ing them.We’re not creating raving fans. Andthat’s what we should be striving for.We should be striving for excellence,not just a tolerable experience for thecustomer.”
www.autobodynews.com | OCTOBER 2014 AUTOBODY NEWS 43
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It’s been a busy season for the Auto-motive Service Association (ASA) asthe national office prepares to relo-cate its headquarters in a few weeksfrom Colleyville, Texas, to nearbyNorth Richland Hills. In addition, theassociation recently held its success-ful NACE|CARS trade show in De-troit. Effective immediately, theassociation’s 800-ASA-SHOP (272-7467) number is changing to (817)514-2900. Please update your recordsto reflect this change. And effectiveOct. 1, 2014, the association’s newheadquarters will be located at 8209Mid-Cities Blvd., North RichlandHills, TX, 76182.
ASA Announces Plans toRelocate Headquarters
44 OCTOBER 2014 AUTOBODY NEWS | www.autobodynews.com
The Society of Collision RepairSpecialists’ (SCRS) OEM CollisionRepair Technology Summit will beheld on Wednesday, Nov. 5th at theLas Vegas Convention Center dur-ing the SEMA Show. The Summitwill allow the industry to explore
how automotivedesign, technol-ogy and materialsimpact repairabil-ity, and how inturn repairabilityinfluences struc-tural design anddevelopment. The
full-day program will include fourunique panel discussions with au-tomakers, equipment suppliers, cer-tified repair facilities, and OEMcertifiers/auditors and will also fea-ture special presentations from sub-ject matter experts on automotivematerials. Registration is requiredto attend and seats will be limited.Register today at:www.semashow.com/scrs.
As the newest development to theagenda, SCRS has announced thatDavid Rigg, Project Lead with the
Auto/Steel Partnership (A/SP) Ad-vanced High-Strength Steel (AHSS)Repairability Project, will provide adetailed overview of the market de-velopments and repairability researchtaking place between the steel indus-try and the automakers. The A/SP is acollaboration between the steel com-pany members of the Automotive Ap-plications Council of the Steel MarketDevelopment Institute and ChryslerGroup LLC, Ford Motor Companyand General Motors Company to pur-sue research, validation and educationthat help automakers enhance vehiclesafety, fuel economy and improve de-sign and manufacturing. Through theA/SP, automakers and steel companieshave worked to drive improvementsand innovation in vehicles on theroad—and in repair businesses—today.
“Participating in the SCRS OEMCollison Repair Technology Summitallows us the opportunity to interactwith the leaders of the automotive re-pair industry to better understand theirneeds, so that we can incorporate theminto our project plan,” said Terry Cul-lum, director of the A/SP. “Our goal is
to share the latest technology on theseinnovative advanced high-strengthsteel materials so that they can be re-paired in the field using the best prac-tices developed from our repairabilityproject.”
Rigg will deliver visibility intothe technological advancements beingmade in the steel industry relative toautomotive materials, and an overviewof how their market is developing as aresult of increased collaboration to-wards ever evolving safety and sus-tainability goals. He will share reasonsbehind the automakers’ continued re-liance on steel as a critical substrate;and what their industry is doing to aidin the development of that relationship.The presentation will ultimately ad-dress how repairability plays a role inmaterial research and development,and the prevalence steel will have inthe vehicles of tomorrow.
In addition to his role with theA/SP, Rigg serves as Global ServiceLead - Structures, Front and RearClosures at General Motors where heis responsible for the development,consensus, documentation and im-plementation of Global Service Re-
quirements. He also represents serv-ice at the Advanced Vehicle Devel-opment Center for body structures.In his previous position as BodyService Engineer, Rigg was respon-sible for authoring collision repairmanuals; however, his career withGM extends back to 1998.
Rigg’s formative years were spentworking in his father’s body shop mak-ing the traditional advancements fromwashing cars to eventually straighten-ing frames and writing estimates. Hisfirst-hand experience in the repair com-munity has given him valuable insightinto the collision repair industry.
For more information about SCRS’Repairer Driven Education (RDE) se-ries, and to register for the OEM Colli-sion Repair Technology Summit andother RDE sessions, please visit:www.semashow.com /scrs.
Auto/Steel Partnership to Present During OEM Collision Repair Technology Summit at SEMA Show
David Rigg
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www.autobodynews.com | OCTOBER 2014 AUTOBODY NEWS 45
In early August, the Society of Colli-sion Repair Specialists (SCRS) an-nounced the launch of the firstissue-specific collision repair industryforum being held at the SEMA Show.The OEM Collision Repair Technol-ogy Summit will be held on Wednes-day, November 5th at the Las VegasConvention Center and will explorehow automotive design and technol-ogy intersect with repairability, andhow developments in this area impactthe collision repair process and theprofessional businesses planning fortheir future in the ever-changing land-scape of this industry. Registration canbe made at www.semashow.com/scrs.
In addition to panel discussionswith technology experts representingthe automakers, certified repair facili-ties, equipment suppliers, and certi-fiers/auditors, the program will featurespecial presentations from subjectmatter experts on automotive materi-als.
SCRS announced that DougRichman, Technical Committee Chair-man of the Aluminum TransportationGroup (ATG) will offer insight into therole aluminum will play in collision re-
pair businesses now, and in the future.“The ATG is eager to share with
SCRS session attendees key insightson aluminum’s long history in the au-tomotive industry,” said Richman.
“Aluminum-intensive vehicles havebeen in the marketplace for manydecades and are regularly repaired asneeded. Within the next ten years,seven out of 10 new pickups produced
in North Americawill be aluminum-bodied, accordingto a recently re-leased survey ofautomakers con-ducted by DuckerWorldwide. Asaluminum use in
auto bodies grows exponentially in thenext decade, we applaud the SCRS’efforts to educate and train repair pro-fessionals to be better prepared for thechange in status quo materials thatcome through their shop doors.”
Richman will deliver visibilityinto the technological advancementsbeing made in the aluminum industryrelative to the automotive market, andan overview of how their market is de-
veloping as a result of increased inte-gration into our modern fleet. He willshare reasons behind the automakersinterest in, and use of, aluminum; andwhat their industry is doing to aid inthe development of that relationship.
In addition to his role with theATG, Doug Richman is Vice Presidentof Engineering and Technology forKaiser Aluminum. He joined Kaiser in1996 and was appointed to his currentposition in 2001. Before joining Kaiser,Richman was Vice President of Auto-motive Castings for Alcan Aluminumand his background also includes al-most 20 years of experience in devel-opment and design management atGeneral Motors.
Richman is a long-standing mem-ber of the ATG, serving as technicalchairman of the sub-committee. Healso serves as co-chairman of the So-ciety of Automotive Engineers (SAE)Light Metals committee.
The OEM Collision Repair Tech-nology Summit is made possiblethrough support from PPG RefinishProducts, Ford Motor Company, BASF,Toyota Motor Sales and The Hertz Cor-poration.
For more information about SCRS’Repairer Driven Education (RDE) se-ries, and to register for the OEM Colli-sion Repair Technology Summit andother RDE sessions, please visit:www.semashow.com/ scrs.
Aluminum Association to Present During SCRS’ OEM Collision Repair Technology Summit
Doug Richman
Volvo is trying to regain a footholdworldwide with the introduction ofits XC90 full-size crossover, thefirst for China’s Zhejiang Geely’sacquisition of the Swedish au-tomaker from Ford in 2010. Thepremium seven-seater will contendagainst models like the LexusRX350, BMW X5 and ChevroletTahoe. Its arrival is considered crit-ical for Volvo dealers who havewatched sales plummet since Ford,in the midst of financial difficul-ties, sold the brand to the Chinesecompany for $1.8 billion.
Seven years ago this month in August of2007, the Society of Collision Repair Spe-cialists (SCRS) and the collision repaircommunity lost a dear friend and tremen-dous asset with the untimely passing ofMarch Taylor. Those that were fortunate
enough to have beentouched by Marchknew him as a dedi-cated family man, aninnovative shopowner, an experi-enced master techni-cian, and a selflessand iconic collisionindustry leader andcontributor. He was afixture within SCRS,the SCRS Board of
Directors and a mentor to many of us in ourcareers and businesses.
March was passionate about ad-dressing inaccurate estimating data andvolunteered his time collecting, re-searching and processing hundreds ofdatabase inquiries. He was a technicianat heart and was insistent on identifyingareas where the data failed to reflect thereal world requirements technicians’face in the repair process. His work wasthe catalyst and inspiration behind thecreation of the Database EnhancementGateway (DEG), and the concept tohave a centralized point for our indus-try to submit inquiries to.
The DEG (www.degweb.org) is aninitiative that was developed to help ad-dress collision repair estimates data,through proactive feedback from the col-lision repair industry to the informationproviders (IPs) that supply the databasesfor the various estimating products. TheDEG was created, and is equally fundedand maintained by SCRS, Alliance ofAutomotive Service Providers (AASP)and Automotive Service Association(ASA). It is a perfect example of our or-ganization putting membership dollars atwork to address real issues in the indus-try. The DEG has processed more than7,000 inquiries from the industry, manyof which have resulted in changes to theestimating system database, or necessaryexplanations of how they work.
The process is simple, the shopsubmits the inquiry to the DEG and theadministrator works with the represen-tatives from the IPs to bring the inquiryto resolution. Here are some great recentexamples of responsive results fromDEG submissions:7112 - 2004 VW Beetle Left Door Skin6939 - 2013 VW Beetle Roof Panel6602 - 2013 Chevrolet Camaro SS SideBody Drip Molding
If you are using electronic estimat-ing systems to itemize your repairprocess and price your services, it is im-portant to pay attention to the informa-tion being used to create the estimate.
Talk to your estimating staff about theDEG and visit www.degweb.org tocheck it out today.
The DEG and all of its successesare dedicated to the memory of ourgood friend, March Taylor.
46 OCTOBER 2014 AUTOBODY NEWS | www.autobodynews.com
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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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SCRS Posts Tribute to March Taylor for Supporting and Inspiring the DEG
March Taylor
With relatively cheap repair and in-surance rates, why is Wyoming themost expensive state in which to owna car? Gas prices. The state is themost expensive for annual estimatedgas costs, and it’s not even close.Wyoming is over $350 more expen-sive per year than second-ranked Ala-bama. It costs about $1,588 annuallyto fill your car up in Wyoming. At$324, repair costs are reasonable, as isinsurance at $792. In total, it costsabout $2,705 per year to own a car inthe most expensive state.
Mississippi is the third-most expen-sive state for annual estimated gaso-line costs, at $1,231. Other costs arenot too outrageous: the state ranks asthe 21st most expensive for insuranceat $901, and repair costs come in at$356 per year. But thanks largely tothose gas prices, owning a car in Mis-sissippi comes with an annual esti-mated cost of $2,487.
WY is the Most Expensive Statein the US for Car Ownership
FL is the Third Most ExpensiveState in Which to Own a Car
MS is the 4th Most ExpensiveState for Car Ownership Overall
Repair costs are about in line withOhio’s, at an annual estimated cost$329, and insurance is the third-cheap-est of all states at $658. Wisconsin,though, is 1 of 22 states with gasolineprices over the annual estimated costof $1,000 ($1,031). That’s over halfthe annual estimated car ownershipcost of $2,018 in the state.
WI is the 5th Cheapest State inWhich to Own a Car
According to Bankrate.com there isno one cost that is astronomical inFlorida when it comes to owning acar, but all three factors Bankratemeasured were on the high side. Es-timated annual repair costs are $377,11th most-expensive among the 50states and D.C. Insurance costs are$1,124, comfortably in the top-10most-expensive states, and gasolinecosts are $1,015. Overall, the cost ofowning a car per year in Florida isabout $2,516.
www.autobodynews.com | OCTOBER 2014 AUTOBODY NEWS 47
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Season 34 of MotorWeek, television’slongest-running automotive series, cel-ebrates the reinvention of the automo-bile. Upcoming 2015 and 2016 modelswill feature the highest level of info-tainment, safety, and driver’s aid tech-nology ever on four wheels andMotorWeek will cover all of it in ex-citing detail. This new technology istransforming how automobiles interactwith consumers as well as how theydrive, paving the way for the emer-gence of the autonomous, self-drivingcar. The new season of MotorWeekpremieres on public television stationsnationwide beginning Sept. 5, 2014.
Season 34 of MotorWeek willhighlight advanced functions such asCollision Mitigation, Lane Keep As-sist, Rear Cross Traffic Alert, andother driver aids that are a step to-wards cars that completely drivethemselves. While this approachmay be somewhat alarming to auto-motive enthusiasts, it will be a boonfor everyone that loves or needs theeveryday freedom that driving anautomobile provides. “The au-tonomous automobile will not onlycontinue America’s love affair withthe automobile, but move it to aneven higher level of usefulness,”says John Davis, MotorWeek Host
and Senior Executive Producer.One new technology, Collision
Mitigation, which uses a radar aidedbraking system to slow and even stopa vehicle to avoid a collision, will be-come a special focus of MotorWeek’scontinuing commitment to drivingsafety. In season 34 MotorWeek will
inaugurate a new test for cars with au-tomatic braking systems. MotorWeekwill add a low speed barrier test, thefirst all-new test in our Road Testregime in a generation. This new bar-rier test was created to measure the ef-fectiveness of the various automaticbraking systems among differentmakes and models. MotorWeek Sea-son 34 will reveal how automaticbraking systems react in low speedcollisions; one of the most commonaccidents causing billions of dollars
in insurance claims for injuries andproperty damage.
The season premiere of Motor-Week features the newest addition tothe BMW family, the exotic 2015BMW i8 advanced hybrid, the com-pact 2015 Lincoln MKC utility, the700-plus horsepower 2015 DodgeChallenger SRT Hellcat, along withthe all-new 2015 Acura TLX. Otherhighlights from MotorWeek’s newseason include road test reviews of the2015 Chevrolet Camaro Z28, de-signed and engineered to be the fasteststreet-legal Camaro ever built; and thenew 2015 Lexus NX, the brand’s firstcompact luxury crossover.
MotorWeek’s line-up of popularsegments returns with Master Techni-cian Pat Goss offering do-it-yourselfcar care advice at Goss’ Garage.Yolanda Vazquez will continue to tackleconsumer news and trends in FYI andMotor News. Roving reporter ZachMaskell goes Over the Edge with aquirky and fun look at the auto world inoverdrive, while Brian Robinson re-views the newest motorcycles andscooters in Two Wheelin’. MotorWeekalso continues its decade-long empha-sis on the widening availability andpracticality of hybrid and electric vehi-cles in Green Motoring.
Season 34 of MotorWeek 2014 Features Collision Mitigation, Traffic Alerts
MotorWeek Cast Members
It costs more to fix your car in NewJersey than in any other state, withan annual estimated cost of $393.New Jersey is also the third-most-expensive state for auto insuranceat $1,244 per year. Gas, though, isaffordable, with New Jersey rank-ing as the sixth cheapest state inthis category at $783. For owninga car in New Jersey, you pay about$2,421 per year.
NJ is 5th Most Expensive Statefor Auto Ownership
It was an up and down sales monthfor the Big Three US automakers,with Chrysler and Ford seeinggains while General Motors saw re-tail sales decline, though fleet salesmade up some of the ground. Alltold, a total of 1.58 million light ve-hicles were sold in August, accord-ing to data from Wards Auto. Thisbrings the year-to-date total to 11.3million units, a 5% increase over2013.
