Autobody News June 2011 Southwest Edition

The Houston Auto Body Association(HABA) has been in support of sev-eral Senate and House Bills in thestate this year.

Among them are Senate Bills944 and 1300, which each had a hear-ing on April 17 in the state's House ofRepresentatives.

SB 944 was introduced by TexasSenator Mike Jackson earlier thisyear and would create an advisorycommittee for the Texas InsuranceCommissioner that would make rec-ommendations regarding automobileinsurance claims.

SB 1300 will require more dis-closure from insurers about their Di-rect repair Program policies andrequirements.

The Houston Auto Body Association Hosts Body Shop Ownersand Managers at Appreciation Event to Meet New MembersThe Houston Auto Body Associationhosted their first annual Body ShopOwners and Managers Appreciation

event at the Cadillac Bar in Houstonon May 19 at 7 pm.

The event drew about 150 in at-

tendance according to HABA’s Presi-dent James Brown. HABA decidedto host this event in lieu of theirmonthly members’ meeting thismonth in order to show prospectivemembers and local industry peoplemore about the organization and theirmembers’ interests (see adjacentstory.) The event was such a successthat the HABA has decided to conductthe event annually.

“The HABA wanted to host thisevent to show our appreciation to thebody shop owners and managers inHouston and the surrounding areas,”said Brown. “We also wanted to pro-vide the opportunity for everyone tosee what the HABA was all about in afun and relaxing atmosphere.”

The association also had six newshops sign up for membership after at-tending the event.

For more information about theHouton Auto Body Association pleasevisit www.habaonline.org.

Allstate Will Buy Esurance and Answer FinancialIn a bid to capture more business fromcustomers who shop online, AllstateCorp. has agreed to buy two popularonline insurance sellers—Esuranceand the associated site, Answer Fi-nancial. Allstate will pay a total priceof about $1 billion– $700 million plusthe tangible book value of the twofirms acquired at close.

Esurance is the third-largestprovider of online auto insurancequotes through its website and a 24/7call center. It sells in 30 states. Overthe past five years, Esurance has more

than doubled policies in force andgrown premiums on average 20 per-cent per year, according to the com-pany, which advertises heavily. It alsosells other personal lines coverages.

Answer Financial provides autoinsurance quote comparisons from 20brand-name auto insurance companiesto buyers in all 50 states. The carriersit represents include Esurance, Trav-elers, Progressive, Safeco, Met LifeAuto & Home, Unitrin and The Hart-ford. In July, it reported having

See Allstate Buys Esurance, Page 28

TX Legislative Update from theHouston Auto Body Association

See HABA Legislation, Page 10

Over 150 people attended the AppreciationEvent, covering the Cadillac Bar’s dance floor

Active HABA member Larry Cernosek enjoysthe reception

COLUMNS in this issue...Schroeder — The Body Shop Garage Opens in Woodward, OK .p. 14Amaradio — The Good Old Days . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .p. 17Insurance Insider — Allstate Deserves Credit for DRPs . . . . . . .p. 18Espersen — The Value of Service Repair Information . . . . . . . . .p. 20Weaver — Shift Happens: The Story of Three Transmissions . . .p. 21Chess — Getting OSHA-Compliant Part 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .p. 30Evans — Repairing a Quarter Panel, Bumper, and Molding . . . .p. 36

REGIONAL ARTICLES in this issue...Body Shop Manager Elected Chairman for TX State Fair . . . . . .p. 4ASA Testifies at Texas Franchise Tax Law Hearing . . . . . . . . . . .p. 4NWLCRA May Meeting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .p. 6OK Attorney General, Commissioner Focus on Fraud . . . . . . . . .p. 9

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www.autobodynews.com | JUNE 2011 AUTOBODY NEWS 3

SouthwestPublisher & Editor: Jeremy Hayhurst

General Manager: Barbara DaviesAssistant Editor: Erica SchroederContributing Writers: Tom Franklin, John Yoswick, Lee Amaradio, Dan EspersenJanet Chaney, Toby Chess, Mike Causey, Tom McGee, David Brown, Rich Evans,Ed Attanasio, Chasidy SiskAdvertising Sales: Joe Momber, Sean Hartman (800) 699-8251Sales Assistant: Kristy MangumArt Director: Rodolfo Garcia

Serving Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, New Mexico and adjacent metro areas, Autobody Newsis a monthly publication for the autobody industry. Permission to reproduce in any form thematerial published in Autobody News must be obtained in writing from the publisher.©2011 Adamantine Media LLC.

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

Allen Samuels Katy Chrysler-Jeep-Dodge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Audi Wholesale Parts Dealers . . . . 29Autoland Scientech. . . . . . . . . . . . . 21BASF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7BMW Wholesale Parts Dealers . . . . . 8Chevyland . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14Chief Automotive. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17Classifieds. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38Dallas Dodge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40David McDavid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2Equalizer Industries . . . . . . . . . . . . 26Ford Wholesale Parts DealersTX, OK, LA, NM. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Garmat USA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6Gene Messer Hyundai . . . . . . . . . . 31Global PDR Solutions . . . . . . . . . . . 27GM Wholesale Parts Dealers . . . . . 33Honda/Acura Wholesale PartsDealers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

Huffines Hyundai Plano . . . . . . . . . 10Hyundai Wholesale Parts Dealers . 22Kia Motors Wholesale Parts Dealers. 13LKQ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

Mark’s Casa Mitsubishi. . . . . . . . . . 12Mazda Wholesale Parts Dealers . . . 28Mercedes-Benz of Oklahoma. . . . . 30Mike Calvert Toyota. . . . . . . . . . . . . 29Mitsubishi Wholesale Parts Dealers. 35MOPAR Wholesale Parts Dealers . . 15Nissan/Infiniti Wholesale PartsDealers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Parkway Family Mazda . . . . . . . . . . 26Quality Stainless Products . . . . . . . 28Ray Huffines Chevrolet . . . . . . . . . . . 5Replica Plastics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33Safety Regulations Strategies. . . . . . 4SATA Spray Equipment . . . . . . . . . . 9Scoggin-Dickey Buick . . . . . . . . . . 18Scorpion Coatings . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23Subaru Wholesale Parts Dealers . . 11Suzuki Wholesale Parts Dealers. . . 38Toyota Wholesale Parts Dealers . . . 31VIM Tools. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36Volkswagen Wholesale PartsDealers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

Volvo Wholesale Parts Dealers . . . . 32Young Chevrolet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Inde

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REGIONAL

ASA Testifies at Texas Franchise Tax Law

Hearing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Body Shop Manager Elected Chairman

for TX State Fair . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

CMC to Install Auto Shredder in South

Texas. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Gerber Collision and Glass Acquires

Georgia Shop. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Hail Storm Brings Influx of Repairs for

TX Shops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

LA House Repeals Ban On Impounding

Uninsured Cars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

LA Insurance Agent Sentenced in

Fraud Case . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Northwest Louisiana Collision Repair

Association Hosts Local SkillsUSA

Winning Students, Hertz . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

OK Attorney General and Insurance

Commissioner Announce Joint Focus

on Fraud . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Oklahoma Insurance Commissioner Doak

Urges Passage of Uninsured Motorists

Protection Bill . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Oklahoma Technical Students Place In

Ford/AAA Student Auto Skills Contest

Held in Okmulgee. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Suspicious Fire At Tulsa Auto Body Shop

Still Under Investigation . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

The Houston Auto Body Association Hosts

Body Shop Owners and Managers

Appreciation Event to Meet New

Members. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

TX Legislative Update from the Houston

Auto Body Association. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

West Virginia Insurance Commissioner to

Retire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

COLUMNISTS

Amaradio - The Good Old Days . . . . . . . . 17

Chess - Getting OSHA-Compliant on

Signage, Electrical and Power Tools . . . 30

Danalevich - Total Loss Fees Are Profits to

be Gained, Not Given Back. . . . . . . . . . 22

Espersen - The Value of Service Repair

Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Evans - Repairing Quarter Panel, Bumper,

and Molding: No Time, No Money . . . . 36

Franklin - Focusing Marketing Efforts on

a Narrow Demographic Yields More

Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Insurance Insider - Allstate, Founder of

DRPs, Deserves Some Credit for

Improving Repair Industry . . . . . . . . . . 18

Schroeder - The Body Shop Garage Opens

in Woodward, Oklahoma . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Weaver - Shift Happens: The Story of the

Three Transmissions and a Limp KIA . . 21

Women’s Industry Network Conference

Held in San Diego . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

Yoswick - Industry Trends and Changes in

Future Vehicles at WIN Conference. . . . 24

NATIONAL

AASP Awards Grants to NABC and Auto

Education Institute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

Alabama Auto-Scrapping Bill Curtails Auto

Scrap Industry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Allstate Will Buy Esurance and Answer

Financial . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

ASA Announces its 2011 Government

Affairs Committee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

ASA Announces its Collision Operations

2011 Committee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

ASA Discusses New Refinish Regulation

with EPA Officials. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

Gunder Supporters Release Infinity

Insurance’s Voice Recordings . . . . . . . 12

Infinity Insurance Apologizes for Gunder’s

Auto Center Customer Recordings . . . 16

National Average for Body and Paint Labor

Rates Up Only Modestly Since 2006 . . 20

Porsche North America HQ to Leave Sandy

Springs, GA, for Nearby Ex-Ford Plant in

Atlanta. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Contents


The Ford/AAA Student Auto Skills isa nationwide automotive technologycompetition for high school juniorsand seniors interested in pursuing ca-reers as automotive service techni-cians.

The Oklahoma state champi-onships were held in Okmulgee at theend of April, and students from localschools were able to walk away aswinners—some with a ride to the na-tional portion of the competition in-hand.

The competition tests students’automotive knowledge, workmanshipand problem-solving abilities with awritten test as well as a race againstthe clock to diagnose and properly re-pair intentionally “bugged” vehicles.

Each year, Oklahoma StateUniversity Institute of Technologyin Okmulgee is the host for thisstatewide contest. This year’s con-test brought together juniors andseniors from 10 technology centersacross Oklahoma.

This year’s first place winningteam was from Moore Norman Tech-nology Center in Norman. StudentsLathan Springer and Donovan Pe-ters, along with instructor Lee Dow,made up the winning team. They willrepresent the state in the National

Hands-on Finals in June at FordHeadquarters in Dearborn, Michi-gan.

AAA Oklahoma and Ford MotorCompany sponsor the competition toencourage technically-minded youngpeople to pursue careers in the auto-motive service industry. At stake dur-ing the competition are scholarships,prizes and letters of recommendationto future employers.

In 2010, 10,500 automotive tech-nology students competed for a sharein a record-high $11.5 million inscholarships available through thestate and national competitions.

The winners of the competitionwere:• First Place: Lathan Springer, Dono-van Peters and instructor Lee Dowfrom Moore Norman TechnologyCenter in Norman.• Second Place: William Cotton,Payton McCuistion and instructorShelly Smith from Meridian Tech-nology Center in Stillwater.• Third Place: Cameron Kaiser,Matthew Hart and instructor DarrenBarnhill from Indian Capital Tech-nology Center in Muskogee.• Fourth Place: Ray Busby, DanielCarroll and instructor Stacy Estesfrom Red River Technology Center

Oklahoma Technical Students Place In Ford/AAAStudent Auto Skills Contest Held in Okmulgee

Alan Walne, Body Shop Manager atHerb’s Paint & Body Shops in Texas,was elected chairman of the board ofdirectors and chairman of the execu-tive committee of the State Fair ofTexas during the annual meeting ofthe board on April 20 at The Women’sMuseum in Fair Park. Walne succeedsRuben Esquivel, who served aschairman from 2007-2011. Esquivelwill continue as a member of both theboard and executive committee dur-ing Walne’s term. Five new memberswere elected to the board of directors;Sam Burford, Levi Davis, RobertEstrada, Wendy Lopez and CraigWoodcook will serve on the 55-member board of State Fair of Texas,Inc., the private, non-profit corpora-tion responsible for presenting the an-nual exposition.

By accepting the responsibilitiesas chairman, Walne joins a long lineof distinguished civic leaders whohave provided direction for the StateFair since it was originally charteredin 1886. A board member since 2004,he has served on the Fair’s executiveand finance committees. Walne iswell known for his commitment tothe community. He served as a mem-ber of the board of managers at Park-

land Health & Hospital System untilFebruary 2011. He served as the dis-trict 10 representative on the DallasCity Council, where he served on theBusiness & Commerce, Finance &Audit, Legislative Affairs, and Trans-portation & Telecommunicationscommittees. He has also served thecity of Dallas in many other waysoutside of the City Council. He hasbeen on the board of directors for theSBC Cotton Bowl, White RockYMCA, Trinity Commons, DallasCivil Service, and Dallas Parks &Recreation. Walne has been a mem-ber of the Texas Natural ResourcesConservation Commission, SmallBusiness Advisory Panel of the TexasNatural Resources ConversationCommission, Richardson Chamberof Commerce, Plano Chamber ofCommerce, Lake Highlands VOCTAdvisory Committee, and the Doc-tors Hospital Governing Board. Heserved as Dallas ASA Body Shopchairman, a former member of theDallas committee of the Inter-Indus-try Council on Auto Repair, and is amember of the Salesmanship Club ofDallas. He holds a Bachelor of Busi-ness Administration Finance fromTexas Tech University.

Body Shop Manager Elected TX State Fair ChairmanThe Automotive Service Association(ASA) has testified before the HouseWays and Means Committee of theTexas General Assembly in Austin,Texas, about an inequity in the currentTexas Franchise Tax code.

In her testimony, DeniseCaspersen, ASA’s Collision Divisionmanager, discussed the association’ssupport for Texas House Bill 429, abill introduced by Rep. AllenFletcher, R-130, to reclassify the au-tomotive repair industry as “retail” forpurposes of the franchise tax.

“Currently, in the Texas Fran-chise Tax code, automotive repairand collision shops owned and oper-ated by new or used car dealershipsare taxed at half the rate used to taxindependently owned automotive re-pair businesses doing identicalwork,” said Caspersen. “The taxcode classifies dealership sales as‘retail’ and allows their service andrepair business to be included underthat banner. Texas independent re-pairers are seeking similar treat-ment.”

ASA members from Texas alsospoke in support of the legislation.

House Bill 429, if passed, wouldallow automotive repair shops to be

taxed the same amount that dealers,parts stores and tire stores are nowtaxed. The Texas Senate has also in-troduced its version of the bill, Sen-ate Bill 476.

ASA is asking Texas repairersto continue to support House Bill429 and its companion, Senate Bill476, by contacting their state legis-lators urging support for the legisla-tion.

ASA Testifies at Texas Franchise Tax Law Hearing

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Collision Centers & Body Shops

The Northwest Louisiana CollisionRepair Association held their monthlymeeting in the Collision Repair Class-room at Louisiana Technical Collegein Shreveport, LA on May 3. Themeeting was brought to order by Pres-ident Chris Fielder by reading theanti-trust statement, which is requiredto begin every NWLCRA meeting.Also hosting the meeting was Secre-tary-Treasurer Bill Burnside.

The group discussed the recentSkillsUSA Competition and asked forall the local winners that were attend-ing the meeting to stand, introducethemselves and tell a little about them-selves. Joshua Taylor is a Senior atNorthwood High School and is a Col-lision Repair student of Caddo Career& Technology Center. Joshua tookFirst Place in the Collision RepairTechnology category. He is currentlyworking at Shouse Collision Repair &Frame Center. Jerry Shouse, ownerof Shouse Collision Repair & FrameCenter, said Joshua is currently work-ing with estimating. Joshua is going tocompete at the National Skills com-petition.

Hunter Lyman is a Senior atCaptain Shreve High School, and is aCollision Repair student of Caddo Ca-reer & Technology Center. Huntertook First Place in the Auto RefinishTechnology category. He has beenworking with Red River Chevroletwhile at school and has been offered afull-time permanent position withthem after graduation.

Next, was Ryan Hickman, aSenior at Airline High School and astudent of Bossier Parish TechnicalSchool. Ryan took Third Place in theCollision Repair Technology cate-gory. He is currently working at Belle-vue Paint & Body in Haughton, LA.

Lastly was Marquette Tolbert, aSenior at Woodlawn High School anda student at Caddo Career & Technol-ogy Center. Marquette took SecondPlace in the Collision Repair Technol-ogy category. He has been working atMoffitt Mazda Porsche Audi Volkswa-gen Body Shop. He is going to be at-tending Louisiana College, withfuture plans to also attend LouisianaTech University.

George Jackson, Instructor forthe Collision Repair Program atCaddo Career & Technology Center,and Mark Monroe, Instructor for the

Collision Repair Program at BossierParish Technical School were also atthe meeting.

Jackson praised the efforts of allthe students that participated in thisstatewide competition. He said thestudents used their Spring Break toprepare for the Skills Competition. Healso stated that the students are nowpreparing for Nationals. He made a re-quest to any Collision Center for helpwith any type—training, painting,etc.—that would be helpful to a stu-dent preparing for the Nationals, tocontact him to arrange times. If any-one wants to donate funds, this alsowould be greatly appreciated and wel-comed.

If anyone would like to offer helpto the students headed to Nationals,please e-mail Bill Burnside [email protected]

Bill Burnside, Secretary-Trea-surer for the NWLCRA, stated thatthe NWLCRA historically has do-nated funds for the First Place winnersthat go to Nationals. A motion wasmade and seconded to pay $100 foreach First Place winners in each cate-gory of the competition. Congratula-tions to Joshua Taylor, First Placewinner in the Collision Repair Tech-nology category, and Hunter Lyman,First Place winner in the Auto Refin-ish Technology category.

Many of the NWLCRA membersthat also helped by judging this eventwere present at this month’s meeting,and were recognized for their contin-ued service to the Collision Repair In-dustry.

Bill went on to discuss an Indus-try Day meeting that will be held onJune 14, 2011. This Industry Day willcenter around speakers includingChuck Sulkala, a widely recognizedspeaker and spokesperson for the Col-lision Repair Industry, and MikeSprinkle, Texas Business Develop-ment Manager for DuPont.

There will be four sessions forthe NWLCRA sponsored event. Eachsession will have four classes that willcover Computers, Measuring for Es-timating, Parts and Allied ProductTracking. Daniel Wheeler of Soft-ware Works Consulting will discussthe computer changes that are goingto occur in the next 12 months. Meas-uring for Estimating will be discussedby Marvin Garcia of Car-O-Liner.

3M will discuss their upcoming partsprogram concerning the repair/replaceconsiderations, and managing Alliedmaterials cost. Dupont will have aspecial class in the morning on Build-ing Customer Pay and an afternoonclass on Blueprinting.

The Industry Day is going to belimited to the first 100 people that signup for the seminars in order to keepclass sizes small and interactive. TheNWLCRA will also be partneringwith the National Auto Body Council(NABC) during the Industry Day inorder to collect cell phones for theCell Phones for Soldiers Program.The NWLCRA will have a drop-offarea for the phones during the Indus-try Day and will also be handing outmaterials to attendees about having adrop-off location at their own busi-nesses. The program collects used cellphones and turns them into cash,which is used to buy calling cards forsoldiers to call home with.

Bill also discussed the current


Commercial Metals Co (CMC) ofIrving, Texas, has announced plans toinstall a 3,000-horsepower Harrisshredder with an online/offline non-ferrous separation system at a newsite in Corpus Christi, Texas.

According to a press release is-sued by CMC, the shredder will bebuilt on a 63-acre greenfield site about5 miles from CMC’s existing scrapprocessing facility in Corpus Christi.

Construction will begin in Maywith completion anticipated by Janu-ary 2012, the company says.

Joe Alvarado, CMC presidentand chief operating officer, says, “In-stallation of this new shredder en-sures CMC will continue to meet therecycling needs of the Corpus Christiarea and further demonstrates ourcommitment to grow our CMC Re-cycling division.”

With the announced installation,CMC will operate eight auto shred-ders in North America.

CMC to Install AutoShredder in South Texas

Northwest Louisiana Collision Repair Association HostsLocal SkillsUSAWinning Students, Hertz Reps Speak

See NWLCRA, Page 8 www.autobodynews.com


legislature that’s meeting in Louisianaand the issues before them. Some ofthe Bills are 338 and 583. Bill 338 isto prohibit the use of handheld cellu-lar devices while driving. Bill 583 isto prohibit the use of after-markethigh intensity lights.

Bill also talked about degweb.org,the Database Enhancement Gateway,developed to help improve the qualityand accuracy of collision repair esti-mates, through proactive feedbackfrom the collision repair industry andother “end users” to the InformationProviders (IPs) that supply the supplydatabases for the various estimatingproducts.

This month’s guest speakers wereStephanie deCalongne and CarolineHaraguchi from Hertz Local Edition.They were invited to speak by DonBrown of Precision Autobody.

deCalongne began by discussingthe well-known car rental companyand how they have changed over theyears. One of the changes has beenhow they have branches that focus on

the Collision Industry. She said thattheir location, 2119 Airline Drive,Bossier City, LA, works with the localCollision Industry to provide vehiclerentals for the owners of the vehiclesbeing repaired.

They have been working closelywith the Collision Repair Industrysince 2003. Before this, Hertz made awell-known name by offering vehiclerentals at airports.

What makes the Local Editiondifferent than renting at the Airport, isa lower rental charge because theydon’t have to charge the Airport UseTax which is required for all airportrentals.

The average savings is around10% on normal charges. deCalongnestated that they are able to offer a largevariety of vehicles because they areable to share fleets with all locationsof Hertz.

They are able to truck vehicles allover the region to meet the needs of heircustomers. Caroline Haraguchi addedthat they are the first company to offera lower age to rent a vehicle; they areable to rent to people 20 years of age.

They are able to rent one way,with unlimited mileage, no hidden

fees, and direct billing. They can offera collision repair facility a directbilling for cases such as a redo. Inmost cases, they are able to offer di-rect billing to the insurance company,if they are provided with a claim num-ber.

Deposits can be waived in someinstances for certain insurance com-panies. Their deposit, when one is re-quired for direct billing, is only $50.State Farm Insurance and ProgressiveInsurance companies allow Hertz torent to 20-year olds, and for 18-yearolds to drive the rental.

Stephanie closed the meeting bypassing out flyers that allows NWL-CRA members to get a discount whenusing Hertz. This will give a 20% offweekly/weekday rates, weekend ratesstarting at $21.49/day, free pickupand return service, and age 20+ rent-ing.

Members can visit their Hertz lo-cation and mention they are a memberof the Northwest Louisiana CollisionRepair Association, and provide aCDP number to receive a member dis-count.

Visit www.nwlcra.org for moreinformation.


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NWLCRAA Plaquemine, LA, insurance agenthas been sentenced to more than fouryears in federal prison for mail fraudthat cost several of his clients nearly$1.4 million.

U.S. District Judge Brian A.Jackson ordered 67-year-oldWilliam J. Coury to report to federalprison on May 29. Coury will servean additional two years under the su-pervision of federal investigators afterhe completes his 51-month prisonterm, according to U.S. AttorneyDonald J. Cazayoux Jr.

The judge also ordered Coury topay full restitution of $1,375,121.87to his Jefferson Parish victims, whoare listed in court records only bytheir initials.

The former insurance agent ad-mitted he used investment money forpersonal purposes unbeknownst to sixof his clients, who trusted Coury toplace it in annuities or other insuranceproducts.

In his guilty plea on January 27Coury said from at least 1996 through2006, he solicited funds from clientsfor investment in annuities and otherinsurance products but instead keptthe funds for his own use.

LA Insurance Agent Sentencedin Fraud Case


OK Attorney General and Insurance Commissioner Announce Joint Focus on FraudOklahoma Attorney General ScottPruitt and Insurance CommissionerJohn Doak announced plans to re-vamp how insurance fraud is investi-gated and prosecuted in Oklahoma.

“Our two offices are statutorilybound together when it comes to in-vestigating fraud,” Doak said. “Byworking together, we can improve theinvestigation and prosecution of thosewho perpetrate fraud and better pro-tect insurance ratepayers.”

Pruitt and Doak’s offices havebegun analyzing how best to coordi-nate resources and refine the processby which both offices initiate, prepareand complete claimant fraud investi-gations for prosecution.

The Insurance Department in-tends to focus on higher-level fraudand other insurance crimes committedby agents and company executivesthat costs Oklahoma’s ratepayers mil-lions of dollars annually. The AttorneyGeneral’s Office will expand prosecu-tions and investigations of claimantfraud.

“I want to make Oklahoma a dan-gerous place to be an insurance crim-

inal,” Doak said. “If you are an agentor a company executive who is violat-ing the trust of Oklahoma’s insuranceconsumers and the laws of this state,you can expect to be investigated andprosecuted by the Oklahoma Insur-ance Department and the AttorneyGeneral’s Office.”

As the cornerstone in building hisanti-fraud crime team, the AttorneyGeneral has hired former prosecutorVincent Antonioli to head the Work-ers’ Compensation and InsuranceFraud Unit, and plans to hire addi-tional investigators and prosecutors tobegin vigorously pursuing and prose-cuting claimant fraud in workers’compensation and insurance at large.

Michael Copeland has joinedthe Oklahoma Insurance Departmentas a fraud attorney. Copeland will de-velop and direct investigative proce-dures that deliver on Doak’s promiseto better protect Oklahoma consumersfrom insurance fraud. Copeland pre-viously served as an assistant attorneygeneral and later as special prosecutorfor the Republic of Palau, a formerUnited States Protectorate.

“We are confident our plan willresult in increased prosecutions ofhigh-level fraud committed by a fewbad actors in the industry and reduceeveryday fraudulent claims that aredriving up the cost of insurance anddoing business in our state,” Pruittsaid.

The Oklahoma Anti-Fraud Unitalso employs experienced Council onLaw Enforcement Education andTraining (CLEET) certified law en-forcement officers that conduct inves-tigations of various white-collarcrimes related to insurance fraud. TheAnti-Fraud Unit works closely with anumber of local, state and federal lawenforcement agencies and prosecutorsto bring offenders to justice.

The Anti-Fraud Unit also con-ducts regulatory investigations of civilviolations within the insurance indus-try. The Anti-Fraud Unit worksclosely with the OID Legal Divisionin these administrative proceedings todiscipline those entities engaged inwrongdoing.

Oklahoma is a “mandatory re-porting” state when it comes to sus-

pected or alleged fraud. This meansthat insurance companies doing busi-ness in the State of Oklahoma are re-quired by law to immediately reportsuspected insurance fraud to the Anti-Fraud Unit.

Report insurance fraud and re-lated white-collar crimes to the Anti-Fraud Unit by calling (800) 522-0071or (405) 521-6614.

The cause of a fire at North Tulsa autobody repair shop remains under in-vestigation after it was sparked at thebusiness on April 20.

Tulsa Fire was dispatched to theshop at 1:30 am on April 20 at 46thStreet North and Peoria.

Firefighters were able to containthe non-injury fire from spreading andmost of the damage was to the insideof the shop.

A small window had been brokenin the building, leading firefighters tobelieve the cause of the fire may besuspicious.

Suspicious Fire At TulsaAuto Body Shop StillUnder Investigation


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Although hail that came through cen-tral Texas in late April was much ap-preciated by firefighters fighting firesthroughout the state, local auto bodyrepair shops were unexpectedly inun-dated with work following the storm.

Lines started forming earlyApril 25 at auto repair shops, as thou-sands of cars in Abilene got ham-mered with hail on April 23 and 24.Reports ranged from pea to softballsized hail in the part of the state westof Dallas.

Abilene fireman J. Sanders re-ported the damage done to his sta-tion’s SUV to Abilene’s KTXS News,including a cracked window, crackedpaint, several large dents and it evenhit the GPS antenna.

“I parked it under a mesquitetree,” Sander told KTXS News, “butthe tree is half gone.”

Wade Keeling told KTXS Newshe had already been waiting 4 hoursto get broken windows fixed on histruck with no guarantee he would beseen, “It’s very frustrating.”

Abilene Auto Glass, one ofmany repair shops in town, estimatedthey would see more than 400 carsthe week following the storm.

Hail Storm Brings Influxof Repairs for TX Shops

According to Larry Cernosekwith the HABA the Texas House leftboth of these bills pending in com-mittee following the hearing.

For more information pleasevisit www.habaonline.org. To viewthe full text of both of these billsplease visit www.autobodynews.com.

Continued from Front Page

HABA Legislation

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Uninsured motorists involved in atraffic accident would be unable to re-ceive compensation for pain and suf-fering damages if they are not at faultunder a bill approved in the Okla-homa Senate on May 20.

The Senate voted 28 to 20 for SB272 despite the objections of Democ-rats who say it’s unfair to punishuninsured accident victims who arenot at fault. The bill now goes to theHouse.

The measure has the support ofOklahoma Insurance CommissionerJohn Doak, who urged the House toapprove the bill and Gov. MaryFallin to sign it.

Republican Sen. Cliff Aldridgewrote the bill and says uninsured mo-torists still would be compensated formedical bills, lost wages and damagesto their vehicles if they are not atfault. He says motorists who break thelaw by not carrying insurance shouldnot be rewarded if they’re in an acci-dent.

Democratic Sen. Connie John-son also questioned why Sen.Aldridge, an insurance agent, wouldcarry a bill that benefits the insuranceindustry and not recuse himself from

voting on it.“Driving is a privilege, not a

right,” Commissioner Doak said in anannouncement released by the Okla-homa Insurance Department. “Inorder to exercise that privilege, we re-quire that drivers be of a minimumage, that they understand our trafficlaws and that they have liability in-surance. This bill reinforces that re-quirement,” he said.

Nearly one in four Oklahomamotorists does not have liability in-surance, Doak said.

“That is the third highest rate na-tionally,” Doak noted, “and Okla-homans pay the third highest autoinsurance premiums, as well, onestudy showed. Steps like SB 272 willencourage motorists who mightforego liability coverage to obtain it.That will reduce help reduce premi-ums because no longer will the in-sured bear the costs of the damageand injuries caused by uninsured mo-torists.”

Similar legislation was vetoed byformer Gov. Brad Henry in 2009.

Doak, a former insurance agent,has more than 20 years of experiencein the insurance industry.

Oklahoma Insurance Commissioner Doak UrgesPassage of Uninsured Motorists Protection Bill

Porsche is expected to move its NorthAmerican headquarters, and hundredsof jobs the plant provides the north-ern Georgia suburb it currently callshome, from Sandy Springs to the oldFord plant site near the Hartsfield-At-lanta International Airport in Atlanta.

Porsche is expected to build of-fices where the plant was demolishedand a test track similar to its PorscheSilverstone facility in England.

Fulton County CommissionerWilliam “Bill” Edwards saidHapeville’s mayor and city councilhave been working hard to fill theplant site and it makes good economicsense for Porsche, with the site’sproximity to the airport and interstate.

“This is just the first step,” Ed-wards said to the Atlanta Journal-Con-stitution. “South Fulton has alwaysbeen misrepresented as a bunch ofpoor black folks and poor white folks.Other people are finding out that it’s adiamond in the rough.”

The move does have its down-sides; Porsche will be leaving the Cen-tral Perimeter business district that hasseveral MARTA rail stops and is closeto neighborhoods favored for housingand schools by employees.

The former Ford plant site, whichwas closed in 2006, currently is not

served by a direct MARTA rail stop,though the city has mentioned arrang-ing a stop from either a future com-muter rail line or the airport’s peoplemover system.

Porsche’s move is likely to takeseveral years, as the office buildingand track would be built from scratch.The company’s current lease in SandySprings is set to expire in 2013.

Porsche has been a major tenantof Lakeside Commons, a 14-storytower in Sandy Springs built in 1998,where the automaker is currentlyheadquartered.

Porsche occupies about 2-1/2floors of that building and wouldempty about 10 percent of the build-ing if it moves. Currently, the build-ing is 85 percent occupied.

The track would emulate Porche’sthree-year-old Silverstone facility inEngland, which offers coaching fordrivers on a track imitating realisticdriving conditions.

A Porsche-themed restaurant andspecial events space accompanies thetrack.

Jacoby Development bought theex-Ford plot in 2008 and has fin-ished removing contaminated build-ings and soil from years of industrialuse.

Porsche North America HQ to Leave Sandy Springs, GA,for Nearby Ex-Ford Plant in Atlanta


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Barrett Smith, with Autodamage Ex-perts, has released a voice recordingof a call made by a representative ofInfinity Insurance to one of Ray Gun-der’s customers. Listen for yourselfby downloading the WAV file atwww.autobodynews.com.

The recordings have been widelyquoted in the appealed case which wasrecently resolved in favor of StateFarm.

Smith comments: “This type ofunderhanded practice goes on moreoften than most are aware or would liketo believe and needs to be curtailed, andone sure way is for it to be exposed tothe masses and for those who conductthemselves in this way to fear exposure.“For those of you who know Ray Gun-der and the manner in which Gunder’sAuto Center operates, listening to thisrecording will likely make your bloodboil... it did mine. This “supposed”claim professional is trying their best tointerfere with and undermine the rela-tionship between Gunder’s and at leastone of its customers. Who knows howmany times this takes place?

Continues Smith, “One has to askthemselves, what type of person hasthe lack of conscience and nerve to lieto a customer about a shop in whichthis claim-person has never dealt withor have first hand information to sup-port what they say?

“The simple fact is she doesn’tand it is apparent she is merely doingas told and reading from a preparedword track intended and designed todisparage Gunder’s good name anddestroy the confidence the customerhad in selecting Gunder’s. A selectionbased upon their experience in havingtheir vehicles repaired at Gunder’smore than once in years past, and haveearned their respect!

“This so-called claim profes-sional likely considers herself to be a

honest and ethical person who caresfor her family and attends church onSunday; but on Monday, goes to workand does things that she is told….re-gardless if right or wrong and does sodespite her personal, ethical or moralconvictions, just as a mercenary or apaid assassin would go about theirbusiness, hiding behind the CorporateInfinity Badge.So one has to ask why a large insur-ance company would do this? Simple,because they have an agenda to con-trol the collision industry and theyhave done so without being held ac-countable and have reaped huge prof-its. Profits that were once the collisionrepairers.“The very scary part; they and otherswho chose to conduct business in thismanner will continue to do so to dis-courage any repairers who choose tostep up and say no to underpaymentsfor necessary processes and materialsneeded to properly serve their clients.”

Ray Gunder adds: “Know thisand take serious heed: As long as therewards outweigh the risks, like a childsneaking cookies, insurers will con-tinue to increase their efforts to profitoff the backs of others’ hard work andsweat while avoiding the liabilities thatcome with underpaid repairs. And ifyou don’t merely submit and allowthem free reign over your business,you too will become a victim of thisvile and unethical practice of lies anddeceit about you and your business.“Just as slapping the child’s hand fortaking too many cookies, or punchingthe bully in the nose when he comes totake your lunch money, it’s only whenthe risks begin to outweigh the rewardsthat bad behaviors will change.

“Each repair professional outthere needs to make a conscientiouschoice to either become a part of thesolution or remain part of the problem.

The choice is yours…use it wisely.“As for Gunder’s; we will continue todo our part to instill accountability anddeter insurers from harming us andour customers. There is strength innumbers and together we con conquerthese types of practices in a short timeframe…regardless, you can be assuredI’ll continue to “Pound That Rock.”The person or persons responsible forthese slanderous, outrageous lies(Lisa Whitehurst being one of them)will be held personally accountable. Ihave to wonder if she knows the effecther hurtful lies could have the twenty-five families dependent on work atGunder’s Auto Center, all of which arehonest, hardworking, ethical people.Is it okay to hide behind her “InfinityCorporate Badge” and attack anyoneshe’s told by management to suppresstheir voice? Opinions welcome.”

Ray GunderGunder’s Auto Center(863) 688-7897

See page 16 for Infinity Insurance’sresponse to these recordings.


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The Boyd Group announced theopening of a new repair center in Mc-Donough, Georgia, on May 3. Thecenter, previously known as McDo-nough Collision, was recently ac-quired by the Boyd Group and nowoperates under the Gerber Collision& Glass trade name.

The new facility is approxi-mately 26,000 square feet in size,with 24,000 square feet of productionspace. With this addition, the BoydGroup is now able to serve con-sumers and insurance clients in thecounty seat of Henry County, 30miles south of Atlanta. The BoydGroup now owns and operates 12 re-pair centers in Georgia and a total of99 in the U.S., including 37 repaircenters that operate under theTrue2Form trade name.

“We continue to execute on ourstrategy of expanding into select mar-kets and growing our network of repaircenters across North America,” saidTim O’Day, President and COO of theBoyd Group’s U.S. Operations. “Thenew McDonough repair center helps usintroduce the Gerber Collision & Glassbrand to an additional Georgia marketand we are very pleased to be able toserve new customers in this location.”

Gerber Collision and GlassAcquires Georgia Shop

Gunder Supporters Release Infinity Insurance’s Voice Recordings

West Virginia Insurance Commis-sioner Jane L. Cline will step downfrom her post on June 30. ActingGov. Earl Ray Tomblin announcedCline’s retirement on May 18. Hedid not name a successor at thattime.

Cline says she is retiring after 30years in state government. She hasserved as insurance commissioner forthe past decade.

Cline was appointed insurancecommissioner in 2001 by then-Gov.Bob Wise.

She also served as Division ofMotor Vehicles commissioner duringthe 1990s. During her tenure Clineoversaw the privatization of West Vir-ginia’s workers’compensation programand addressed medical malpractice andother insurance issues.

West Virginia Insurance Commissioner to Retire

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Kevin Ham looks at his shop—TheBody Shop Garage—in rural Wood-ward, OK, and sees a lifelong dreamcoming true. While it took almost fouryears for the 45-year-old body man toget his own shop running, it’s some-

thing that he’s wanted to accomplishsince he was 16.

“I’ve just always known I wantedto have my own shop,” said Ham.

Ham has worked for other bodyshops in the area for the duration ofhis career and really began makingsteps towards having his own businessin 2007. He bought a building on theend of Main Street from his cousin’swife’s grandfather and began thelengthy process of getting the shopready for his business. Ham rewiredthe entire place, installed better light-ing, sandblasted brick pillars and re-painted.

During the 3 years it took Ham torefinish the shop he continued to workfor another shop in the area and builtcustom hot rods out of the shop-in-progress.

Woodward is a small town ofabout 10,000 with only 3 competing

repair shops in the area, so buzz thatHam was trying to own his own shopsoon started to circulate the town.

One year ago, Ham bought thebuilding connected to the one he wasrestoring to make his shop space big-

ger. Then after almost four years of re-finishing the place, the small businessloan he applied for went through andhe was able to finally get his placerunning.

“Since it’s been going I’ve hardlystopped,” said Ham, “It doesn’t evenseem real.”

The business now sits at about6,100 square-feet, although Ham isalso eyeing another adjacent buildingand may expand there in the near fu-ture. Ham, one other full-time repairman and one part-time repair man,have seen 6–8 cars each week sincethe shop opened in the first week ofMarch. Ham’s son Kurt also helps

with the shop work.Ham projects that

the business will be ableto gross about $500,000per year, based on twoyears of estimates andinvoices of his own workhe saved while workingat another shop. Hamwanted to estimate howmuch work he could pro-duce by himself whilefinding out if owning hisown shop would be fi-nancially feasible.

“I’m really an‘Owner/Operator’ —the

business depends on my productiontoo,” said Ham.

The business has really taken offsince it opened, and Ham has decidedthat he won’t be taking any DRP con-tracts in his shop. “I’ve really resistedthat [DRPs]; there’s supposed to be no

steering but as far as I’m concernedthat’s what it is,” said Ham.

Ham feels as thoughDRP programs put theinsurance adjuster’s jobon the body shop, andthat the quality of hiswork is all he needs torely on to bring plenty ofwork into his shop.

Ham also feels thatthe ‘benefits’ of a DRPfor a shop—the sup-posed increase in busi-ness from insurancecompanies driving cus-tomers to their DRPshops—isn’t all it’scracked up to be.

“How do they knowI wouldn’t get 80% of the businessthey’re supposedly driving to my shopon my own?” asks Ham.

Ham says he is confident in his

abilities and his work as well as hisability to get work into his shop.

“I’ve already got so much goingon, I can’t do the adjusters’ job forthem too,” said Ham.


The Body Shop Garage Opens in Woodward, Oklahoma

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See Body Shop Garage, Page 16

with Erica SchroederShop Showcase Erica Schroeder is a writer and editorial assistant

for Autobody News in Oceanside, CA. She can bereached at [email protected].

The front of The Body Shop Garage buildingin 1946

The front of The Body Shop Garage today

(l-r) Body man Steven Ferguson, Body man Hunter Wellman,Kurt Ham and owner Kevin Ham all wore Marines T-shirts topay tribute to our armed forces

The inside of the shop floor area; the Coca-Cola sign on theleft wall was in the building originally and Ham has decidedto restore it to preserve some of the buildings history


Alabama state laws have scrap yardowner David Hickman dealing withfrustrated customers when he tellsthem that he can’t take their junk carswithout a valid title.

“Lots of times customers want toargue with us when we tell them theyhave to have it,” he said to al.com.“But that’s the law, we can’t take a carwithout a title.”

As of 2010, people selling cars toscrap have had to have the title inorder to sell. This has caused somefriction as owners of junk cars often

don’t have an official title in theirname, either because it’s been lost orbecause the car was signed over tothem by a previous owner, Hickmansaid.

The requirement has all but killedthe auto recycling part of the scrapbusiness, according to Hickman.Hickman isn't the only one feeling thepain; the law has affected every linkin the recycling food chain.

Materials from junk cars feedlow-level parts dealers and car crush-ers, which feed auto-shredding opera-

tions like Hickman’s. Scrap metalgenerated by the shredders also feedsmills and manufacturers like SSAB innorth Mobile County and Huron Val-ley Steel Corp. in Anniston.

The title requirement law took abite out of all of those industries, saidGraham Champion, a lobbyist forthe Alabama Recycling Association, alobbying association. The recyclers

are pushing a bill in the Legislaturethat would ease the title requirementto make it easier for scrap dealers tobuy junk cars. The would hopefullyincrease business for recyclers andbring more scrap metal into the state.

Efforts of the recyclers, however,have pitted them against local law en-forcement officials, who say the new


Ham grew up in Woodward andmet a lot of industry people while work-ing for nearby shops over the years,making finding new customers andvendors for his own shop much easier.

Ham relied on English Color andSupply (see Autobody News May2011) to supply him with all his paintneeds, but they went above and be-yond what was expected.

“They’re people that will reallystand behind you,” said Ham.

Ham buys his paint—BASFbrand—as well as a spray booth and a

used frame machine from EnglishColor. They also supplied him withsome items he needed on consign-ment; a new paint bank, cabinet, scale,a computer and paint shaker. Hamthought they were going to providethese materials used but they camethrough with all new supplies for theshop.

The biggest obstacles Ham raninto while getting his business startedmostly had to do with securing a smallbusiness loan. He applied for the loanin May and was not approved untilNovember.

“I really wanted to get this thingstarted in the summer because I knewthe winter would slow things down,”

said Ham. But with the bank loan tak-ing so long Ham had no choice but tostart getting the business running inthe winter.

Starting in the winter slowed a lotof the supply deliveries Ham neededand made some of the final buildingrenovations difficult. Capital im-provements like pouring new concreteand laying a new roof were put onhold because they are temperature-sensitive tasks.

Ham also found a lot of the localand state coding enforcement to be ahurdle for opening the business, butever since it’s been open Ham has hada steady stream of work.

“There’s just been this buzz,”

said Ham, “I never thought I could doit—and now I’m getting to do it.”

Ham’s hot rod business has notstopped either. Although he’s been try-ing to focus more on the commercial,body shop end of the business he’sstill been getting calls and requests forhis hot rod services—the chief reasonfor his desire to purchase a third con-nected building and further expand hisbusiness.

“I can’t turn off the hot rod busi-ness,” said Ham, “It’s part of me.”

The Body Shop Garage518 Main StWoodward, OK 73801(580) 334-4071


Body Shop Garage

On May 3, Infinity Insurance’s Re-gional Claims Manager, Tim Wal-dron, called and spoke to RayGunder of Gunder’s Auto Center inLakeland, FL, and repeatedly apolo-gized for the recent comments madeby an Infinity claims person to one ofGunder’s customers who captured iton a recorder.

The voice heard is that of Infin-ity Insurance Claim Person, LisaWhitehurst saying the followingword track to one of Gunder’s AutoCenter’s customers: “I spoke with ourre-inspector, who went out and re-in-spected the vehicle at the body shop,”Whitehurst said in the message. “Hesaid that this body shop has beenknown to give us issues in the pastwith other vehicles that they’ve re-paired and apparently they are knownfor overcharging a great deal for theamount of damages and trying to addthings that aren’t relevant to, youknow, the repairs. They’re alsoknown for holding the vehiclehostage until all the payment ismade.”

As a result of the egregiousstatements made by Infinity’s repre-sentative, Ray Gunder immediatelycontacted his legal counsel, BrentGeohagan, who promptly sent a let-ter placing the insurer’s claims man-ager on notice and demanding thatInfinity Insurance agree and confirm,in writing within 10 days, that suchwrongful conduct on behalf of anyInfinity Insurance representative willcease and desist immediately with nore-occurrences.

In response, Tim Waldron, In-finity Insurance Company’s Re-gional Claims Manager, called andspoke to Ray Gunder personally andrepeatedly apologized for the recentcomments and conduct of the claimsperson and her manager and advisedRay that this was an isolated inci-dent and further assured him that thematter would be addressed and thatno such conduct would take place inthe future with Gunder’s nor anyother repairers stating: “this is notthe way Infinity conducts its busi-ness”.

Infinity Insurance Apologizes for Gunder’sAuto Center Customer Recordings

Alabama Auto-Scrapping Bill Curtails Auto Scrap Industry

See ALAuto Scrap, Page 38

The danger in focusing on the past isthat we sometimes forget to deal withthe present in a productive manner. Bythis I mean that we want everything tobe as is was and keep thinking thatthings soon will return to the way theywere pre-recession.

I’m not trying to say things won’treturn to our past prosperity but wecannot let it control our actions today.I took a look at my shop recently andrealized that I was putting off neces-sary maintenance on almost every-thing. My mindset was ‘as soon as weget the extra money I will get thatdone’ or ‘I will buy that extra piece ofequipment.’Without realizing it, I hadput everything on hold.

I was also unconsciously sendinga message to my staff that things weremuch worse that they actually were.This in turn created a trickle down ef-fect that affected the morale of the en-tire shop. I didn’t realize any of this

until I heard some rumors that wewere in financial trouble. People hadbegun to draw their own conclusionsbecause we had tightened up so much.

Yes, we needed to adjust andtighten things up, but we were farfrom any financial trouble. Other thancomplaining about my credit lines get-ting cut nothing I said ever impliedthat we were in any financial trouble.But simply because we had begun towatch everything and make everyoneaccountable people drew their ownconclusions.

The danger is that perception canbecome reality, to many people, so tosay, “don’t worry, we are fine” didn’tseem to boost my staff’s confidence. Ihad an employee meeting to try to killany rumors. That seemed to help butthere was still a sense of uneasinessamongst my staff. This was amazingbecause what concerned them themost was something that I hadn’t even

thought about, which was their futureemployment.

As a leader, I was so focused ontightening up that every time anyoneask to spend money on anything I justcomplained and said ‘no.’ So the resultof my attitude created insecurityamong those I employed. The attitude Ihad taken to belt tightening gave themthe feeling that they may be my nextcut, which was not the case at all. Thisdoesn’t mean that I wouldn’t terminatea deadbeat employee but unconsiouslyI was making everyone nervous andthis was not my intention. I was addingadditional stress to my crew and I wasneither a good leader nor helping themproduce, as they should.

I’ve realized now that eventhough times are different they are re-ally better than any of us want to admit.What I mean is that things could bemuch, much, worse. Everything comesdown to how we look at things. The

message we send our employees withour attitude as owners can reallychange how they see things. I starteddoing some much-needed maintenanceand purchased some more key piecesof equipment. I haven’t thrown cautionto the wind because we need every-thing we have done or purchased but Ilet employees know it was happening.

The payoff is already evident be-cause I am watching my staff’s attitudebecome more focused and more re-laxed. I am seeing that no matter howoften told them ‘everything is fine’they needed to see action to feel com-fortable about their future with me. Iwas sending the wrong message by notmoving ahead because I was lookingback all too often. Now, all of myplans are for the future and where weare heading. Because the “good olddays” will only be the “good old days”as long as we allow them to be. Lookto the “Good New Days” Ahead…


Action Countswith Lee Amaradio Jr.

Lee Amaradio, Jr. is the president and owner of “Faith” Quality Auto Body Inc. in Murrieta,California. Lee is president of the CRA as well as an advocate for many other industrygroups. He can be contacted at [email protected]

The Good Old Days

“The Insider” is an auto insurancecompany executive who wishes to re-main anonymous in order to speakfreely. This column offers an unvar-nished look at various issues impact-ing the collision industry from theinsurance perspective—Ed.

Who benefits the most from di-rect repair programs? Insurers will tellyou the consumer. Repairers will saythe insurance company. The consumerhas no idea and doesn’t care. They justwant their car fixed correctly andquickly.

In my humble opinion, the shopreceives the biggest benefit. The in-surance company does benefit but notmore than the shops on the program.

Yes, many insurance companiesreport millions in profit every quarter,but do you really think they maketheir money by not paying for thingssuch as block, prime, and fill or forOEM parts? If you believe that, you

should do some research before yousay it. A wise man once said, “Betterto keep your mouth shut and let every-one assume you’re stupid, rather thanopen your mouth and remove alldoubt.”

Insurers aren’t raking in double-digit profits on the backs of the bodyshops. Insurance companies capitalizeon a marketplace that has shops will-ing to provide discounts for volume.You wouldn’t do anything different ifin a similar position.

Do insurance companies profitfrom insureds using the direct repairprogram? Of course they do. Insurersbenefit from the reduction in severityand rental car expense, for example. Ifinsurance companies weren’t makingmoney, DRPs wouldn’t exist.

Do the shops make money fromparticipating in a given DRP? You bet.If shops weren’t making money par-ticipating in direct repair programs,

they wouldn’t be working with thatcarrier.

For every shop owner I see strug-gling to keep their doors open, I canprovide a secondary list of those thatare very well-heeled. Don’t misinter-pret what I’m saying: I don’t begrudgeanyone financial success and inde-pendence. But I don’t have the pa-tience or desire to listen to a shopowner complain about losing moneyas he or she drives to the airport in anew Mercedes for their vacation in theBahamas.

Even though insurance compa-nies make a lot of mistakes, DRPsaren’t one of them. DRPs took an ar-chaic body shop trade and trans-formed it into the collision repairindustry. For decades, the body shoptrade didn’t change. In fact, it has beensuggested that the early caveman pro-vided the same level of service thatcustomers received from shops pre-DRP. I was unable to validate that, butit’s difficult to argue a lack of differ-ences between the caveman and the1970s shop owner.

For those who are long in thetooth, it seemed like yesterday that thebody shop trade with rife with unedu-cated technicians running their ownbusinesses. There was a “mom andpop” body shop on every corner. Thetraining you received as a body manwas from the old guy coughing up alung as he sanded a 10-foot-long quar-terpanel that was supposed to be re-


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Allstate, Founder of DRPs, Deserves Some Credit for Improving Repair Industrywith The Insurance Insider

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

placed, according to the handwritten,illegible estimate.

Insert DRP here. That’s when theindustry was transformed. In otherwords, every shop owner in this coun-try should personally thank Allstatefor starting what is largely viewed asthe industry’s first nationwide DRP.DRPs have done more to change andimprove this industry than any othersingle factor.

You may dispute it, but shopswithout DRPs are like Sonny withoutCher or the Patriots without TomBrady. Okay, I’m being a little over-dramatic. But the fact remains that ifyou had a toolbox and a cave, beforeDRPs you too could be a shop owner.

DRPs caused the body shop tradeto grow into a legitimate business andindustry. You had to change the wayyou did business or you couldn’t com-pete. Insurance companies were look-ing for professional, well-maintainedshops.

Most shops, for example, pur-chased an electronic estimating sys-tem because it was required as part ofa DRP. Why purchase the equipmentand software to upload electronic im-ages of the damaged vehicle? If you

guessed that an insurance companyrequired it, you are right.

Hopefully, you are starting to seea pattern. The collision repair indus-try doesn’t change very quickly, espe-cially when there is an associated cost.Unless an insurance requires some-thing as part of a DRP, most bodyshops won’t do it.

Before anyone drops to theirknees to praise Allstate, I should statethat the advent of DRPs also spawneda monster called the unethical ad-juster. That probably warrants an arti-cle itself. I guess you need to take thegood with the bad, but to me, the goodthat DRPs brought significantly out-weighs the negative impact caused bythe unethical or immoral behavior ofsome.

The point of this article was tomake you think about one thing: Whohas benefited the most from the directrepair programs that some shopsswear were the demise of this great in-dustry? The answer is obvious: Bodyshops.

Collision repairers would still beusing a hammer and chisel if it was-n’t for insurers demanding a quality,cost-effective repair.


The House repealed a law with a 80-6 vote May 23; the law prohibits anuninsured vehicle from being im-pounded when stopped by an officer.

House Bill 190 by Rep. MajorThibaut, D-New Roads, now goes tothe Senate, where it could run intoopposition from Sen. Joe McPher-son, D-Woodworth, who originallysponsored the law Thibaut is trying torepeal.

McPherson got lawmakers toadopt a bill last year that banned a po-lice officer from ordering the towingof an uninsured vehicle unless thedriver or the vehicle presents “an im-minent danger to the public.”

“It is an uninsured vehicle andstate law requires drivers to have in-surance,” Thibaut said to nola.com.

Rep. Barbara Norton, D-Shreveport, tried to amend the bill torequire the police officer to either callthe driver’s insurance company toverify the status of the auto insurancepolicy and take other measures beforeordering the vehicle towed and im-pounded. Her amendment failed.

The House also ordered thatbright headlights on vehicles be toneddown by approving, 78-14, HouseBill 583 by Rep. Tom Willmott, R-Kenner.

Willmott’s bill is an attempt toprohibit the installation of the brightlamps that can be ordered on the In-ternet and installed with a kit. The billwould not ban the high-intensitylights on vehicles that are factory in-stalled.

Willmott said the non-manu-facturer-installed lights do notmatch the power output of the vehi-cle and are too bright, according tonola.com.

“It becomes an unsafe lightingsystem,” Willmott said. “Most ofthese are after-market conversion kitsthat try to convert halogen lights tohigh-intensity lights.

The lights can temporarily blindoncoming other drivers, causeheadaches and result in accidents, hesaid.

Willmott said his bill would pro-hibit a state inspector from issuing aninspection sticker or brake tag to avehicle with the lights.

It also would allow a police offi-cer to issue a ticket for a violation.The first offense would result in afine of $50 and each subsequent vio-lation would increase the previousfine by $25.

Willmott’s bill will go up infront of the Senate for debate in June.

LAHouseRepeals BanOn ImpoundingUninsuredCars


www.autobodynews.comwww.autobodynews.com

NEWSNEWSNEWSNEWSService, Diagnostic

and MechanicalService, Diagnostic

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and MechanicalAutobody News June 2011TEXAS • OKLAHOMA • LOUISIANA • NEW MEXICO

The Value of Service Repair InformationWith the ever changing complexity oftoday’s vehicles that confront you andyour team on a daily basis, access tomanufacturer’s repair information isand will be one of the most importanttools you will utilize on a daily basis.Whether you are an Estimator, Man-ager, Insurance Adjuster, Technicianor part of the Production Team,proper repair procedures from themanufacturer will allow you to iden-tify, negotiate and explain key repairplan thought processes. It will also as-sist and manage critical business In-dicators such as cycle times, hours perday, sublet repairs, technician effi-ciencies, overall productivity andprofits.

Many considerations arise whenpreparing a repair plan for your cus-tomers whether they are your Insur-ance Partners, everyday customers, orTechnicians. Issues such as minimalsupplements, factory recommenda-tions correct documentation, cus-tomer satisfaction and a cost effectiverepair are only a few issues that oneneeds to consider.

Questions such as these will con-front you or your staff daily.● Should I section this or replace theentire panel?● How do I handle this Hybrid?● What SRS parts do I need to replaceafter the accident?● Can we reset the Tire PressureMonitoring System?● Does my Technician know how toremove the trim panel on this vehicle?

● Can we repair this suspension hereat our shop?● How can I provide my customers

detailed repair documentation if theyrequire it?

Documentation will be the mostcritical link you will have when de-termining a repair strategy.

So when is the best time to ac-cess or source this valuable repair in-formation? Pre-Production or Duringthe Production phase of repair?

The answer to both of these is‘yes,’ based on your collision opera-tion and processes.

Accessing Manufacturer repair in-formation during the Pre-Productionphase or at the time of the repair plan isan effective way of properly identifyingcritical repair decisions. You noticed Isaid “repair plan” and not estimate?

Often times a certain repair proce-dure may be available and if you don’tknow it, the vehicle can halt in produc-tion due to supplements, authorizations,parts orders, or sublet repairs. When-ever a vehicle is stopped or delayed dur-ing the production process, cycle timeswill increase, efficiencies decline and

overall shop profitability is affected.If thought was given to proper

repair techniques, locations and prac-tices during the repair plan or prior toproduction, these critical performanceindicators would ultimately benefit.

For example:You are developing an estimate on a

2007 vehicle that has structural damageto the front. Do you know if the structuralcomponent can be repaired or should itbe replaced? If you have to replace it, canit be sectioned and where? Without thecorrect repair procedure, you may de-velop your estimate based on prior expe-rience, here say, Industry acceptedpractices or the ever popular guess.

As the vehicle moves into pro-duction, parts have been ordered, theestimate has been sent or uploadedand approved and the technician isdiligently disassembling it. Upon fur-ther examination after disassembly,your technician states that the dam-aged structural component cannot berepaired with the method on the esti-mate due to the fact that he or shethinks the component is made of ad-vanced high strength steel.

Production stops, a supplement isgenerated, approval for additional repairsare pending and parts are re-ordered.

If the proper repair and identifi-cation procedures were accessed fromthe Manufacturer at the time of the re-pair plan, this scenario could havebeen avoided. Now ask yourself,“How much time are you now spend-ing reacting to the estimate that was

prepared incorrectly utilizing the priorscenario” and would you ultimatelygenerate less work for yourself if youperformed repair research prior to pro-duction or when developing a repairplan?

During the production phase, a tech-nician ultimately benefits by being effi-cient or keeping his hands on the vehicle.

Locations of components, testingprocedures, disabling operations, ma-terial identification and overall properrepair procedures are only a smallportion of what today’s collision tech-nicians face day in and day out.

By providing them with accessto Manufacturer’s information, canthey increase their overall productiv-ity and efficiencies?

Ask yourself this question thenext time that your technician cannotlocate a component or remove a cer-tain part without instructions.

If they had access to the proce-dures would they limit or eliminatethese time consuming scenarios?

In summary, vehicle complexity ischanging at a rapid pace and in order tobe current with all of the complexities, weneed to utilize the latest repair strategiesand procedures that are available to us.

A proactive approach, a proper re-pair plan and an awareness and utiliza-tion of published procedures from themanufacturer are effective ways tomanage our time and your team. Thiswill ultimately provide a safe and accu-rate repair to our valued customers. Isn’tthis what we are all in business for?

with Dan EspersenALL OEM Information Dan Espersen is ALLDATA® CollisionSM Program Manager. Dan is a Gold Pin

Member of the Collision Industry Conference (CIC) and holds an AA Degree inAutomotive Technology. He has 35 years of experience split between the colli-sion industry and in the mechanical automotive industry.

National Average for Body and Paint Labor Rates Up Only Modestly Since 2006The national average for body andpaint labor rates has risen only mod-estly year-over-year since 2006, ac-cording to figures from CCCInformation Services.

The average body labor rate rosefrom $41.42 in 2006 to $44.67 in2010, up an average of 2.1 percent peryear. The national average hourly ratefor paint materials rose slightly faster,

from $22.26 in 2006 to $25.37 in2010, an average increase of 3.5 per-cent per year. Overall, according tothe U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics,the Consumer Price Index for auto-

body work rose an average of 3.44percent per year for that 5-year pe-riod. By comparison, the CPI for allproducts rose an average of 2.2 per-cent per year.


with Gonzo WeaverGonzo’s Toolbox This is a new story by Scott “Gonzo” Weaver as posted on his website,

www.gonzostoolbox.com. See his book “Hey Look! I Found The LooseNut”, which provides a Good Laugh for Mechanics of Any Age. The bookis available at amazon.com. Contact Gonzo at [email protected]

Jo was a new customer referred by anold-time regular. Her little Kia SUVhad a transmission problem thatseemed to be getting the best of thetransmission shop.

The story goes that the Kia wasconstantly in limp mode, and wouldnever shift properly—ever. As alwaysseems to be the case when a simpleproblem can’t be solved simply,somebody started the diagnostics offin the wrong direction. Little did Iknow this was a simple problem.

But, as I see it, each and everytype of diagnostic work that you dorequires a certain step by step proce-dure that you must follow. Missing astep, or completely overlooking astep, usually means you’re going tomiss that simple problem all together.This was no exception.

From what information I couldgather the person who diagnosed it atthe transmission shop wasn’t the

same person who installed it. So afterthe tech put the last bolt in the trans-mission, he set the car out front, andtold the front office, “Got the trans-mission in that Kia.”

The front office considered itdone, and the call went out for Jo topick it up. She didn’t make it aroundthe block before she was back at thefront counter in a “not-so” pleasantmood. You can just imagine the situ-ation at the counter, not happy I’msure.

After some deliberation, andvery little diagnostics the transmis-sion shop came to the conclusion thatit must be a bad transmission. Luck-ily, the ride that had brought Jo therewas still in the parking lot, so she leftthe Kia for them to re-do the wholejob.

A week later, it was supposedlydone. This time a different tech hadinstalled the second transmission. Un-

fortunately, he made the same mistakeas the first tech. When Jo came topick up her car the shop owner tookher for a ride to be sure that the re-pairs were made to her satisfaction. Itwas a short drive.

This time, the owner said he wasgoing to pay for the transmission, andwould even purchase one from thedealership just to be sure it wasn’ttheir mistake in rebuilding it. Buteven the dealer transmission failed toshift properly. The tranny shop was ata loss, they decided to make a fewcalls for some help, and that’s whenmy phone rang.

Now, I’m not one to diagnoseanything over the phone. I just don’tthink it’s a smart way of taking careof such problems, because you neverquite know what you’re getting into.

But the tranny shop ownersounded desperate, and now the repaircosts were coming out of his pocket.

From his frantic explanations of nocodes, no shift, and no idea of theproblem, he kind of put me on thespot, so … I suggested a computer.

Heck, why not… ya changed thetranny three times for Pete’s sake, ob-viously that ain’t it. I probablyshouldn’t have done that, but I thinkhe wanted to try and save as muchmoney as possible without resortingto taking it to another shop.

Well, a new TCM didn’t work ei-ther. Now, the car is finally comingmy way. Jo was a little unsurewhether or not there was anyone outthere who could find the problem, buther friend told her that it couldn’t hurtto let me see what I could do for her.I’ll give it a try.

When the car showed up at theshop I took it around the block onceto verify the condition, and then put itup on the lift. While it was on the lift

Shift Happens: The Story of Three Transmissions and a Limp Kia SUV

See Three Transmissions, Page 23

As an auto body shop owner for over30 years, I understand total loss vehi-cles are a part our industry’s day today business. With the addition ofmore and more electronic gadgets,gizmos, and the installation of addi-tional air bags it is not unusual to havean insurance company choose to totala vehicle, and retain the auction sal-vage, rather than roll the dice on thepossibility of a multi-thousand dollarsupplement and being held responsi-ble for other liability issues. This isusually the standard insurance gameplan unless you come across a naiveinsurance appraiser who does notvalue his job.

Recently our body shop in SantaBarbara, California, was involved inan insurance claim involving a cus-tomer’s 2005 limited edition ScionXB which accidentally ran into ashopping center wall while exiting ashopping mall parking structure. The

driver must have experienced oneheck of a distraction to cause so muchdamage to the right front of his vehi-cle.

Upon closer inspection we dis-covered the right front frame waskinked enough to require replacementof the frame rail. The engine wouldneed to be removed to install theframe rail which resulted in additionallabor placing the car in the total losscategory.

While the appraiser was leavingour repair facility he commented hisinsurance company is very attracted tolow mileage fuel-efficient compactvehicles such as this one. Later thatday, I went out to the Scion and no-ticed there was a tag on the windshieldstating the vehicle now belonged tothe insurance company. I asked myselfhow this could be when the vehicleowner has not been notified or giveninformation on his options of retain-

ing the vehicle or accepting full retailvalue from his insurance company.

Even more intriguing, the nextday I received a phone call from theInsurance Salvage Auction companyrequesting to pick up the Scion. I wassurprised at what felt like a decisionto essentially steal the low mileageScion instead of getting notificationfrom the owner on what he has de-cided.

Soon after receiving the 24-houris-the-vehicle-released call from thesalvage auction company, I contactedour customer and reported the aggres-sive efforts by his insurance companywho seemed to have overlooked pro-viding us with a completed itemizedrepair estimate. Neither did they makea reasonable offer of retail value set-tlement to their insured. The customerresponded he would prefer having hiscar repaired. I advised him to requesta copy of their repair estimate. I also

recommended he do his homework inobtaining some comps on the value ofhis low-mileage vehicle. I advised himnot to be “intimidated” or feel rushedby the insurance company who had al-ready sent him an e-mail declaringthey will “limit their storage fees toonly two days.”

A couple days later, the customerreceived the insurance repair estimateand forwarded the attachment to ourshop where we confirmed the vehicleas a total loss. Vehicle valuation #1was also sent to the insured who askedif I would assist in the settlementprocess.

Upon reviewing the valuation re-port I noted there were several listedcomps, which were not from our area,resulting in a lowering the settlementvalue offered to the insured.

Another major item, to the insur-ance company’s advantage, was therewas no mileage posted on any of the


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Total Loss Fees Are Profits to be Gained, Not Given Backwith Walter Danalevich

Shop Strategies for Savings Walter Danalevich, AAM, has been the owner of Santa BarbaraAuto Refinishing since 1979. Contact him at:[email protected].

I decided to drop it into gear andcheck it against the scanner.

To my surprise, it shifted per-fectly. I’m not kidding—absolutelyperfect. I dropped it back on theground, and went for a ride again. Ididn’t even make it around the firstcorner before it got stuck in limpmode just as it was before, this dangthing can’t pull itself out of a pot hole.

Back up on the lift, and wouldn’tya know it, shifts perfectly—AGAIN!What’s the deal here? I did it severaltimes, just so I could be sure of the re-sults I was getting. After a few trips Ichecked the wiring to the transmissionwhile it was on the ground.

Uh-oh, the main ground to theTCM wasn’t there. How in the worldwas it there when it was in the air?Ah-ha! It’s moving the wire! Yes, itwas moving the wire all right, and afew more than just the TCM groundlead.

The locator page showed theTCM ground wire was bundled withseveral other ground leads that were

all attached to the main chassisground, which wasn’t attached to athing, but was dangling by the batterybox.

Turns out the whole problemstarted when she had her batterychanged at a department store repairshop, and they didn’t have the rightsize to fit the car. They disconnectedthe chassis ground wire, so the tallerbattery would fit.

When I told Jo what I found, thetwo of us pieced together the how andwhy it happened. Her only commentwas, “Well, shift happens.”

All said and done with, the trans-mission shop paid for the entire repair,and gave her back what she spent withthem. Everyone involved was glad tohave the problem solved, and the carback on the road as good as new.

I like this gal, she’s become aregular at the shop these days. What acard! Always has some sarcastic com-ment for me, but at the same time avery understanding nature and takeslife in stride. I’d love to have a coupleof dozen customers just like her.

As she always tells me… “If youcan’t live on the bright side of life…start polishing the dull one.”

vehicles reported. This alone can sig-nificantly reduce the value of the in-surance company’s settlement offer. Ireviewed the posted locations and val-ues with five of the proposed compa-rable listings and discovered fourvehicles had significantly highermileage and sold for almost $1,000more than what was reported in their#1 valuation report.

This got the attention of our cus-tomer and he proceeded with his ownfollow-up on the posted listings. I rec-ommended he speak to the insurancecompany, report his findings, and de-clare several of their valuations notvalid. A second valuation was soon re-ceived allowing for a $1,500 buy backfrom his final settlement cost to retainthe vehicle.

The customer e-mailed the insur-ance company creating a paper trail oftheir inaccurate comps and requestedvaluation #3. About four days later thecustomer forwarded me a copy of anew valuation which provided an in-crease of over $500 from the first val-uation which the insurance companyinsinuated he accepts. Here’s some-thing to think about, calculate howmuch would result if each insurance

company total loss claim was shortedby $500—Gee, what a nice investmentfund that would create.

The customer was still undecidedabout accepting the full insurance set-tlement offer or go with a ‘buy back.”After a few days he came to a decisionto let his baby go to the “Auto Auc-tion Heaven” and accept the increasedsettlement offer.

This month’s article savings mes-sage is about assisting your customerin their time of crises and not being in-timidated by the insurance “SCREWU CUSTOMER CARE HOTLINE.”You have now gained a customer forlife while adding to your bottom linefor teardown, labor, and storage fees.


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Three Transmissions

Current industry trends—and a lookahead at the electric, fuel-efficient andChinese vehicles that could be show-ing up in collision shops in the comingyears—were the focus of onespeaker’s presentation at the recentWomen’s Industry Network (WIN)conference.

Greg Horn, vice president of in-dustry relations for Mitchell Interna-tional, told about 160 attendees at theWIN event in San Diego, that onepositive trend for collision repairershad been the rebound through earlythis year in the total miles driven byU.S. motorists.

“But we’re starting to see the ef-fect of gas prices impact the miles wedrive,” Horn cautioned.

He said that MasterCard Spend-ingPulse, which tracks gas purchasesat hundreds of U.S. locations, reportedin early May that the 4-week averageof retail gas demand had dropped forthe sixth consecutive time.

“So we’re potentially in for apretty significant impact as we get toearly summer in the reduction of acci-dents and repairable cars,” Horn said.

He said insurer data indicated anuptick in claims in the third- andfourth-quarters of last year, boosted inpart by some extensive hail and stormdamage in several regions of the coun-try.

Shops also have benefited from asizable rise in the value of used vehi-cles, which allows for higher repaircosts before a vehicle reaches the totalloss threshold. Horn said the averagevehicle appraised in the first quarter of2011, for example, had an actual cashvalue of $12,772, up from the samequarter a year earlier even though theaverage age of the vehicles appraisedin 2011 was almost a year older thanthat in 2010.

“So a car is older but worth morein value,” Horn said. “That’s a goodthing for us in the collision repairbusiness because that means we havemore opportunity to repair the cars.We’ll put more in the repair columnthan we will the total loss column.”

The percentage of vehicles de-clared a total loss dipped slightly in2010, and Horn and others expect thattrend to continue this year. Higher gas

prices and the vehicle production dis-ruption caused by the earthquake andtsunami in Japan continue to buoy de-mand and prices for used vehicles, hepointed out.

“That 3-year-old Honda Accordis 20 percent more valuable than itwas last September, and the 3-year-old(Nissan) Sentra is up 12 percent,”Horn cited as examples.

Horn also discussed the impactthat increases to federal fuel economy

standards are hav-ing on automak-ers. In late 2009,the Corporate Av-erage Fuel Econ-omy (CAFE)requirements werechanged to requireeach automaker by2016 (rather thanby 2020, as earlier

established) to sell a fleet that aver-ages 35.5 miles per gallon.

“That is an ambitious goal,” Hornsaid. “A lot of auto manufacturers forwhom it takes four years to get fromthe drawing board to the showroomfloor, are in a state of panic.”

Global automakers, Horn said,are looking at the most fuel-efficientcars they sell elsewhere in order tobring those vehicles into the U.S. mar-ket. Though its late summer debut hasbeen delayed indefinitely by the situ-ation in Japan, the Scion IQ is one ex-

ample of new micro-cars coming toU.S. streets. The tiny vehicle, poweredby a 90-horsepower, 1.3-liter 4-cylin-der engine, will be sold as a 4-passen-ger vehicle even though the headrestsfor those in the backseats butt upagainst the back glass. Horn said tohelp the vehicle meet federal safetystandards, it has nine airbags.

“The good news is you’re goingto survive the crash. You’ll suffocateafterwards, but you’ll survive thecrash,” Horn joked.

Similarly, Chevrolet is introduc-ing the Sonic, a less-well-equippedversion of the Aveo, Horn said, andNissan is introducing the $9,000Micra (on which the radio and air con-ditioning are options). Chrysler willbring in the Fiat 500, which is fourinches shorter than a Mini Cooper,and Mini is showing a concept vehi-cle that is a foot shorter than its exist-ing vehicles.

The problem with many such ve-hicles for collision repairers, Hornsaid, is their low values will tend toput them into the total loss categoryeven with only minor damage.

The Ford Fiesta is coming backinto the U.S. market at about $14,000,Horn cited as one example. One of thevehicle’s distinctive features are its long

Xenon headlights, which stretch muchof the length of the fender and, as Hornsaid, “are about half an inch from theedge of the front bumper cover.” Re-placements sell for $480 each.

“In a couple years when thosecars are valued at about $10,000, rear-ending someone and having the bagsblow and the windshield and both ofthose headlights go? You’re not goingto be fixing a lot of those Ford Fies-


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Industry Insightwith John Yoswick

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

Industry Trends and Changes in Future Vehicles at WIN Conference

Ford Fiesta’s replacement headlights cost$480 each

Greg Horn,Mitchell VP,

Industrial Relations

ScionIQ, a new microcar was to have sold inthe US in late summer, has nine airbags

See Trends and Changes, Page 27


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Many years ago I went through atraining program offered by a com-pany called Expansion Consultants,Inc. One of my instructors offered thehypothesis that “any unwanted situa-tion can be resolved with sufficientcommunication.” He used the expres-sion “universal solvent” to describehow communication can dissolveproblems.

I’ve often tested this idea, espe-cially in marketing. At one point Icame up with the idea that “any failureto thrive is a combination of not reach-ing out widely enough, frequentlyenough or cleverly enough.”

Then one day I spoke to a bodyshop owner who disproved at leastone part of my idea. He had reachedout as widely as anyone could in hisarea. He sent out a piece of promo-tional literature to 10,000 homes in hisarea. But he said he had not gotteneven one job from that mailing.

Today marketing professionalsare focusing on a narrow demo-graphic rather than a wide one. Bytracking customer purchases, websitesearches, and publications read, ad-vertisers target very specific types ofprospects.

A collision repair center follow-ing this approach would avoid a vastgeneral mailing to all prior customers,and instead focus on specific typeslike senior citizens, young drivers,parents with children who drive,women who drive specific makes ofvehicles, and more.

Another narrow approach usedby marketing professionals is a seasonand time focus. Mothers Day promo-tion for adult women, Labor Day pro-motion for working men, and alsostart-of-school-year promotions forparents.

For collision shops, collecting in-formation on customers’ teen-agers can

be valuable. Young drivers cause a highpercentage of accidents. For shops get-ting involved in the new cosmetic carupgrade market, a Valentines Day pro-motion could be effective. Self-causedminor damage may be overlooked untila time comes to travel. A pre-vacationMemorial Day promotion could bringin those vehicles.

The Internet has become so mucha part of our lives these days, we maysometimes forget that most of that“free” information we get on-line ispaid for by advertisers.

If you watch carefully, you’ll no-tice how the ads on websites changewith the time of year. You may alsonotice how companies that track youron-line searches are able to send youe-mail ads that reflect your personalinterests. How might you use this ap-proach to creating more effective pro-motional reaches out to your customerand prospect base? It all comes back

to your effectiveness at collecting andusing customer information.

Collision repair shops are gener-ally high velocity workplaces. Esti-mators are in a hurry to get the keysand get the car in the shop to beginwork. The vehicle driver may be in ahurry to drop off the car and get towork or back with the kids.

A better time to collect informa-tion may be when the customer ispicking up the repaired vehicle andpleased with the quality of the repair.If these don’t net information aboutthe customer’s job, family, organiza-tional ties and personal interests, anon-line or phone survey may get whatis needed to do targeted promotions.Shop owners are justified in wantingto minimize the number of front officeemployees and related costs. But acareful analysis of how many addi-tional vehicles a good data collectionperson could bring in should reveal


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On Creative Marketingwith Thomas Franklin

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

Focusing Marketing Efforts on a Narrow Demographic Yields More Results

tas,” Horn told the audience at theWIN conference.

Automakers also will continue totry to shed weight from vehicles in aneffort to meet tougher fuel economystandards, Horn said. That’s whyshops are already seeing increased useof exotic alloys, titanium and alu-minum. BMW cut 50 pounds from its5-series by making the engine cradleout of plastic, Horn said.

“This is going to change how weput cars back together,” Horn cau-tioned. “The B-pillar for the Volkswa-gen Passat comes from the factorylaser-welded in. Most techs wouldopen the doors, look at the number ofwelds, drill out the welds and try toweld it back in. Volkswagen does notallow for that. In the collision repairenvironment, their requirement is thatyou use adhesive bonding to put thetwo pieces, the inner and outer B-pil-lar, back together. Because it’s aboron-alloy steel, if you weld it backin and you apply too much heat to it inthe MIG welding process, you can ac-tually weaken the structure of that

metal, throw off the pillar airbag sen-sors, and potentially cause some se-vere harm to the passengers in asubsequent collision.”

Horn closed his presentation witha look at some of the vehicles that Chi-nese automakers—a number of whichhave plans to enter the U.S. market—currently produce. Horn said GreatWall Motors is predicting a U.S. launchin 2015, following the model used byKia some years ago, with sales in sev-eral states and entry into the rental fleet.The company will use feedback fromthat limited launch to make improve-ments before selling on a broader scale.

Horn said the expected low cost ofearly Chinese vehicles in this countrywill likely lead to more totals than re-paired vehicles. But the success of anyof the Chinese automakers here willlargely be dependent on their ability toset up the replacement parts infrastruc-ture that is needed, Horn said. SterlingMotors and Daihatsu, he said, failedlargely because a lack of parts availabil-ity led to repair delays and total losses.

“The folks that have the best in-frastructure for supporting their brandwill be the Chinese brands that sur-vive going forward,” Horn said.

that the benefits could greatly out-weigh the costs.

The days of waiting for repaircustomers to drive in are long gone.These days the certainty of sufficientinsurance referrals is diminishing. It’stime for shop owners to catch up withthe times and begin using profes-sional marketing tools to bring in newbusiness.

Take a look at the variety of adsaimed at you. You may sometimeswonder why you are the target of aparticular ad. Advertisers are justguessing what will interest you, butobviously they guess right oftenenough to justify the cost of the ads.It’s time for you to become more cre-ative with your promotion. Who haveyou not reached out to? Who haveyou considered not worth reachingout to? Who have you given up onreaching out to? (If no response, trysomething else).

Don’t set limits. Everyone canbe reached with some message. If youcollect enough information up front,the odds are good that you’ll connectwith your prospects a large percent-age of the time and that will morethan pay for your time and trouble.


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324,000 policies in force.Alltstate is buying the firms from

White Mountains Insurance Group,Ltd., a Bermuda-domiciled financialservices holding company with inter-ests in property/ casualty insurance andreinsurance, including OneBeacon.

Allstate, which has seen its per-sonal lines business shrink, said thedeal lets it expand its service to con-sumers who prefer to buy direct onlinerather than through personal agents. Itallows it to compete with Progressiveand Geico, which have strong web in-surance shopping sites.

“Consumers today expect to havetheir specific needs met by their insur-ance companies. Our strategy is tofocus on individual preferences andutilize different value propositions fordistinct consumer segments,” saidThomas J. Wilson, Allstate’s president,chairman and chief executive officer.He said Allstate agencies do “an out-standing job of serving customers whowant a local personal touch and prefer

to purchase a branded product.” ButEsurance will expand the company’sability to serve customers who are“more self-directed but still prefer abranded product.”

He said Answer Financial willstrengthen Allstate’s offering to indi-viduals who want to be offered achoice between insurance carriers andare brand-neutral. The move has someAllstate agents concerned.

“Many Allstate agents are view-ing the proposed acquisition suspi-ciously. The company has beenhell-bent on growing its direct channelfor years, but only recently has it hadany success,” said Jim Fish, executivedirector of the National Association ofProfessional Allstate Agents, Inc.“Who knows, the success of the Es-urance business model and technologyplatform could ultimately improve andtransform Allstate’s direct channel intoa powerhouse. Should this come topass, Allstate agents would feel moreexpendable than ever.”

According to Fish, Allstate isshedding seasoned agencies in favor oflarger agencies with more staff. “[S]oadding this acquisition to the agents’

woes, can only create more angst.Without a doubt, the agents want All-state to be successful – but not at theirexpense,” he said.

Allstate said Esurance and An-swer Financial will retain their brandnames. Esurance has some 1,7000 em-ployees and 14 regional offices. Wil-son said Allstate would now be theonly company serving all of these con-sumer segments with unique insuranceofferings.

“This transaction is also attractivefor our shareholders. Association withAllstate will improve Esurance’s mar-keting effectiveness and it can leverageour world-class pricing and claim capa-bilities. This also offers us two additionalsources of growth and an immediate in-crease in customer relationships,” Wil-son said.

Premiums for policies sold byboth Esurance and Answer Financialwere $1.2 billion in 2010. Gross pre-miums written by Esurance were $839million for the year. Esurance had839,000 policies-in-force, including328,000 policyholders at Answer Fi-nancial. The Esurance segment addedapproximately 65,000 policies-in-force

during 2010, an increase of 8 percent,according to the company.

The transaction has been ap-proved by both companies’ boards ofdirectors and is expected to close infall 2011. The transaction is subject toregulatory and other customary closingconditions, including review by an-titrust authorities and state regulators.

White Mountains Chairman andCEO Raymond Barrette said the onlineinsurance operationAllstate is acquiringhas grown from a start-up to rank amongthe top online insurers in 10 years. “Wehave happily invested significant capi-tal in what we believed was a uniquebusiness. Allstate agrees and can nowtake it to a new level,“ Barrette said.


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The Women’s Industry Network(WIN) held their 5th Annual Confer-ence May 1–3 at the Westin GaslampHotel in San Diego. WIN was organ-ized to enhance the collision repair in-dustry—and the role of women withinit—through education, networking,and sharing of resources.

Attendance for this year’s con-ference was up 30–40 percent, ac-cording to Chairwoman Kim White.The event attracted over 150 attendeesand featured speeches from motiva-tional and industry experts as well asbreak out sessions where attendeescould receive detailed, personalizedtips for their businesses. The eventwas attended by Autobody News’As-

sistant Editor, Erica Schroeder, andBarbara Davies, General Managerand Co-owner.

Speakers discussed a variety oftopics designed to enhance businessand personal skills as a whole.

“We are proud to offer sessionsthat will spark new ways of thinking,better performance, and greater under-standing of industry issues,” said White.

In the opening session White alsothanked the current board for theirwork this year including the organiza-tions first, and very successful, boothat the International Autobody Exposi-tion and Congress (NACE) in 2010.

The organization was able to in-crease their membership and exposurewith the booth as well as theirWomen’s Track Classes that they of-fered during NACE.

Executive Coach Jennifer SertlThe information sessions started withkeynote speaker Jennifer Sertl dis-cussing Business Strategy and Leader-ship in the 21st Century. Sertl ispresident and founder of Agility3R, an

organizational ef-fectiveness com-pany which focusesupon the optimiza-tion of customervalue by aligningcorporate objec-tives with the indi-viduals responsible

for delivering results. The co-author ofStrategy, Leadership, and the Soul gaveher thoughts on business strategy in amale-dominated arena.

Sertl gave copies of her book toeveryone attending the keynote andawarded audience member, AmandaShelly of Saint-Gobain Abrasives,

with the ‘Ms. Anthony’ award, repre-sented by a contemporary version ofSusan B. Anthony’s trademark alliga-tor bag. Sertl had spoken about An-thony’s influence on her life and thelives of women everywhere during herspeech. She supports the Susan B. An-thony House in her hometown ofRochester, NY.

Mitchell’s Greg HornGreg Horn, from Mitchell Interna-tional, gave an Industry Trends updatefollowing Sertl’s keynote. Horn beganby giving some statistics about ourdriving habits over the last few years.Accidents are at their lowest rate since1950 and that Americans have beendriving less as gas prices continue tosoar—two factors that will no doubt ef-fect the collision repair industry. Horngained nods and chuckles from the pre-dominantly female audience when hecompared statistics on male drivinghabits vs female driving habits. Maledrivers are more reckless and cause thevast majority of accidents.

Horn also recounted that the dis-


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The other day I was teaching I-CAR’sworkers protection program and I hadthe techs show me their blowers. (I’mreferring to the nozzle blowers on airhoses here, not hand-held dryers.) Ifound 3 illegal ones. I asked the ques-tion “How much is the OSHA fine forthese blowers?” and the productionmanager said it was $7000. I was inArizona, not California, at the time. Iinquired if the shop had been fined andhis reply was “I read your article and Iam in the process of getting OSHA ap-proved blowers.” It made me feel thatall this work is worthwhile. Let’s getstarted on the second installment of thearticle.

Electrical• Check all extension cords for dam-age (repaired with electrical tape andbroken grounds are a big no no).• All high voltage boxes labeled witha DANGER Sign?• All outlet covers installed?• Are all energized parts of electricalcircuits and equipment guardedagainst accidental contact by ap-proved cabinets or enclosures?• Make sure there is a 3 foot barriermarked around all electrical boxes.

Walkways• Make sure that all in ground pullingpots are flush with surface when notin use. Most of the time the covers are

bent and they are out on the floor,which creates a tripping hazard.

• Do you have a spill containmentcontainer (absorbent material in asmall garbage can works, but it mustbe marked and placed in accessiblearea.)

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Getting OSHA-Compliant on Signage, Electrical and Power Tools

some of the more common ones thatare needed in the body shop.

Flammable and Combustible Materials• Is proper storage practiced to mini-mize the risk of fire including sponta-neous combustion?• Are all hazardous drums with flam-mable materials grounded?• Are all flammable liquids kept inclosed containers when not in use?• Are stored oxygen tanks separatedby 25 feet from flammable stored gascylinders?

• Does thefacility haveenough fireextinguish-ers as percity ordi-nances?• Are all fireextinguisherscharged andare properlytagged (youalso havesomeone inthe

shop check and sign thetags once a month)?• Do you have a class D fireextinguisher for a magne-sium fire?

Here is a chart of the sym-bols on the fire extinguisherand what materials it can beused.• Are all fire extinguishersfree from obstruction?• Is a fire extinguishermounted within 10 feet of

any inside storage area of flammablematerials?

Power Tools• Are portable fans provided with fullguards or screens having openings of½ inch or less?• Do all power tools have groundedcords?

Batteries• Are batteries stored on a spill con-tainment tray?The next article will deal with MSDS

sheets and safety programs that arenecessary for OSHA compliance.


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ruption for Japanese automakerscaused by the earthquake and tsunamiin March could result in more thanjust scattered and short-term partsshortages. The most popular Japanesesedans are assembled in U.S. plantsusing locally sourced parts, Horn said,but parts shortages are more likely for

the higher-end brands, such as Lexus,and for smaller vehicles such as theHonda Fit and Toyota Prius, which arestill built and imported from Japan.But Japan also is the third-largest pro-ducer of automotive-grade steel, andexports 43 million tons of it a year.

Decreases in output from thosefactories (all Japanese companieshave been asked to reduce their elec-trical use by 25 percent) are raisingsteel prices globally, Horn said. Thatwill likely affect pricing for all sheetmetal parts, OEM and non-OEM, andas those prices rise, prices for usedparts likely will rise as well.

“So you’re going to see this event’simpact stretch well into next year,” Hornsaid. “We’ll have to wait and see whatthe final tally is, but we’re going to seeinflation overall in average repair sever-ity because of rising parts prices.”

He also talked about the viabilityof alternative-fueled vehicles in thecoming years due to a federally man-dated mpg average of 35.5 by 2016for all new cars and trucks. This willchange the way cars are repaired andthe cost of repairs due to new technol-ogy and materials used in new vehi-cles to make them meet thesestandards, said Horn.

WIN then held their AnnualMembership Meeting during lunch onMay 2, where they acknowledged thework done by their separate commit-tees this year and announced their newboard for 2011-2012.

Current Board Member MaryKunz not only won the Cornerstone

2011 Award for her contributions in2010, but was also honored as one of thedeparting board along with Kim White,Jeanne Silver and Geri Kottschade.

The 2011–2012 Executive Com-mittee was named as follows; VictoriaJankowski, Chair, Jennifer Justice-Haley, Vice-Chair, Margaret Knell,Administrative Vice-Chair, DeniseCaspersen, Secretary, and TeresaBolton, Treasurer. Other Board Mem-bers for 2011 will be announced shortly.

The goals for the2011–2012 Boardwill be to grow thenetwork, build a sus-tainable funding baseand align and buildan infrastructure tosupport WIN’s vi-sion.

The six studentswho won scholar-ships to attend WINthis year were also

acknowledged; Ozarks Technical Com-munity College’s Hannah Nickles,Southeast Community College’s KendyMaddox, Center of Applied Technol-ogy North’s Rickia Mines, College ofWestern Idaho’s Jessica Crowley,Green River Community College’s Jes-sica Gauthier, and Southeast Commu-nity College’s Mollee Lunkwitz.

Student Jessica Crowley also wonthe Cornerstone Scholarship Award, anaward presented by Teresa Bolton thatconsists of a financial contribution

from WIN to continue school.“Being awarded the Cornerstone

Scholarship is a gift. I plan to use thisgift to give back to others,” saidCrowley. “I aspire to emulate each andevery woman that I came in contactwith at the 2011 WIN Conference.”

Two Instructor Scholarships toattend WIN were given this year toMichele Charlebois-Didrecksonwith Ozarks Community College andRodney Bolton with The Center ofApplied Technology North.

Two additional scholarships weregiven to collision repair center em-ployees to attend WIN, winners wereTona Haywood with Gautier’s AutoBody and Glass, Inc. in King George,VA, and Teresa Super with TGIFBody Shop in Fremont, CA.

Day two of the conference beganwith the Annual Scholarship WalkPresented by Enterprise; over 100women attending the conference par-ticipated in the walk and were able toraise over $5,000 through individualand corporate donations.

On the last day, keynote speakerLauren Fix opened with a discussionentitled ‘Using Your Female Force forGood Car-Ma.’ Fix is an automotive

writer (Guide toLoving Your Car,The Car Coach) aswell as a formerrace car driver, me-chanic, and drivinginstructor, knownfor many mediaappearances.

Fix focused on ‘what comesaround, goes around’ and that womenin a male dominated industry need tofocus on empowering themselves.

“The glass ceiling is only there ifyou put it there,” said Fix.

Fix said she was impressed withWIN and the conference itself, shehad excellent feedback from attendeesafter her speech and said the group re-ally represented all different aspects ofthe industry.

“I’d never heard of the group[WIN] before being asked to speak atthe conference—but I was thoroughlyimpressed,” said Fix.

Napping is a Good ThingThe last keynote speaker of the con-ference was Dr. Sara Mednick, Dr.Mednick is an Assistant Professor ofPsychiatry at UC San Diego, who re-viewed research on sleep deprivationand naps. Eliciting chuckles from theaudience when she announced shewould be discussing ‘napping,’ Med-nick explained the link between ade-quate REM sleep and productivity andcreativity. Showing that adequatesleep drastically affects their work-force’s productivity had the audiencetaking the topic a bit more seriouslyby the speech’s close.

Mednick showed charts from herresearch showing that REM sleep dur-


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Jessica Rose Crowley (L) receiving theCornerstone Scholarship Recipient Awardfrom Teresa Bolton (ASA) and Mary Kunz (R)

Lauren Fix

All 2011 scholarship winners lined up at the Opening Session


WIN Conference

ing a daytime nap can make up forsleep deprivation at night, and encour-aged businesses to allow appropriate

rest breaks, includ-ing napping. Withmore productivitydemanded by busi-nesses, Mednickshowed that get-ting adequate REMsleep is not onlycritical, but is a

much more permanent solution thendowning a cup of coffee. More infor-mation about Dr. Mednick’s researchcan be found at www.takeanap.info.

The conference also consisted ofnetworking breakfasts and activitiesdesigned for members to get to knoweach other better as well as severalone-hour break out sessions in 5 topicareas.

Leadership From the Inside OutKeynote speaker Jennifer Sertl spokein a breakout session using themetaphor of a light bulb’s wattage todescribe how to ‘separate your focus.’She told everyone to decide a ‘wattage’of focus they have in a given incrementof time (weeks or months) and to sep-

arate that wattage into a certain portionfor each category including internal re-lationships, external relationships, or-ganization, implementation, industryeducation and reflection.

Sertl also encouraged attendeesto make a list of 18 people they hopeto meet in their lifetime. This list is notso much about meeting the person, butabout knowing how to handle the sit-uation if you were to meet the person.

“You can’t admire a quality insomeone without having that qualityor the potential for that quality inyourself,” said Sertl.

Social MediaSocial Media guru Helen Todd gave abasic overview of how a business’ so-cial networking presence can reachmore clientele if used correctly. Shegave tips on how often to post on so-cial media pages, what to post andother advertising options within socialmedia that can garner attention foryour business.

Todd favored social media giantFacebook during the presentation, cit-ing that most of the conference atten-dees used Facebook above othersocial networking mediums to pro-

mote their businesses.She also favored a social media

presence over a traditional websitechiefly due to the fact that a website isreally a ‘brochure’ about your servicesand business while a social mediapage is interactive and allows users tocreate a conversation about your serv-ices and business—a marketing toolthat cannot be quantified. Socialmedia questions can be directed [email protected]

You Are Your Business CardAnn Fulton presented a lively discus-sion about how important it is to dressappropriately for your own profes-sional, age and lifestyle and how toimportant your own personal coloringis in selecting clothes and accessories.Ann is the owner of Never Pay Retailin Denver, CO.

Lean in the Front OfficeEmphasis has been placed on focusingon lean processes in body shops how-ever going lean also applies toprocesses and organization in the frontdesk area of any business. There is alarge amount of paperwork involved inany repair shop, and assuring that the

paperwork is flowing quickly and cor-rectly throughout the job is essential.Eliminating redundancy and clutterand accurately labeling all supplies is aquick way to get started. The quickest,most efficent way paperwork can flowis the path it should take.

Hot Button Employment IssuesJim Webber, an experienced employ-ment lawyer and human resourcesmanager from Washington state, ledthis session focused on legal require-ments for employers. The session cov-ered harassment issues and prevention,workplace ethics, and tips for supervi-sors. Webber pointed out that investi-gating harassment and discriminationcomplaints can be stressful and fright-ening. The outcome of an investigationprovides the basis for critical employ-ment decisions and a prompt, thoroughand unbiased review is an essentialpart of both preventing liability andmaintaining a healthy workplace.Webber created the blog Evil Skippyat Work to provide an entertainingview of what makes workplaces greatand not-so-great. See this blog atwww.evilskippyatwork.com and also atwww.jimwebber.net.


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Tornadoes ripped across the southeastportion of the US brought destructionin April and May. States hardest hitwere Alabama, Mississippi, Ten-nessee, Georgia, Virginia andArkansas, and now Missouri. Alabamawas the hardest hit in April with overhalf of the fatalities. As of end of April28 the confirmed death toll was atleast 250, but that will rise as of theMay 22 Joplin monster tornado.

“It looked like it was probably amile wide,” Birmingham, AL, MayorWilliam Bell said of the funnel cloudto CNN. Tuscaloosa, AL, mayor Wal-

ter Maddox predicted it would takemonths for the town to recover.

President Barack Obama had al-ready expressed condolences by phoneto Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley whenhe approved his request for emergencyfederal assistance on April 28.

In Hueytown, AL, shop ownerJason Wilson was in his business—Jimmy’s Auto—when he heard the tor-nado warning sirens. He gathered his

family, including his two children, anddecided to ride out the storm in the shop.

About an hour afterward, Wilsonstood in the parking lot, stunned, look-ing at the roof of the store. The roofhad been blown off the building asthey huddled inside, he said.

“We was fixing to go home andheard the siren,” he said to Alabamawebsite al.com. “We took cover. It’sabout all you can do. And then it justblew the roof off.”

Wilson, his wife, his father and histwo children escaped without a scratch.

Coats Auto Body and Paint inRaleigh, NC, experienced an intensetornado on April 16 that caused major

damage to the shop.“Even though the building has

been condemned and is now gone, weare blessed,” said Co-Owner Tana

Malerba, “No one was inthe building at the timethat the tornado hit. Wealso found a temporary lo-cation six miles down theroad from where we werelocated while we rebuild.”

The tornado tookoff the entire roof of Coats brick build-ing and both side walls of the buildingcollapsed. The bays and shop floorwere no longer separated from the out-doors after the storm.

One thing that did survive thestorm was the shop’s Garmat spraybooth. The booth did sustain somedamage, but all mechanical compo-nents and the attached mixing roomwere saved despite the all but de-

stroyed building that housed thebooth. Between Coats’ employees andlocal vendors, Coats was able to movetheir business to neighboring Garner,NC, within eight days. Malerba saidthe business is just waiting on someoutside vendors to complete theirwork before the shop will be back run-ning at 100%. The Garner locationwill be a temporary home for the busi-ness until they can rebuild their origi-nal Raleigh location.

Insurers also began the dauntingtask of tallying the home and autodamages of their clients on April 29.

Alabama Insurance Commis-sioner Jim Riding said that he is reach-

ing out to the state’s property insurersto provide a coordinated response to thestorms as soon as possible.

“We want to hit the ground run-ning to deliver an effective response toall Alabamians affected by these tragicstorms,” he said to Insurance Journal.“As soon as the companies settle onlocations for their disaster responseheadquarters, we will share that infor-mation with the public.”

State Farm Spokesperson JimMcCullen said that said by April 28the insurer already had 3,300 claims inAlabama and the count continues torise, according to Insurance Journal.He said that the company was some-what fortunate in that it already hadteams working in Arkansas in thewake of a series of tornadoes that wentthrough the South Central portion ofthe country in early April and a quickresponse should ensue.

The dangerous conditions alsohalted production at the Toyota andMercedes-Benz plants in Alabama asof April 28.

A Mercedes plant spokeswomansaid April 29 that Mercedes had

halted operations because supplierswere unable to deliver parts due to thestorms, according to the TuscaloosaNews.

A spokeswoman for the au-tomaker also told Automotive Newsthe plant would remain down untilMay 2 following the tornado. Toyotaspokesman Mike Goss said the engineplant stopped work April 27 when itlost power. He said the power could beout at least through May 1.

Other automotive factories in theregion, including Hyundai MotorManufacturing Alabama in Mont-gomery, and Honda of Alabama Man-ufacturing in Lincoln, reported nodirect damage from the tornadoes.

However, representatives forHonda said the automaker is evaluat-ing the storms impact on their suppli-ers all across Alabama, which mayaffect the company’s output later thisspring.

Coats Auto Body and Paint434A US 70 Highway East Garner NC 27529(919) 833-6877


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The front of Coats’ Raleigh location before the storm hit

Inside Coats’ Raleigh location before the storm hit

The front of the building after the storm

Inside after the storm

Tornadoes Devastate South, Halting Automakers’ Plants, Inundating Insurers


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ASA Discusses New RefinishRegulation with EPA OfficialsASA collision leaders met recentlywith top EPA Office of Complianceofficials to discuss the EPA automo-tive refinishing regulation. ASAmembers also briefed members ofCongress on the new paint regula-tion. ASA supports the regulation buthas been concerned about some en-forcement efforts. Some state agen-cies oversee enforcement of theregulation while others are leavingcompliance to the U.S. EPA. This en-forcement diversity has created someissues relative to the regulation. Oneof the concerns is the regulation ex-emption for “Coatings applied from ahand-held device with a paint cup ca-pacity that is equal to or less than 3.0fluid ounces.” ASA worked with theU.S. EPA in preparing backgroundfor the auto refinishing regulation.ASA hosted the EPA at its trade show,the International Autobody Congressand Exposition (NACE), and in vari-ous ASA member shops around thecountry to help educate the EPAabout shop systems, training andproper equipment. ASA will continueto work with EPA and state agencieson compliance issues for the auto re-finishing regulation.

AASP Awards Grants to NABCand Auto Education InstituteThe Alliance of Automotive ServiceProviders (AASP) has awarded In-dustry Improvement Grants to theNational Auto Body Council(NABC) and the Automotive Educa-tion & Policy Institute (AEPI). Thegrants were approved at the AASP’snational board of directors meeting inRaleigh, NC in April. The NABCgrant will go toward helping create aSpanish-language glossary of colli-sion repair terms for Spanish-speak-ing shop employees and customers.The money for the AEPI will assist increating a Web-based collection oflegal decisions made in favor of col-lision repairers.

The AASP also voted to partici-pate in the Society of Collision Re-pair Specialists’ Repair DrivenEducation (RDE) series at SEMA inLas Vegas in November.

“After experiencing last year’sRDE first hand, I was impressed withthe caliber of the content provided,”said AASP President Rick Starbard.“It was great to be able to experienceeducational seminars that are truly re-pairer driven, and our association isproud to be a part of that experiencein 2011.”

ASA Announces its Collision Operations 2011 CommitteeASA has announced its 2011 CollisionDivision Operations Committee. DanStander, Fix Auto Highlands Ranch, Lit-tleton, CO, continues his two-year termas Collision Division director. As such,Stander serves on ASA’s board of direc-tors and is chairman of the ASA Colli-sion Division Operations Committee.

Additional members of the opera-tions committee announced by ASA’sboard of directors include Ronald ScottBenavidez, Mr. B’s Paint & Body ShopInc., Albuquerque, NM, who is servingas assistant division director; Stacy Bart-nik, CARSTAR Franchise Systems Inc.,Overland Park, KS; Jeff Brunz, MasterEuropa Paint & Collision, Fort Worth,TX; Tommy Clayton, Tommy’s DentService, Gibsonville, NC; Virginia Dun-can, AAM, Duncan’s Collision Inc.,Boardman, OH; Dustin Eckhart, AAM,Hernandez Collision Center, Hinesville,GA; Mike LeVasseur, Keenan AutoBody Inc., Clifton Heights, PA; andSteve Tomaszewski, Alpine CollisionCenter, Grand Rapids, MI.

Members of ASA’s Collision Divi-sion Operations Committee representshops of varying sizes from across theUnited States. The committee works onbehalf of all ASA collision members.

ASA Announces its 2011Government Affairs CmteASA has announced its 2011 Govern-ment Affairs Committee (GAC).Members of the GAC include RoySchnepper, AAM, board representa-tive and committee chairman, Butler’sCollision Inc., Roseville, MI; DavidLanspeary, AAM, affiliate representa-tive, Dave’s Auto Repair, Youngtown,AZ; April Hernandez Miller, AAM,collision division representative, Her-nandez Collision Center, Savannah,GA; Douglass Kirchdorfer, AAM,mechanical division representative,Downing Street Garage, Denver, CO;and Charles Elder, AAM, member atlarge, Ray Gordon Brake Service, Tal-lahassee, FL.

Members assumed their positionsat the close of ASA’s annual businessmeeting May 9–11 in the Washington,DC, area.

ASA’s board of directors estab-lished the Government Affairs Com-mittee to assist in developing state andnational legislative objectives on anannual basis. The committee worksclosely with Bob Redding, ASA’sWashington, DC, representative.

For more information aboutASA’s legislative objectives and ac-tivities, see www.TakingTheHill.com.

Challenges—they seem like they’realways coming up. Since I did the CarWarriors TV show, where we were al-ways fighting the clock with only 72hours to build a complete car, it seemslike everybody wants to hit me with atime challenge. My buddy, DiggityDave, you might know him from the

Pimp My Ride TV show, called me upto throw out a challenge.

Dave backed his 2002 Escaladeinto a brick wall and ripped about athree inch tear down the right quarterpanel. He also hit the rear bumper andtore the right molding. Here’s the realproblem: Dave’s got to have his SUVback the following day, which is exactly24 hours, because he’s got a big meet-ing for a new movie he’s doing and hecan’t show up with his ride damaged.

Now he’s asking to get this fixedin 24 hours (seemingly impossible,right?) so I’m thinking how to create aprocess that can make this happen in24 hours. I’ve got to replace the quar-ter panel, the rear bumper and themolding. To top it off, he says, ‘I’vegot zero budget’ so this is a ‘bro deal.’I’ve got to do what I’ve got to do anduse what I have on the table.

Here are the steps and theprocesses that I used to beat the clock.You can judge if I was successful. Thefirst thing I decide is ‘no parts,’ we’vegot to fix everything. I see that I need tocut a window—try to keep everythingas small as possible—especially to cutand replace a piece with another pieceof metal. The metal was actually 20gauge, so I checked the gauge of metalto make sure I was replacing it exactly.

I cut a piece out of the quarterpanel, then cut the ripped area out ofthat so I can flatten the panel. I wasable to get inside it and get the struc-ture part of it straight using a slidehammer. When I cut my panel I madesure that the top and the lower part of

the quarter panel still had a spot weldholding it to the inner structure. Thisway when I come in with the slidehammer the quarter panel is still goingto move, because otherwise I’ll haveto put this up on the frame rack andpull it. I needed to avoid all that be-cause of the time constraints.

This actually worked out prettywell. I got my window in there, cutout the damaged piece of metal. NowI can flatten out the piece that I cut outto use as a pattern. I get another pieceof metal, I use the break and bend it. Iclamp the piece I cut out of the metalon there, scribe it, come back, cut itout. I actually keep them both togetherand use the nibbler to follow around itas close as I can get it and then followup with the grinder. That means it’sexactly the shape and size I need.

If you’re putting your template onthe outside, you’re going to be a littlebit smaller on the inside because wherethat break is. It’s actually going tocause you to be a 20 gauge short somake sure you keep the length at theend if you’re coming from the inside.If you want to use the pattern on the in-side then you’ll be an 1/8th inch longerbecause you want this piece to fit.

So you can either TIG weld it orMIG weld it. You’ve got to take yourtime either way. I’m going to TIG weldit. I’ll actually put it in with the MIGwelder just to get it set where I need itand then come back with the TIGwelder but before that I need to shapethe metal with the English Wheel andflatten it all out. To get it the right shapeyou’re going to need to fit it a coupletimes, go back and forth, fit it untilyou’ve got your contour right.

As soon as it’s fitting as close asyou can get it, you’re ready to tack it in.Take your time as you weld it. Weldvery small areas, keep heat control be-cause you don’t want it to warp and

then you’ve got to watch the rest of themetal. If you see it start to suck in, getyour nail gun and pull out your lowareas. Every time you weld it, check it.This will save you a lot of time and alot of Bondo™. A lot of guys want toslap Bondo™ over it but try to outsmartthe metal. That gives you more seat

time under your belt to where you canutilize this process on another project.

So after getting it welded in, Ihave a little metal finishing to do. I’lldo a skim coat of mud over it just totrue it in, get some of those low spots

because I don’t have a lot of time tometal finish it completely with a file.So I shape it with a skim coat.

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since I started using it I don’t have anypinholes. I don’t have to mixBondo™, I don’t have to worry aboutthe mixture, don’t have to worry aboutair making the pinholes. If you don’tknow about the 3M Dynamic Mixing


Repairing Quarter Panel, Bumper, and Molding: No Time, No Money

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with Sheila LoftusYour Turn

Opinions Countwith Dick Strom

Shop Showcasewith Janet Chaney

Industry Overviewwith Janet Chaney

Industry Interviewwith Janet Chaney

Industry Insightwith John Yoswick

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

System, check it out. It’s a big timesaver and gives you better quality re-sults, less waste, more productivity.It’s everything you need in one gun.

Once I get the body work done,I’m come back in with some PCLPrimer. I’m going to load the primerup and hit it with some 80 grit, 3Mlongboard. Then I’m going to comeback and get rid of the 80 gritscratches with 150. Then I guide coatit again, come back with 400 wet.Now I’m ready for paint.

I’m going to apply the sealer, thebase coat and the clear coat. Whatever

system you guys are using in yourshop, go with that.

I still have the bumper and theside molding to fix. I don’t know howmany guys are using the 08115—thepanel bonding adhesive—but I love

this stuff. Every day I find a new usefor it. This stuff sands really well, itdries and hardens really true, and it’sflexible—so I’m using it as a plasticrepair product. It usually takes 24hours to cure but if you hit it with aheat lamp you can get it to cure withinan hour or two. I know a lot of guysuse it for putting quarter panels on,which is a better process, less weld-ing, less work. It’s a better repair at theend of the day because when you’repriming each side of the panel and theinner structure of the quarter panelthen it’s taking the place of corrosion

protection, less welding, less sparks,less interior that has to come apart. It’sactually a stronger bond then a weld.This stuff is amazing. Technology ischanging and you’ve got to changewith it. The gun makes it a lot easier to

apply it. I’m usually feeling prettyspoiled by 3M, they’re definitely thego-to for me when it comes to newproducts, anything and everything.3M just about carries it all.

Getting back to the body work, Ilay the panel bonding adhesive on thedamage area—the bumper—insteadof using Bondo™. This is going to ad-here and it’s not going to shrink. Isand it with 80 grit on the plastic. Ishape it just like the Bondo™. Youwant to heat these panels first, shapeit, get its best shape, take all the lowareas out, file it down with some 80.

Come back for the cracks and any lowareas, and fill it with the panel bond-ing adhesive. I sand it with 80, feathereverything with 150, then 320 aroundthat. Then back with the PCL flexibleprimer. It’s more a flexible, durableproduct for anything moving. Youwant to make sure you use the rightproducts, especially on a project likethis where I don’t have any extra roomto breathe. I can’t take any chances ofsomething messing up on me.

Next is getting into the paintbooth, getting my color on, come backin with my Transtar clear with the HThardener, zap that on there. I didn’tuse a two-hour clear which is a bitmore yellowish. I apply my threecoats as I always do.

Now we’re down to about threehours before Diggity comes to pickthis vehicle up and that gives me justenough time to put the bumper and thebumper sensors on, apply the mold-ing, and get the tail light back in.

That’s another project, anotherclock, another challenge under my belt.Diggity comes and is just blown awaythat I ‘pulled another rabbit out of thehat’ as he put it. I tell people ‘neverthink negative, always go with the pos-itive.’ Think “hey, I can do that,” putyourself to the challenge. Make sureyou keep your quality because that’severything. Make sure you do your fits,stay at your level, ask questions. I’mglad I was able to help a good buddyout, Diggity Dave from Pimp My Ride.

Hopefully, this will help some ofyou guys in similar situations when

you get into a time constraint or evenif you want to save a few bucks ifyou’re doing this for a friend or fam-ily or somebody that doesn’t have themoney to fix it or if you owe a favor tosomebody, this is a good way to uti-lize the money because this job wouldrun about $4,000 maybe $4,500 by thetime you got done buying the rearbumper, quarter panel, tail light, mold-ing, and all the materials involved init.

So Diggity Dave came up $4,500to the good. He owes me a favor nowso I’ll hit him up when I’m ready for

my favor and maybe I’ll have to puthim through the same test he put methrough. A challenge on the table, raceagainst the clock, at the end of the day,his car’s done in 24 hours and I’m onto the next one—that’s what I live for.Live, breathe and eat building cars,fixing them—never too good to workon anything.

My daily focus is waking up andhaving something else to work on andalways trying to get the cooler proj-ects. If you don’t use it you lose it,that’s the key to my game. I’m nevertoo good to do something and I expectyou guys to be the same way, alwaystry to better yourself at what you do,everyday try to learn something new.

I want to thank 3M for their prod-ucts, especially what I call the ‘Bondogun’: the 3M Dynamic Mixing Sys-tem, and the panel bonding adhesive.

Tune into Car Warriors everyWednesday night on Speed channel,go to my Facebook fan page, RichEvans Designs, and stay up with meon my daily challenges and projects.We’ll talk to you next month!


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Rich shows Diggity Dave the cutouts he did torepair the quarter panel

rules would lead to increased car theft.“They basically want to legalize a

fencing operation,” said Deputy ChiefJames Barber of the Mobile PoliceDepartment to al.com. “This legisla-tion is outrageous and only serves toincrease crime in our communities forthe benefit of the scrap and salvage in-dustries at the expense of Alabama cit-izens.”

Prior to the enforcement of thetitle law, thieves with tow trucks werescooping up broken down cars off ofthe street and bringing them directlyto the scrap dealers, said Sgt. MichaelWomack, who polices the scrap yardsin Mobile.

When the police departmentbegan enforcing the title requirement,car thefts fell by 20 percent, basicallyovernight, Barber said. The percent-age of stolen cars that police were ableto recover also improved, he said.

Requiring a title for a car beforeit is scrapped allows for better track-ing of vehicles coming into recycler'syards.

Officials from the Mobile CountySheriff’s Office, the Mobile CountyDistrict Attorney’s Office and the Po-lice Department have been lobbyingagainst the proposed law for the pastseveral weeks.

Supporters of the bill say the lawenforcement officials aren’t takinginto account all the safety measuresbuilt into the legislation. The billwould only remove the title require-ment for cars more than 12 modelyears old and worth less than $1,000,said Philip Bryan, chief of staff forSen. Del Marsh, who is sponsoringthe bill in the Senate.

The bill would also create an e-verify system to track what cars arebeing scrapped at the point of sale.Before shredding or crushing the ve-hicle, scrap dealers would have to givethe Vehicle Identification Number(VIN) to the state Department of Rev-enue, which would check to see if ithad been reported stolen. The sellerwould also have to sign an affidavitswearing that he was the vehicle’slegal owner.

Womack said the safeguards inthe bill are inadequate. By the time acar is reported stolen and entered

into the national database, it couldalready be reduced to an untraceablescrap.

Customers heading to MississippiPrior to the title rule, Alabama recy-cled about 200,000 to 300,000 carsevery year, now many of those carsare simply going to neighboring statesthat have less laws relating to scrap-ping vehicles.

Hickman lives in Biloxi, whichdoesn’t have a title requirement. Hesaid he used shred about 30 cars a day;now he does three.


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Autobody News June 2011 Southwest Edition