Southeastern November 2014 Issue

by Chasidy Rae Sisk

On Tuesday, August 26, attorneyJohn Arthur Eaves and shop ownerBill Fowler, of Bill Fowler’s Body-works in Southaven MS, appeared onthe Drake and Zeke Show, a popularearly morning radio talk show in theMemphis, TN area. The reason fortheir guest appearance was to explainthe MDL lawsuit to consumers andeducate them on their rights duringthe collision repair process in hopesof raising awareness about this im-portant issue impacting collision re-pair facilities across the country.

To begin, the radio hosts summa-rized the lawsuit they planned to dis-cuss. In January 2014, Eaves filed acomplaint against insurers on behalfof 21 collision repair shops. Thoughthe lawsuit began in MS, it has spreadand continues to gain traction so thatit is now a national lawsuit, involvingsix states, which will be tried by a sin-gle judge in FL. Multiple insurershave been implicated in the complaintas the habit of insurer steering is an in-dustry-wide problem.

Fowler pointed out that steeringhas become so pervasive in the indus-

by Stacey Phillips, Assistant Editor

Sixty-five collision repair shop own-ers recently traveled to WashingtonD.C. to educate Congress about thestruggle body shops face to protectconsumers when providing a com-plete and safe repair. The majority ofthem were part of a Nationwide Anti-Trust Multi-District Litigation filedearlier this year against multiple in-surance companies in several states.(See also other cover story this page.)

After more than 150 meetingswith representatives and senators overa three-day period, the result was anoutpouring of support for an industry

faced with the challenge of insurancecompanies dictating how they run

Congress Expresses Support of Repair Industry inResponse to Owners’ Trip to Washington D.C.

Attorney John Arthur Eaves and Shop Owner Bill Fowlerappear on Memphis Radio to Discuss MDL Suit

See Congress Support, Page 43

See Memphis Radio, Page 30

by Stacey Phillips, Assistant Editor

Last month we reported on the finalclosing of the purchase of HolmesBody Shop’s seven locations byCooks Collision Centers. The Holmesacquisition was initiated in May 2012and concluded with the seventhHolmes location closing in Septemberof this year, after our last issue wentto press. With 35 locations in CA,Cooks is the largest independentlyowned and operated collision repairorganization in the state.

But Holmes is not even the latestmedium size MSO to be acquired bylarger consolidators in California. InSeptember, Service King CollisionRepair Centers acquired Marco’s Col-lision Centers, a medium-sized MSOalso having seven locations in South-

ern California. Shortly thereafterService King reached an agreement toacquire Car West Auto Body, an MSOwith seven shops in Northern Califor-nia.

Is there some kind of ‘rule of sev-ens’ at play here? More seriously, wewanted to know what forces weredriving the acquisition of small tomid-size MSOs and why they seemmore attractive than individual shopsfor acquisition.

Nearly 20 years ago DavidRoberts, the co-founder and formerChairman of the Board for CaliberCollision Centers, wrote an articlepredicting the future of consolidationsin the collision repair industry. It wasentitled Shop Consolidation: Is it In-evitable? Undoubtedly, Roberts an-

See MSO Consolidations, Page 10

Recent MSO Consolidations in CA Heat Up Industry

Matt Parkerwith House Speaker John Boehner

Pro Spot is Ford’s Rotunda Supplier of the YearCarlsbad’s Pro Spot is very proud to beawarded the supplier of the year awardby the Ford Motor Company RotundaProgram. Pro Spot was approved byFord to supply aluminum repair equip-ment to the Collision Repair Programfor repairs on the new 2015 Ford F-150all-aluminum body truck. The Ford Ro-tunda Dealer Equipment Program is anational program endorsed by Ford

Motor Co. to their dealer base, sellingservice and body shop repair equip-ment. The approved equipment in-cluded: the SP Pulse MIG welders—the most sold Ford-required MIG

welders in North America, the Alu-minum Dent Repair Stations, Fume Ex-tractors, and the SPR Riveter; all ofwhich contributed to the winning of theSupplier of the Year award. “We wouldlike to thank Team Pro Spot for all oftheir hard work and all of our customersthat have supported us in purchasingour aluminum repair products. Thismeans a lot to our team at Pro Spot,”said Ron Olsson, Pro Spot President,“I’m overwhelmed and very honored towin this award from Ford. We havebeen working very hard and appreciatethe trust in our equipment and of course,the overwhelming amount of orders wehave received for the aluminum pro-gram.”

The 2015 F-150 is revolutionizingthe repair industry by mainstreaming alu-minum repair. With the hard work byFord Motor Company in designing a re-pairability-focused, all-aluminum bodyF-150, shops across the country are get-ting prepared to repair the top selling ve-hicle. Pro Spot is proud to be recognizedas a supplier of quality aluminum repairequipment to the Collision Repair Pro-gram and the 2015 Ford F-150 truck. ProSpot looks forward to continuing to de-sign innovative equipment for shops andtechnicians to repair vehicles back to OEstandards.

(l to r) Mike Berardi (Ford Director of Serv-ice Engineering Operations), Ashley Olsson(Pro Spot Director of Communications), RonOlsson (Pro Spot Founder & President) andSteve DeAngelis (Ford Manager of Techni-cal Support Operations). Photo Credit: Ash-ley Olsson

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Contents

Southeast

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

Serving Florida, Georgia, Alabama,Mississippi, Virginia, Tennessee, NorthCarolina, South Carolina and adjacentmetro areas. Autobody News is a monthlypublication for the autobody industry.Permission to reproduce in any form thematerial published in Autobody News mustbe obtained in writing from the publisher.©2014 Adamantine Media LLC.

Autobody NewsBox 1516, Carlsbad, CA 92018;(800) 699-8251 (760) 603-3229 Faxwww.autobodynews.comEmail: [email protected]

Allan Vigil Ford-Lincoln . . . . . . . . . . 31Arrigo Dodge-Chrysler-Jeep-Ram . 10BMW Wholesale Parts Dealers . . . . 38Car-Part.com. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9CarcoonAmerica Airflow Systems . . 8Certified Automotive PartsAssociation (CAPA). . . . . . . . . . . 17

Classifieds. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46Coggin Deland Honda . . . . . . . . . . 30Crashmax Equipment . . . . . . . . . . . 18Crown Automotive Group . . . . . . . . 33Dent Tools Direct USA . . . . . . . . . . . 6DJS Fabrications, Inc.. . . . . . . . . . . 48Don Reid Ford. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36Equalizer Industries, Inc . . . . . . . . . 12Ford Wholesale Parts DealersFL, VA, GA, AL, MS. . . . . . . . . . . 39

GlasWeld Systems, Inc. . . . . . . . . . 16GM Wholesale Parts Dealers . . . . . 37Gus Machado Ford. . . . . . . . . . . . . 26Hendrick Automotive Group. . . . . . 13Hendrick BMW/MINI . . . . . . . . . . . . 19Hendrick Honda Bradenton . . . . . . 22Honda-Acura Wholesale PartsDealers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23, 24-25

Hyundai Wholesale Parts Dealers. . 43Innovative Tools & Technology, Inc. . 15Jon Hall Chevrolet . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Kernersville Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep-Ram . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Kia Motors Wholesale Parts Dealers. 41Lexus Wholesale Parts Dealers . . . 44Malco. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9Mercedes-Benz. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7Mercedes-Benz Wholesale PartsDealers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

MINI Wholesale Parts Dealers . . . . 38Mitsubishi Wholesale Parts Dealers . 42MOPAR Wholesale Parts Dealers . . 29Motor Guard Corp. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4Nalley BMW. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30Performance Automall . . . . . . . . . . 27Porsche Wholesale Parts Dealers . 45PPG. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2Priority Honda . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34Rick Hendrick Dodge-Chrysler-Jeep-Ram. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Safety Regulation Strategies . . . . . 32SATA Spray Equipment . . . . . . . . . . 5Subaru of Gwinnett . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28Subaru Wholesale Parts Dealers . . 35Tameron Hyundai . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26TG Products, Inc. - The Rail Saver . 20UniCure Spraybooths . . . . . . . . . . . 47Valspar Automotive . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Inde

xofAdvertisers

REGIONAL

$2 Million Grant to Auto Programs

in LA, AL, MS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

$350K Grant to Hillsborough College’s

Training for Transportation & Diesel . . . . 6

ABRA Raises $10,000 for Children’s

Hospital in TN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Atlanta I-CAR Committee’s 6th Annual

Rockin’ Car Show . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Auto Wrecks Dramatically Rise in

Charlotte, NC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Brevard, FL Dealerships Renovate

and Expand . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Couple Charged in Own Shop Fire . . . . . . 14

Demolition Derby Gears Up for

November Fair in GA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Fire at Miramar, FL, Shop Damaged Cars . 32

First CarMax Location Opens in Mississippi . 6

FL Auto Insurance Prices Online. . . . . . . . 14

FL Event Showed Off the Latest EV Models . 6

GA Dept of Driver Services Encourages

Safer Driving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

GCIA’s 18th Annual Golf Tournament . . . . 19

GreenTech Automotive Completes

New MS Plant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Leading Collision Industry Experts in

FL Hold Events. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Nationwide Ray Gunder Labor Rate Surveys

Announced . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

NC Automotive Instructor Awarded

Trip to SEMA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Pull-A-Part Recognized for Multiple

Environmental Achievements in TN . . . . 4

SE Tops List of States With Most

Energy Efficient Cars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Service King and MetLife Auto & Home

Awarded Youth Villages Family With

Refurbished Vehicle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Students Gain Practical Experience

at NC Body Shop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Third Time is the Charm at North Carolina

Custom Paint and Auto Body Shop. . . . 45

COLUMNISTS

Attanasio - Body Shops are Tapping into

the Persuasive Power of Video . . . . . . . 16

Attanasio - Chicago Body Shop’s

Anti-Texting Campaign Catches Fire . . . 35

Attanasio - Gas Monkey Garage and Dodge

Recruit Mötley Crüe to Rock Dallas . . . 20

Franklin - Are You Marketing to Merely

Survive or Are You Trying to Grow . . . . 32

Luehr - Lean Implementation Strategies . . 40

Yoswick - DRPs 20 years ago, Early CCRE,

ADP Revises Labor Times, . . . . . . . . . 26

Yoswick - Energy transfer in today’s vehicles

makes measuring, multi-point pulling

more important . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

NATIONAL

Aftermarket Auto Parts Alliance Joins

CC TRU Parts Network. . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

Attorney John Arthur Eaves and Shop

Owner Bill Fowler appear on Memphis

Radio to Discuss MDL Suit . . . . . . . . . . 1

Berkshire Hathaway to Acquire Van Tuyl

Group, Largest Privately-Owned Auto

Dealership Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

Caliber Acquires AutoPride . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Car-O-Liner Participation Enhanced

With Social Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

Chevrolet Brings Back the Corvette

Stingray in Time for SEMA . . . . . . . . . . 42

Chevrolet Debuts Pickup Concept

Trucks for SEMA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

Chrysler Recall of SUVs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

Congress Expresses Support of Repair

Industry in Response to Owners’ Trip

to Washington D.C. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Couple Charged in Own Shop Fire . . . . . . 14

Ferrari Recall of 458 Italia and

Spider Models . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

FL Auto Insurance Prices Online. . . . . . . . 14

Ford Recalls 850,000 Cars for Airbag

& Seat Belt Glitch. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

Mercedes Will Train 26,000 in

the Brand’s New Culture . . . . . . . . . . . 42

Pro Spot is Ford’s Rotunda Supplier

of the Year . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Quest Donates $280,000 in Paint

& Abrasives to CREF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

Recent MSO Consolidations in CA

Heat Up Industry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Service King Donation in FL . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Sherwin-Williams EcoLean™ Workshop. . . 9

Sisk - LaCIA Holds September

Member Meeting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Sisk - No Fear for GCIA! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

Sisk - SafeCars Hosts Meetings Around the

Country to Discuss Insurer Interference

and National Lawsuits . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Students Gain Pratical Experience

at NC Body Shop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Takata Airbag Recall May Include

GM Vehicles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

Three Types of Parts Account for

50% of Sales Online. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Toyota Moves to Aluminum Hood

for Camry in 2018 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

WIN 2015 Membership Drive . . . . . . . . . . 32

www.autobodynews.com | NOVEMBER 2014 AUTOBODY NEWS 3

Autobody News is pleased to introduce Norman Morano who joined ourteam in October as an Advertising Sales Manager. Norm has been a SalesDirector for 13 years handling Hammer & Dolly, New Jersey Automotive,New England Automotive, AASP-News/MN and Wisconsin AutomotiveNews. He has also sold exhibitor space for the past four years at theNortheast Automotive Trade Show. Norm graduated from the University of California at Berkeley in 1982 with

a BS degree in Environmental Studies. After college he travelled extensivelybefore attending Law School at Rutgers University School of Law. He was

admitted to the bar in New Jersey and Pennsylvania and has kept his NJ bar license active. Born andraised in Nutley, NJ, Norm has also lived in Orono, ME, Berkeley, CA, and Sydney, Australia. Beforeconcentrating on automotive advertising he had his own sign company building his sales contactsthroughout NY, NJ, PA, CT and DE. When he isn't working, Norm enjoys biking, yoga, surfing, motor-cycling, movies, pizza and the New York Times. He has been a resident of the Jersey Shore for the past26 years. Contact Norm to discuss your advertising needs at [email protected].

New Talent Joins the Autobody News Sales Staff

Norman Morano is Our Newest Regional Sales Manager

Contact Norm at: [email protected] to discuss your advertising needs.

In terms of dollars spent on automo-tive replacement parts through onlinepurchasing, or e-tailing, three cate-gories represent half of the dollar vol-ume in 2013, according to E-Tailingin the Automotive Aftermarket fromthe Auto Care Association.

The top three product categoriesare braking systems (primarily padsand shoes); ignition and engine (fuelpumps, alternators, ignition coils, etc.);

and glass, mirrors and lamps.The E-Tailing in the Automo-

tive Aftermarket digital study ana-lyzes the online retail market forsales of aftermarket parts, and servesas the foundation for the Auto CareAssociation to provide a unified esti-mate of online sales within the after-market.

For pricing and more informa-tion, visit www.autocare.org/etailing.

Three Types of Parts Account for 50% of Sales Online


Pull-A-Part, the award-winning fam-ily business serving the do-it-yourself,used auto parts market, earned four2014 environmental awards from theTennessee Chamber of Commerce &Industry. Based in Atlanta, Georgia,Pull-A-Part provides affordable usedauto parts to do-it-yourself consumers,while also providing high quality scrapmetal, fluids and plastics for recycling.

Pull-A-Part received the followingawards on Oct. 2: the 2014 Award forWater Quality; the 2014 Award for AirQuality; a Certificate of Recognition inSolid and Hazardous Waste Manage-ment; and a Certificate of Recognitionfor Environmental Excellence. Theseawards recognize businesses that havedemonstrated outstanding achievementtoward environmental protection andenhancement as well as proactive andinnovative energy projects.

Pull-A-Part was acknowledged forpreventing water and air pollution, re-ducing waste sent to landfills, conserv-ing resources, and overall environmentalexcellence at its locations in Knoxville,Memphis and Nashville. The companyearned its first Tennessee environmentalaward from the Tennessee Chamber ofCommerce & Industry in 2006.

By developing a unique operatingsystem based on customer service and

environmental responsibility, Pull-A-Part has transformed what was oncethought of as the junkyard into a sus-tainable recycling business. Since itsfounding in 1997, the company hasmade an exceptional commitment to re-source conservation, waste reductionand pollution prevention, earning ac-claim for outstanding corporate and en-vironmental citizenship from a numberof federal, state and local organizations.

“The management of end-of-lifevehicles in Tennessee directly affects airquality, water purity and the volume ofwaste in state landfills, and Pull-A-Part,at its three Tennessee locations, preventswater pollution, reduces waste sent tolandfills and conserves resources,” saidAmy G. Martin, Associate Vice Presi-dent, Environment & Energy TennesseeChamber of Commerce & Industry Ten-nessee Manufacturers Association. “Pull-A-Part sets the standard for handling andrecycling end-of-life vehicles because ofits intentional commitment to resourceconservation, waste reduction and pollu-tion prevention.”

Automobiles are the leading recy-cled product in the United States, andPull-A-Part developed an innovativereclamation and recycling process thatreduces the amount of waste from eachend-of-life car by 21 percent when

compared to typical shredded vehicles.In addition, since the beginning of

its operations in Tennessee, the companyhas recovered more than 40,000 mercuryswitches from old cars in Tennessee anddelivered them for recycling. This figurerepresents 54 percent of all mercuryswitches recovered in the state. Eachswitch, if not recycled, has the potential tocontaminate 132,000 gallons of waterabove the U.S. EPA drinking water stan-dard. Pull-A-Part’s mercury switch re-covery in Tennessee, alone, has preventedthe potential contamination of more than5.5 billion gallons of the state’s water -equivalent to a 170 acre lake, 100 feetdeep. As part of its process, Pull-A-Partalso saved approximately 200,000 tons ofCO2 equivalent in Tennessee.

“Pull-A-Part traces its roots to abusiness begun 106 years ago, when ourfamily member, Morris Cohen, beganbuying used appliances and scrap,cleaning them up and selling them ortheir components for a modest profit.Even then, our business was based onthe value of reclamation,” said saidRoss Kogon, President and CEO of thecompany. “Pull-A-Part is proving thatin the 21st century, environmental stew-ardship, customer service and financialsustainability are equal components of asuccessful business.”

Pull-A-Part Recognized for Multiple Environmental Achievements in TN

Brevard County, FL residents will beseeing new and improved car dealer-ships popping up around every cornerwithin the next few weeks to months.

Locals no longer have to traveloutside their county to find a Sub-aru dealership because of the newSubaru of Melbourne in West Mel-bourne that opened Oct. 18.

Kelly Ford, Rosner AutomotiveGroup and the Boniface Hiers Auto-motive Group in South Brevard areall making upgrades and additions.These grand openings and renova-tions at the end of the year are just intime for 2015 arrivals and 2014 sales.

On October 1, Indian Motorcy-cle of Melbourne opened in a formershowroom on the Rosner Chevroletproperty. New and old Indian motor-cycle models as well as pre-ownedcycles from other manufacturers willbe sold. The grand opening is plannedfor November.

In North Brevard, the Pat Fis-cher Nissan dealership in Titusvillejust started a long-term renovationproject that will involve an overhaulof both its used-car facility and itsnew-car facility, according to re-ports by Wayne T. Price and llanaKowarski, floridatoday.com.

Brevard, FL DealershipsRenovate and Expand Caliber Collision Centers announced

their expansion in Florida with theacquisition of AutoPride CollisionRepair Centers on Sept. 19.

AutoPride Collision has been anindustry leader for more than 15 yearsin FL and has six locations in South-western FL. Steve Grimshaw, CaliberCollision CEO announced, “Auto-Pride has consistently delivered un-paralleled customer satisfaction andindustry-leading operational consis-tency in Florida for many years. Weare very excited to add these newmembers to the Caliber family.”

“Our teammates have deliveredhigh quality service while givingback to the people and communitiesthey’ve served. We are pleased thatCaliber Collision will offer our asso-ciates a bright future, with continuedinvolvement in our local communi-ties,” said Joseph M. Formica, Jr.,President of AutoPride Collision.

Wth the addition of the six centers,Caliber will now operate 10 locations inFL. “Our acquisition of AutoPride Col-lision increases Caliber’s network to197 locations as we continue to growinto the collision repair provider ofchoice throughout the nine states that weserve,” said Mark Sanders, CaliberCollision Centers’ President and COO.

Caliber Acquires AutoPride

According to a new study from per-sonal finance website WalletHub.com,Florida ranks as the most energy effi-cient state when it comes to cars.

The study, conducted in light ofNational Energy Awareness Month,compiled data from the U.S. CensusBureau, the National Climatic DataCenter, the Energy Information Ad-ministration and the Federal HighwayAdministration to determine the “car-related energy efficiency for each of48 states,” according to reports byMatt Mauney, orlandosentinel.com.

Alaska, Hawaii, and the Districtof Columbia were excluded due to alimited amount of data. According toMauney, the rankings were deter-mined by comparing the annual vehi-cle miles driven in each state with theamount of gasoline (in gallons) con-sumed.

Southeastern states lead the U.S.in this category, with Florida in thenumber one spot, followed by NorthCarolina and Alabama. However, inother energy efficiency departments,Florida doesn’t do so hot. The Sun-shine State is ranked 17th for overallenergy efficiency, 37th for home en-ergy efficiency, and 27 out of 48 forleast energy expensive states.

SE Tops List of States WithMost Energy Efficient Cars



On September 20, more than 300people braved the rain and gatheredin Melbourne city hall in Florida toexamine the latest electric vehicleson the market.

The event was part of a week-long campaign throughout theUnited States and Europe to pro-mote the benefits of electric vehi-cles.

The benefits of the electric ve-hicle are not only geared toward theenvironment, but also the cus-tomers' wallet.

Florida Power & Light,whichcarries more than 70 hybrid buckettrucks and over 500 other hybridvehicles, was a major sponsor ofthe event and supporter of electriccar benefits.

The showcase in Melbourne,FL was organized by the SpaceCoast Electric Vehicle Drivers club,and featured high-end electric ve-hicles as well as economy models.

The yellow Tesla Roadster,BMW i3 and Porsche Panamera SE-Hybrid were the most popularvehicles, according to Scott Gun-nerson at Florida Today.

FL Event Showed Off theLatest EV Models

GreenTech Automotive (GTA), a U.S.automotive manufacturer of environ-mentally friendly, energy-efficient ve-hicles, announced that construction iscomplete on its new production facil-ity in Tunica, Mississippi.

“GTA has made significantprogress toward our engineering, pro-duction, hiring and industry partner-ship goals in recent months,” saidCharles Wang, chairman and CEOof GTA. “We’re eager to move intoour new, permanent manufacturinghome in Tunica and begin productionthere as soon as possible.”

With construction on the new fa-cility complete, GTA is making finalpreparations in the building’s interiorand has started moving equipmentfrom its pilot manufacturing facility inHorn Lake, Mississippi. The companyexpects to celebrate the facility’sgrand opening and begin vehicle pro-duction there in the fourth quarter of2014.

The Tunica facility will produceMyCar, a two-seat neighborhood elec-tric vehicle that produces zero emis-sions, provides segment-leading rangeper charge, and can be recharged via acommon 110V wall outlet, a 220Vwall outlet, or fast charging stations.

GreenTech AutomotiveCompletes New MS Plant

$350K Grant to Hillsborough College’s Training forTransportation & Diesel A U.S. Census report revealed thatTampa Bay, FL ranks last among thecountry’s 25 largest metro areas whenit comes to median household income.This prompted U.S. Rep. Kathy Cas-tor (D-Tampa/St. Petersburg, FL) toreveal on September 24 that invest-ments in transportation and related jobtraining will help provide a pipeline tohigher wage employment.

“The Tampa Bay communitymust stay focused on boosting higher-wage jobs. The $350,000 economicdevelopment grant to HillsboroughCommunity College from the U.S.Department of Commerce EconomicDevelopment Administration will helpcreate a new training initiative for jobsin the transportation sector and dieseltechnologies,” announced U.S. Rep.Castor at the HCC Training Center inYbor City.

The grant will help fund reno-vations for 7,800-square-feet of ex-isting space that will house the newDiesel/Marine Diesel/Transit Train-ing Center. HCC already providesworkforce programs for auto bodycollision repair and welding.

“We are delighted that the EDAhas made a second investment in HCC,”said Dr. Ken Atwater, HCC president.

“The grant will help continue to build asustainable workforce for our commu-nity. Transportation and logistics is animperative component of our region’seconomic vitality. Programs such as theautomotive, welding and a future dieselmechanic program will help fill the needfor local highly trained workers.”

The Florida Agency for Work-force Innovation’s 2014-2015 reportprojects the need for qualified techni-cians and mechanics for aircraft, auto-mobiles, buses, trucks and other dieselvehicles at approximately 2,000 annu-ally for the Tampa Bay region. Thesame report also projects a mean salaryof about $19/hour for bus and truck me-chanics and diesel engine specialists.

“In the Tampa Bay area there aremore than 130,000 commercial vehi-cles with diesel engines, and at somepoint they all need to be serviced. Theindustry is running out of the very peo-ple we need to fulfill these very im-portant needs,” said Oscar Horton,CEO of Sun State International, a localfull-service truck dealership.See more at: http://www.noodls.com/viewNoodl/25206055/kathy-castor/us-rep-castor-announces-350k-economic-development-grant-#sthash.wvzeTYVv.dpuf

ABRA Auto Body & Glass an-nounced on October 14 that it helpedraise more than $10,000 during thethird annual Gaylord Springs Char-ity Golf Tournament to benefit Mon-roe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital atVanderbilt in TN.

Over 130 golfers and guestsgathered at the Gaylord Springs GolfLinks in Nashville, Tennessee onAugust 21, 2014 to support MonroeCarell Jr. Children’s Hospital inNashville, TN.

"We are excited and honored toreceive this generous donation fromABRA Auto Body & Glass," saidChris Lee, associate director ofChildren’s Ambulatory Services.“Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s atVanderbilt is committed to identify-ing cures and better treatments forthe children in our community, andthis donation will help us provide thebest possible care to our patients andfamilies.”

The third annual golf event ispart of Monroe Carell Jr. Children’sHospital’s initiative to offer world-class treatment to every child whocomes to the hospital. No child thatneeds services is denied care on thebasis of limited ability to pay.

ABRA Raises $10,000 forChildren’s Hospital in TN

CarMax, the largest retailer of usedcars in the US, officially opened itsfirst store in Tupelo, Mississippi lo-cated at 3147 Tom Watson Drive.The store is more than 8,000 squarefeet, occupies more than five acresand stocks more than 100 used vehi-cles.

To celebrate the Tupelo storeopening, CarMax is donating $2,500to The Family Resource Center. Thisnonprofit was selected by local Car-Max associates for the educationalsupport it provides for local childrenand the positive impact it’s makingon families within the community.

The CarMax Foundation alsoawarded a $5,000 grant to the Boys& Girls Club of North Mississippi’sPower Hour homework assistanceprogram. In addition, The Founda-tion awarded a Natural DisasterGrant of $5,000 to the American RedCross to support their Northeast Mis-sissippi Chapter cleanup efforts fromthe recent tornado damage. Theselocal contributions also came at therecommendation of Tupelo CarMaxassociates. The CarMax Foundationhas granted more than $20 millionon behalf of associates across thecountry since 2003.

First CarMax LocationOpens in Mississippi

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Industry enthusiasts across the south-ern states will be traveling to Albany,GA to participate in the 19th annualDemolition Derby this November.The event will be held at the South-west Regional Fair in conjunctionwith Albany’s Exchange Club Fair-grounds.

On Nov. 8, the Demolition Derbywill begin at 7:30 p.m. Admission isincluded in the general fair fee. Driv-ers who want to participate in thederby have to fill out a simple applica-tion and pay an entry fee of $75, ac-cording to reports by Brad McEwen,albanyherald.com.

The Demolition Derby featuresthree qualifying heats and one finalround. It usually takes around twohours to complete. The cars that areentered are divided into equal num-ber qualifying heats, according toMcEwen.

Five to six cars are picked aftereach heat to continue to the final event,which features 15 to 20 cars. Firstplace will be awarded $2,000, secondplace $750 and third place $500. Thederby will also give awards for Best inShow. First place Best in Show willwin $250 and second place $150, aswell as trophies.

Demolition Derby Gears Upfor November Fair in GA

$2 Million Grant to Auto Programs in LA, AL, MS by Jeff Matthews, thetowntalk.com

Central Louisiana Technical Commu-nity College will use a $2 million grantto revive its program training vehicletechnicians.

CLTCC partnered with threeother institutions: Lawson State Com-munity College in Birmingham, AL;Atlanta Technical College; andCopiah-Lincoln Community Collegein Wesson, MS, to secure $10 millionin funding.

“Today’s transportation vehiclesare modern and highly sophisticated,”said CLTCC Chancellor Rodney Ellis.“Our local employers have voiced con-cerns about a shortage of qualified tech-nicians, and we worked to find asolution. Because of this grant, we willbe able to work with numerous employ-ers to train and produce auto body, mo-bile medium/heavy equipment/diesel,marine and motorcycle repair techni-cians.”

The decision to go after fundingto bring back or expand automotivetechnology and transportation-relatedprograms came from several conver-sations Ellis had with local employ-ers when he took over at CLTCC.

“They talked about all the moneythey were spending to train their staff,

as well as all the money they werespending to recruit and train new tech-nicians,” he said.

Talking with colleagues at otherinstitutions, Ellis found they were hav-ing similar issues. With the idea that“we could make this so much morepowerful if we do this collectively,”Ellis said, the four schools formed theSoutheastern Transportation Network.

CLTCC will begin offering pro-grams at its Alexandria and Leesvillecampuses in the 2015 spring semes-ter. The goal is to expand to some ofthe other campuses starting in the2015 fall semester.

“We are excited about this train-ing initiative because it means therewill be trained individuals in our areato select from when filling these typesof positions,” said Clint Murphy,general manager of All-Star Toyota inAlexandria. “Currently, we have totravel outside of Central Louisiana tofind skilled labor, which is not ourpreference. We have good-paying jobsright here, and we want to hire ourlocal workforce.”

“The $2 million grant is a greatvictory for CLTCC and countless oth-ers who worked very hard to securethese funds,” said Rand Alford, ownerof Alford Motors in Leesville.

The Georgia Department of DriverServices is launching a campaign toencourage parents of teen drivers totalk to their children about safe driv-ing. The “5 to Drive” campaign coin-cides with National Teen DriverSafety Week, which runs Oct. 19–25.The campaign urges parents of teensto talk to them about safe driving andto set rules before their teens hit theroad.

The department says the cam-paign addresses the five most danger-ous behaviors for teen drivers. It givesparents five rules to share with theirkids:1. No Drinking and Driving.2. Buckle Up. Every Trip. EveryTime. Front Seat and Back.3. Put It Down. One Text or CallCould Wreck It All.4. Stop Speeding Before It Stops You.5. Observe Passenger Restrictions.

GA Dept of Driver ServicesEncourages Safer Driving

Check out ourNEW website at:southeastern.autobodynews.com


Service King and MetLife Auto & Home AwardedYouth Villages Family With Refurbished Vehicle

Sherwin-Williams EcoLean™ WorkshopSherwin-Williams Automotive Fin-ishes held its EcoLean™ Level 2workshop Oct. 21-22 at the “WorldCenter of Racing” in Daytona Beach,FL, at the iconic Daytona Interna-tional Speedway.

The EcoLean Level 2 workshopis an extensive, two-day course thatfurther implements the Sherwin-Williams message educating shopowners on the connection betweenenvironmentally sound business de-cisions and the reduction of processand environmental waste. It is exclu-sively designed to educate attendeesabout maximizing profitability byimproving productivity and elimi-nating waste throughout their facili-ties.

“The EcoLean journey is allabout helping collision centers driveprofitability and productivity, whilereducing their environmental impact,”says Greg Eisenhardt, Sherwin-Williams A-Plus™ NetworkMarket-ing Manager. “After attending thesession, participants will leave thetwo-day event with tangible tools toincrease the quality, production out-put, and profitability of their busi-nesses.

EcoLean courses have beenbuilt by some of the sharpest minds

in the collision repair industry, andwill afford collision repair profes-sionals the opportunity to relax in thecompany of industry peers, and learnfrom one another over a two-day pe-riod. The EcoLean Level 2 work-shop curriculum included:

● Understanding the impor-tance of a comprehensive repair;

● Discovering a tactical, shoplevel approach to lean implementa-tion;

● Specific steps to drive downerrors and redundancies found in atraditional estimate; and

● Methods on how to decreasemissing, wrong, damaged partswithin traditional production activi-ties.

For more information about theEcoLean Level 2 workshop online,visit www.sherwin-automotive.com/ecoleanwp.

Service King Collision Repair Cen-ters partnered with MetLife Auto &Home and Youth Villages to present arefurbished Honda Odyssey to a localfamily in need on Monday, October 6at the Service King Nashville GolfTournament.

This was Service King’s thirdpresentation this year as a part of theNational Auto Body Council’s Recy-cled Rides program.

“Reliable transportation is piv-otal in many of our lives and some-thing we easily overlook,” said ChrisAbraham, Service King CEO. “Weare honored to offer our time, servicesand resources to assist such a won-derful family. While this vehicle willbe a means of reliable transportation,our wish is that it provides long-last-ing benefits.”

Youth Villages, a private non-profit organization dedicated to help-ing emotionally and behaviorallytroubled children and their familieslive successfully, nominated the Wardfamily to receive the refurbished ve-hicle. Robert and Brandie Ward andtheir five children were in attendanceto accept the donation.

“We are extremely grateful to be

receiving this new van,” said RobertWard. “Transportation has been ahuge burden for our family, and we’rethankful for this gift. Youth Villageshas had such an impact on our family,and we’re thankful for all the workthey do for our community.”

Youth Villages nominated theWards after working alongside thefamily for three years.

Robert, a Desert Storm veteranwho injured his back on duty, sup-ports his family of seven on disabilitychecks while continuing to surpassdoctors’ expectations throughout hisrecovery.

The vehicle donation comesthrough MetLife Auto & Home whohas been a Recycled Rides partner forfour years.

“It is humbling to know thatthrough MetLife Auto & Home’s part-nership with the National Auto BodyCouncil we’re able to make a positivedifference in a family’s life,” saidRichard Ward, Director, MetLifeAuto & Home.

The National Auto Body Councilhas donated more than 800 vehiclesthrough the Recycled Rides programsince its inception in 2007.

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swered, “the answer is ‘yes.’ ”Fast forward to the present time

Roberts told Autobody News, “In thelast 24 months nearly $3 billion ofsales volume in the collision repair in-dustry has changed ownership, whichis 10 percent of the entire industry.”

Roberts is currently the ManagingDirector and Automotive ServicesGroup team leader for FOCUS Invest-ment Banking. He said there are severalreasons for this sudden acceleration, in-cluding the availability of acquisitioncapital and the number of MSOs look-ing to sell. “There are more than 44MSOs with $20 million or more in rev-enues with another 110 between $10and $20 million.”

“Consolidators are looking to getbigger and achieve more scale, whichhas rewards for the acquirers as wellas for insurers and consumers,” saidRoberts, whose company has officesin Atlanta, Los Angeles, and Wash-ington D.C.

“Large insurers have increasinglyrewarded the best performing consol-idators and large MSOs with morevolume. Cars are repaired faster, withless hassle, and more predictable costsand quality.”

We asked Lillian Maimone, for-mer CEO and co-founder of Marco’sCollision Centers, for her perspectiveon the industry. She was excitedabout her upcoming retirement, say-ing, “Marco and I have nothing to doand all day to do it, and we like it that

way. It’s a wonder-ful sense of free-dom and piece ofmind.”

“Seeing thetrends in the newcars and the newequipment that wasnecessary to repair

these cars, I saw ourselves having avery difficult time competing againstthe consolidators. We knew it wouldcost my company hundreds of thou-sands of dollars in new equipment andtraining,”

While running Marco’s, whichwas established in 1972, Maimonesaid her primary function was ensur-ing the company was ready andgeared for the future. “My focus wason dealing with possible threats andopportunities,” she said.

In order to stay informed about

trends in the industry, Maimone regu-larly attended conferences, talked toindustry leaders and listened closelyto what others were saying in forumssuch as the Mitchell webinars, for ex-ample.

“I went to Pepperdine’s businessschool [and used those skills in ana-lyzing the industry.] I spent a lot of mytime looking at what is happening inthe industry and how it was affectingmy company,” she said. Eventuallyshe and husband Marco decided they“didn’t want to be in the game any-more.”

When employees asked why theysold, she explained, “We were the pow-erhouse in our area. We were the bigfish in the little pond.” With the changesin the industry and larger MSOs com-ing in, she said they realized how in-creasingly difficult it would be tocompete.

For example, the benefits theygained as a midsize DRP over theyears were no comparison to the gainsmade by the national DRP programs.She invited her employees to considerthe buying opportunities with the na-tional DRP accounts, rather than localones. “I figured whatever percentage


Continued from Cover

MSO Consolidations

Lillian Maimone


Autobody News asked Vincent Romans,the founding partner of The Romans GroupLLC, to comment on the recent MSO con-solidations. Romans has over 30 years ofconsulting and operating experience withdomestic and global enterprises. The Ro-mans Group LLC, established in 1996, pro-vides business, market, financial, andstrategic development advisory services tothe property and casualty auto physicaldamage insurance, automotive services,property restoration, and related supplychain segments.

Why are we seeing an increase inthe number of consolidators acquiringMSOs and do you think this trend willcontinue? We are at the early stage of con-solidation, contraction, convergence andconstructive transformation in the collisionrepair industry. Within this industry con-struct, private equity has stepped up its in-terest in acquiring MSO consolidators. Thisinterest is backed by unprecedented privateequity and strategic buyer cash seeking in-vestment opportunities in the MSO modelwhich today provides strong cash flow,growth through both organic and acquisitiongrowth and shorter term investment cyclesthat ultimately drive higher valuations.

How will it affect the collision repairindustry? We will continue to see large mul-tiple location operators (MLOs) be acquiredby the four MSO consolidators. The still

fragmented industry will continue to con-tract to a more normalized number of re-quired collision repairers throughout theUnited States over the next decade. Today,three collision repair segments, ≥$20M,≥$10-20M and the franchise multiple loca-tion, MLO, operators represent 24% of theUS collision repair market. I expect this mar-ket share for these three segments to growover the next three years. Additionally, weshould shortly see the first MSO with annualrevenue of $1.0B. Through September YTD2014 we have seen $650.0M in annual rev-enue transferred through multiple locationtransaction acquisitions among the fourMSO consolidators.

What are the relevant issues facingthe collision industry today? There are nu-merous trends and prevailing conditions thatoffer both risk and opportunity for repairerstoday. No one trend or prevailing conditionhas the impact that the confluence of theseprevailing trends and conditions have. It iswhen one understands that these individualprevailing conditions are part of a conflu-ence of many individual dynamic prevailingtrends and conditions, that you start to real-ize the order of magnitude and the exponen-tial impact they have and will continue tohave on the new world order of collision re-pair within the broader auto physical dam-age ecosystem. We will continue to seehow one company's transformation is an-

other's disruption, while one company's in-novation is another's disintermediation.Some of the short and long term conditionsinclude, but are not limited to changingmacro-economic influences, globalization,consolidation causing industry structuralchanges, telematics and the movement toan integrated electronic claims processmodel, accident avoidance technology as-sociated with semi-autonomous and even-tually autonomous vehicles (VEHBOTS),private equity and strategic buyers, predic-tive analytics, down turn in accident fre-quency, MSO performance contracts,hybrid claims management models, insur-ers embracing the MSO model, trained tech-nician shortage, parts procurement, repairsegmentation, urbanization and others toonumerous to mention here.

How does an independent shop fit inthe picture? Independent high perform-ance, brand recognized shops will continueto provide solid alternatives to the largeMSO consolidator model especially with in-surance companies that embrace their owncustomized repair models and prefer tohave non-MSO providers in the market or amix of MSO consolidators and local marketindependents. Additionally, specialty repair-ers who perform any number of niche mar-ket or high value repair alternatives will havea place in the future collision repair industry.

See Vincent Romans, Page 31

Vincent Romans of MSO Specialists The Romans Group on Consolidation


On the evening of Tuesday, Septem-ber 16, the Louisiana Collision Indus-try Association (LaCIA) gathered in

Baton Rouge for their first meetingsince July. Speakers at the meeting in-cluded Billy Easterling of ERS, Inc.who presented on OSHA compliancerequirements and Attorney GeneralBuddy Caldwell who updated atten-dees on the status of the lawsuit he re-cently filed against State Farm regardingthe insurer’s steering practices.

The evening began with Easter-ling’s presentation on OSHA compli-ance. He handed out an informativepacket which contained a helpful check-list for shops to use as a guideline. Healso offered a free walkthrough to theshops present, and several shops signedup to have ERS, Inc. visit their facilitiesto ensure that they are not engaging inany OSHA violations that could resultin fines or employee injuries.

Easterling also distributed asafety and compliance alert contain-ing a list of shops scheduled to be vis-

ited and inspected by OSHA withinthe next three years. LaCIA will postthis list to their website for future use.

Next, Attorney General Caldwelland several members of his staff pro-vided an update on the status of theirlawsuit against State Farm. Caldwellinformed the group that State Farm isattempting to get their lawsuit consol-idated with the others currently inFederal Court, but Stacie deBlieux,Assistant Attorney General, believesthat they will be successful in their ef-forts to return the suit to the state ofLouisiana where it belongs.

The Attorney General’s office isstill in the discovery phase of gather-ing information and has promised toprovide the association with a list ofthe information needed to help themprepare for the case. They have alsoestablished an online complaint formfor shops to complete and submit; thisform can be found at: www.ag.state.la.us/InsuranceComplaints.aspx.

LaCIA’s next meeting has been

scheduled for Thursday, October 16 atthe Marriott in Metairie, and AlysiaHanks, Executive Director of LaCIA,

is excited to announce that renownedindustry speaker Mike Anderson willbe in attendance to present to atten-dees. Hanks has also tentativelyscheduled the last meeting of the yearfor Saturday, November 15 in the

Lafayette/Alexandria area, and sheemphasizes, “it is so important that allof our members attend this meeting so

we can discuss the board and agendafor next year.”

LaCIA985-277-9415www.la-cia.com


with Chasidy Rae SiskSoutheast Associations

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

LaCIA Holds September Member Meeting, Hosts AG Caldwell

Thanks to a new agreement betweenRandolph Community College (RCC)and Petty’s Garage in Asheboro, NC,Richard Petty’s high performancespeed shop in Level Cross, five Ran-dolph Community College studentswere able to participate in a uniquejob-shadowing experience.

Petty’s Garage technicians spent aweek training three Automotive Sys-tems Technology students and two Col-lision Repair & Refinishing Technologystudents. RCC has been affiliated withthe Richard Petty brand since its state-

of-the-art automotive training center,named the Richard Petty EducationCenter, opened in 2009.

According to the RCC instruc-tors, Jacob Garner of Robbins, JacobBrown of Ramseur, Jake Flinchumof Seagrove, Justin Lackey of Trinity,and Israel Velazquez of Asheborowere selected based on interest, avail-ability, and grade point average.

Greg Steadman, shop foremanat Petty’s Garage, said the studentswork on whatever current jobs are inthe shop at the time of the internship.

Students Gain Practical Experience at NC Body Shop


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On Saturday, August 16, the Atlanta I-CAR Committee held their 6th An-nual Rockin’ Car Show at the Hootersrestaurant in Kennesaw, GA. Beauti-ful weather and an excellent turnout ofover 55 custom vehicles contributed toa successful event.

The awarded trophies and prizeswere donated by local collision repairindustry businesses as a show of sup-port for the event. The Atlanta I-CARCommittee also held a 50/50 raffleand a silent auction, raising over$3400. The proceeds from the eventwill benefit the Collision Repair Edu-cation Foundation (CREF), and fundswill be used to support GA students.

Over the past six years, the At-lanta I-CAR Committee has donatedapproximately $100,000 to CREF infunds raised at their annual golf tour-naments and car shows. Terry Fortner,Chairman of CREF’s Board of Direc-tors, attended the car show to discussCREF’s mission with attendees.

For the second year in a row,Travis Peck, lead deejay of Radigi-tal Studios, donated his time and skills

to provide music and entertainment atthe Committee’s event. He also plansto support the Rockin’ Car Showagain next year.

During the Rockin’ Car Show, apresentation was held to award a checkto the student who was the winner ofthe Atlanta I-CAR Scholarship for post-secondary collision education, and bothcollision instructors from MaxwellHigh School of Technology were in at-tendance as well. They also recognizedthe Skills USA student who receivedtravel expense assistance from the At-lanta I-CAR Committee which allowedhim to attend the national contest.

Gerry Poirier, Chairman of theAtlanta I-CAR Committee, states “thecommittee’s goal is to help replenishour dwindling technician base and ourfundraising has been accomplished bythe support of the many great collisionindustry businesses in the area, in-cluding shops, insurers, parts suppli-ers, paint manufacturers and rentalpartners.”


Atlanta I-CAR Committee’s 6th Annual Rockin’ Car Show

www.autobodynews.comCHECK IT OUT!


Service King Collision Repair Centersand Esurance donated a newly refur-bished 2011 Ford Focus to the familyof Monika Stevens & Jody Barkerthrough Family Promise of Sarasota.

The vehicle donation is part ofRecycled Rides, a unique program de-veloped by the National Auto BodyCouncil in which insurers, collision re-pairers, paint suppliers, parts vendorsand others collaborate to repair and do-nate vehicles to deserving individualsand service organizations in local com-munities throughout the country. TheFord Focus was presented to the fam-ily in Oct. wrapped in a giant bow.

“Reliable transportation is some-thing many of us take for granted,” saidScott Ward, Service King’s RegionalVice President Southeast Operations.“We are proud to offer our time and re-sources to transform lives and touchfamilies and organizations across thecountry. While the gift of a vehicle pro-vides a practical means of transporta-tion, what it really provides is hope.”

Monica, Jody and their nine-year-old daughter relocated to FL as Jodylost her job. Using their savings for amotel until he and Monica found workagain, the family soon ran out ofmoney and came to Family Promise ofSarasota. Both found jobs shortly afterentering the program.

Service King Donation in FL

New rates from FL auto insurance com-panies have been added to the quotationsystem that car owners can access athttp://quotespros.com/auto-insurance.html. Car owners who utilize the auto-mated system for locating new rates willbe expected to provide a Florida zipcode. The portal now matches agenciesto motorists using the zip code data. Thecoverage database at QuotesPros.comprovides the option to seek rates formore than collision type policies. Own-ers of vehicles can still find SR22, fullcoverage or collector plans from agen-cies.

FL Auto Insurance Prices Online

Couple Charged in Own Shop FireSandra Blake, 59, was charged withmaking a false claim for insurance pur-poses after a fire destroyed her and herhusband’s body shop Aug. 6. Her hus-band, Thomas Blake, hired ErnestSmith to set fire to their business,Blake’s Auto Sales in Norway, SC. Ac-cording to Richard Walker of thet-tandd.com, “Thomas Blake and ErnestSmith have both been charged with fourcounts of third-degree arson. ThomasBlake also faces a count of criminalconspiracy. A church and store werealso damaged.” Thomas and Smithhave outstanding convictions and fines

Some industry ob-servers estimatethat only about 20percent of vehiclesin collision repairshops are actuallybeing measured aspart of the repairprocess. Richard

Perry, who oversees training for ChiefAutomotive, believes that changes invehicle materials and structure mean

that at least four times that percentageshould be measured.

“If that vehicle is impacted, itshould be measured,” Perry said. “Weusually know what’s going to happenwith the damage; we just don’t knowthe extent of it, where all it’s gone,how far did it travel through the vehi-cle. You’ve got to be able to find it tofix it. So before the repair we need toanalyze what’s wrong to develop a re-pair plan. During repair, we need to

measure multiple points, and monitorthose during repair because as youstart to make repairs, more than onepoint is going to move at a time. Weneed to monitor all those points.”

Perry said in the past, techniciansmight gauge the extent of the damageby checking to see if the vehicle’sdoors open and close; if they did, theyfelt it was safe to presume the damagehad not extended beyond the passen-


Industry Insightwith John Yoswick

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

Energy transfer in today’s vehicles makes measuring, multi-point pulling more important

If you still think of Chief Automotive as pri-marily a pulling equipment company, thinkagain. Mike Cranfill, vice president ofglobal collision and new business develop-ment for the Vehicle Services Group (whichincludes Chief Automotive) said changes inthe company’s revenue sources reflectchanges in the industry itself.

“I like to think we’re an informationcompany, because if you take the training,the measuring equipment and the data we

provide, almost half of our business isthere,” Cranfill said.

Vehicle Services Group (VSG) is itselfa segment of Dover Corporation, a globalproducer of equipment, systems and serv-ices in a variety of businesses. In additionto Chief, VSG brands include Rotary Liftand Elektron welders. It has about 1,200employees in the U.S., Germany and China.

Its measuring, pulling and weldingequipment sales each account for about

21 percent of its overall revenue, but itssingle biggest revenue source is the vehi-cle measuring data it sells directly to col-lision repairers and also to the estimatingsystem providers.

Does Chief collect data on the vehi-cles that shops are measuring with itsequipment?

“We do not collect it,” Bob Holland,VSG collision director for North America,said. “With our licensing agreement, we

have the right to collect it, but we do not.”Cranfill some companies, such as

those that offer vehicle history informa-tion, may seek that information, but Chiefdoesn’t share it because the informationtells only part of the story.

“The risk is: What does it mean?”Cranfill said. “Even if the data shows the carmeasurers to factory specs, can you guar-antee the repair was proper? Maybe youused heat when you’re not supposed to.”

Company sees itself as source of information as much as equipment

See Energy transfer, Page 18

Richard Perry of Chief Automotive discussesthe value of multiple-point pulling during arecent demonstration in the shop at Chief’sheadquarters in Madison, Ind.

Richard Perry

In a world where we are constantlybombarded by texts, tweets, status up-dates, and emails, it’s no surprise thatmany people read fewer books andseem to have some form of ADD. Ayoung person recently told me withpride that he hasn’t read a book sincehigh school.

“I like pictures,” he said.So, on a planet where almost

everyone has a short attention span,how do we communicate effectivelywith the masses? The answer for someis through video—short, sweet and tothe point. Several body shops have ex-perienced great success by workingwith the same video production/mar-keting company and the videos they’reproducing are creating a buzz through-out the collision industry nationwide.

Absolute Perfection Media (APMedia) in Sykesville, MD, is the com-pany producing these attention-gettingvideos for body shops. They’re thehottest new video production companyserving the collision industry and shopsare clamoring to work with them. Pres-ident Lee Emmons is now workingwith more and more shops owners whohave seen his past productions forMark’s Body Shop in Baltimore City,MD, and K & M Collision in Hickory,NC. The appeal stems from their direct,no-nonsense approach. Emmons haslearned the collision industry along theway, he said, and now he’s known asthe “body shop video guy.”

“The power of video and YouTubehas become apparent and now collisionshops want to tell their stories using thisformat,” Emmons said. “These shopsare willing to take on the insurance com-panies and this is the way they’re doingit. We’re also producing videos to edu-cate their customers about things likecertifications and the use of OE parts.These shops have learned that thesevideos are highly effective and very af-fordable and we can turn them out ratherquickly. Once a shop does a few of thesevideos and sees the response, they wantto do more. I’m traveling to K & M nextweek to produce a series of videos abouttheir manufacturers’ OE certifications.Some of the videos I’ve produced forbody shops have gone viral and gaineda lot of national attention, so we’re get-ting new collision clients all the time.”

The Vice President of Operationsat K & M Collision, Michael Brad-shaw, has produced a series of videoswith AP Media and posts them all onhis YouTube Channel.

“We have approximately 10 onthere right now and maybe five morein production. We take an educational

approach to many of the consumer-re-lated issues in this industry, includingtitles such as, Has Your Car Been Re-paired Safely (Watch this case and staysafe after an accident)?; Do You Qual-ify for Diminished Value? (The Insur-ance Company May Owe you Money);An Epidemic of Unsafe Collision Re-pairs; Post Repair Inspections; What isSteering?; Who Guarantees Repairs?;and An Open Letter to the North Car-olina Attorney General.

Short videos with a succinct mes-sage have proven to be highly effec-tive, Bradshaw explained, although insome situations longer, in-depth videosalso work well.

“We were doing longer videos atfirst, mostly 4–6 minutes in length, butnow we’re trimming them down to twominutes and our most recent ones arecoming in at 90 seconds. When we’redealing with certain subjects, the longervideos work just fine, but we also pro-duce shorter ones to convey the mes-sage quickly and present the topic in away that the viewer can absorb easily.”

If you’re getting your car fixedby K & M Collision, you’ve probablyseen one or more of the shop’s videos.

“We loop all of them together andshow them on a monitor in our receptionarea at the shop and we’ve gotten some

great feedback about them from our cus-tomers,” Bradshaw said. “Insurance ad-justors also tend to see them too!”

Mark Schaech, Jr., is the sec-ond-generation owner of Mark’s BodyShop in Baltimore City, MD. Hestarted working with Emmons at APMedia several years ago.

“We have now produced at leastfive videos with AP Media and they’rebeing seen by shops all over the coun-try,” Schaech explained. “We let shopsuse them, as long as they give us anoutbound link. These other owners arerealizing that these short videos are ef-fective, because they can easily con-vey the information that we want tocommunicate, because this is a verycomplex industry and the average per-son doesn’t really know what’s goingon.”

Schaech, 41, took over the busi-ness from his father in 2000 and backthen they had six DRPS. But, todaythey have none and some of theirvideos document why.

“The first one we did with APMedia was about a post repair inspec-tion video and it had immediate im-pact,” Schaech said. “A Mazda hadbeen repaired by another shop underan insurance company’s DRP and it


with Ed Attanasio

Social Media for Shops

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

Body Shops are Tapping into the Persuasive Power of Video

Lee Emmons of AP Media shooting a video for K & M Collision in Hickory, NC, featuring theirreceptionist, Caitlin Adams See Power of Video, Page 46


ger compartment. But vehicle manu-facturers have strengthened both thelower and upper structures of vehicles,further reducing the impact of visibledamage to the passenger compart-ment.

“I’ve seen some vehicles that hadstraight-on impacts at 50 mph, yet youcan open and close the doors like fac-tory,” Perry said. “The passengercompartment does not react they way

it used to. But that energy is still goingsomewhere; something further back inthe vehicle has to give to absorb that

energy. So that old way of thinking, ofnot measuring everything, results inoverlooking something. That’s whywe need to measure the entire vehicleeach time.”

Perry believes eight measuringpoints is the minimum that should beused to ensure all the damage is lo-cated, though the total number will de-pend on the severity of the impact.Start with four on the center structureof the vehicle, he suggests, then oneon each of the front and rear cornersof the vehicle.

When it comes to pulling, multi-ple towers allow more precise move-ment, he said, given that damage canbe in three directions: lateral, verticaland length-wise.

“The more hook-ups you can put

on at your initial pull, the more thatdamage is going to come out the wayit went in,” Perry said. “But you needto be monitoring it as you pull so youknow you’re going in the right direc-tion.”

Multiple pulling also reduces theamount of force used at any singlepoint.

“If you put more combined forceon a vehicle but less at each locationby doing multiple simultaneouspulling with equalized pressure, youcan repair a lot of things that youcouldn’t before because you’re notgoing to rip and tear it,” he said.“You’re not going to damage and dis-tort it because you’re not putting asmuch pressure at each location.”

Perry shared his measuring andpulling concepts while working on anactual damaged vehicle during a re-cent demonstration in the shop atChief’s headquarters in Madison, IN.Among the features of the company’s“LaserLock” measuring system hepointed out was the dual monitors thatallow a technician to have both meas-uring information and OEM repair in-formation readily accessible.

“The OEMs used to sit on thesidelines because who knew better

about repairs than anybody else? Thetechnician,” Perry said. “After all,he’d been doing it for 20 years, andthings hadn’t changed that much. Butwith the many changes to vehicles

today, who knows most about a vehi-cle now? The OEMs. They designedit. They engineered it.”

That said, Perry believes anotheradvantage of using Chief measuring


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Continued from Page 15

Energy transfer

Lee Daugherty, global data product managerfor Chief Automotive, points out the type ofmeasuring data available through the com-pany’s LaserLock system

Jerry Ralston explains the final assemblyprocesses that Chief frame equipment undergoesat the company’s Madison, Ind., headquarters

Bryan Brown demonstrated the newestElektron welder during a recent media tour ofChief Automotive’s headquarters. Elektron andChief are among the brands owned by VehicleServices Group, based in Madison, Ind.

See Energy transfer, Page 19

data is that the company doesn’t justuse OEM build data but actuallymeasures vehicles off the tires and inclamps just as is done in shops. Thatensures the system offers more accu-rate, real-world measuring data, hesaid, because such a set-up takes intoaccount the slight sagging the frontand rear of a vehicle does when it isup in clamps.

Perry said another key messageto technicians in his training is thatmeasuring is almost always the solu-tion to challenging repairs.

“If you can’t figure out what theproblem is, take more measurements,”Perry suggests. “You’ll find it eventu-ally. You’re just not measuring farenough. You’re not taking enoughpoints to identify all the damage.”

by Chasidy Rae Sisk

On Wednesday, October 1, the Geor-gia Collision Industry Association(GCIA) held their 18th Annual GolfTournament at the Trophy Club ofAtlanta, located in Alpharetta GA.Executive Director Howard Batche-lor says, “we had 105 people showup for a beautiful day of golf, and Ibelieve all of the attendees really en-joyed themselves.”

For a registration fee of $100 pergolfer, attendees received breakfast,lunch, and unlimited drinks andsnacks, in addition to 18 holes of golfand a chance to receive a plethora ofdoor prizes donated by the event’ssponsors. Sponsors for the event in-

cluded Stone X, Computer Logic,Georgia Dent Resolution, Guide

One, Hertz, Infiniti of Gwin-nett, Mitchell, OsborneBodyWorks, StopDRP.com,Three Eaves Realty, Sports& Imports, All Star AutoLights South, Enterprise,LKQ, ACS, 3M, HennessyLexus, Akzo Nobel, Axalta,BASF, FinishMaster, PPG,Service King and SingleSource.

GCIA will be donating $2000of the proceeds raised at the golftournament to a local auto bodyschool to help them purchase toolsand equipment. The remainder ofthe proceeds will be utilized to fundthe association’s various meetingsand events.

GCIAPO Box 1252Cumming, GA 30028www.gcia.org


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GCIA’s 18th Annual Golf Tournament Continued from Page 18

Energy transfer

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Richard Rawlings loves fast cars,pretty women and having a good timeall the time, so it was a no-brainerwhen the Fast N’ Loud star opened hisown bar about a year ago, followed bythe purchase of a concert venue in Oc-tober.

The Gas Monkey Garage brand isspreading throughout the country andnow, Rawlings has headquarters wherehe can combine food, music, libationsand cars.

In conjunction with Rawlingsand Dodge, Charger, Challenger andViper owners are about to get theshow of a lifetime in Dallas on Nov.1. The dealers will convene at GasMonkey Live to attend a concert fea-turing Mötley Crüe, while dining onGas Monkey Burgers, Bock BatteredChick Fried Steak, 3-Cheese TruffledMac and Red Chile Grits. It’s a one-of-a-kind highly exclusive event opento Dodge owners looking to have anamazing time while showing off theirvehicles to fellow gear-heads.

Head of Dodge Marketing &Communications, Mark Malmstead, isexcited about the upcoming concertand the chance to partner with Rawl-ings and Mötley Crüe for this un-precedented event.

“We’re big fans of Fast N’ Loudand we met with Richard Rawlingsand The Discovery Channel at theSEMA show last year and started dis-cussing the idea of working together.We talked about an in-show place-ment, which has yet to air and Richardhas done some dealer commercials forus. The relationship has just continuedto evolve from there. We love the wayRichard Rawlings operates, becausehis show is a little different than

what’s out there and he has an edge.As we sat down with him and got toknow him better, we decided to domore with Richard. So, he appearedfor us at the Woodward Dream Cruisein metro Detroit recently and every-one went crazy.”

Rawlings and his show couldn’tbe any hotter. Discovery Channel cur-rently airs Fast N’ Loud in 80 coun-tries worldwide. The reality TV starhas also opened another Gas MonkeyBar N’ Grill in the international termi-nal of Dallas/ Fort Worth Airport. Ifthe Gas Monkey restaurants continueto do well, Rawlings says he wants toopen “15 or 20 more.” He and histeam are currently scouting for loca-tion No. 3, which will likely be out of

the area, but still in Texas.How did the band, the man and

the brand all come together for thisone-of-a-kind event?“Dodge is currently sponsoring Möt-ley Crüe’s Farewell Tour,” Malmsteadsaid. “Last month, Richard purchasedGas Monkey Live, a music venue thatwas formerly owned by country starToby Keith. So, Richard asked us,‘Can you get Mötley Crüe to play atmy new place?’ He was pretty insis-

tent, so Tim Kuniskis (Dodge and SRTbrand CEO) made it happen, basicallyto get Rawlings to stop asking.”

Dodge was pleasantly surprisedwhen it all came together, Malmsteadsaid. “If we can get Mötley Crüe toplay at a bar, which they normallydon’t do and celebrate our 100th an-niversary with a big owner party at GasMonkey Live, we thought wow. Itstarted out as a crazy idea and now it’shappening. The band was a little reluc-tant at first and they had to move a fewdates around, but then they finally saidyes.”

Cars, cars, cars will be an integralpart of the evening and many of themwill get as much attention as MötleyCrüe, according to Malmstead. “We’rehoping for 2,000 people and 1,000 cars,both vintage and late model DodgeChallengers, Chargers and Vipers. Peo-ple can get thrill rides in a Dodge Viperdrift car and a Dodge Challenger SRTHellcat that night as well. We’re going

to provide show parking that night, be-cause the event is foremost a car show.You must own one of these vehicles toattend and you have to send in a photoof it, but the event is free for owners.”

Mötley Crüe has been rockingthe world for 33 years, and is stillgoing strong. Rock stars Vince Neal,Tommy Lee, Micki Sixx and MickMars are all car crazy. Earlier this yearthe video for Mötley Crüe’s classic“Kickstart My Heart” was re-releasedwith new Dodge scenes added.

The video for country musicstar’s Justin Moore’s version of theballad “Home Sweet Home” (from theNashville Outlaws: A Tribute to Möt-ley Crüe album) also showcases a2015 Dodge Challenger Scat Packparked outside the club.

For Dodge Challenger, Charger andViper owners who want more infor-mation about the event, visit:www.dodgerocksgasmonkey.com.


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Gas Monkey Garage and Dodge Recruit Mötley Crüe to Rock Dallas

Mötley Crüe will be performing at a Dodgeowner-only event which is part concert andpart car show on Gas Monkey Live on Nov. 1in Dallas

The Gas Garage Bar & Grill will be THE place to be for Dodge Challenger, Charger and Viper ownerswho can get themselves and their vehicles to Dallas for the concert and car show, which alsocelebrates Dodge’s 100th anniversary


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Proactive and innovative bodyshop owners will have an opportu-nity to learn about critical businessissues and trends impacting theirbusinesses. Upcoming collision in-dustry events are being held aroundthe country by a group of industryexperts.

The most recent event was onOctober 21 at the Hilton GardenInn in Tampa, FL. The speakers in-cluded Mobile Estimating Tech-nology by Mitchell, Car RentalTechnology by Hertz, Repair Plan-ning by BASF, Aluminum Repair:Some Facts and Myths by 3M, Col-lision Industry Overview by Fin-ishMaster, and Insurance IndustryTrends by CARSTAR.

“When you’re an independentbody shop owner, it’s hard to takethe time to step away from yourbusiness to look at longer-rangechanges and developments in theindustry,” said Mark Algie, Busi-ness Development Manager for3M Automotive Aftermarket. “ThisCollision Industry program pro-vides a great way to understandhow the changing marketplace willimpact your business, and plannow for those changes!”

Leading Collision IndustryExperts in FL Hold Events

“Any kingdom divided against itself islaid waste; and any city or house di-vided against itself will not stand.” Inthis Biblical truth lies the power be-hind Ray Gunder's passionatedrive—to unite the collision repairshops of America, according to Na-tional AutoBody Research.

In the past, the collision industryhas been fragmented and divided,making it vulnerable to the suppres-sion of labor rates. The NationwideGunder Surveys will serve to uniteshops as one national body to revealthe toll that the stagnation and sup-pression of labor and material rates hastaken on auto body shops acrossAmerica.

The surveys coupled with Na-tional AutoBody Research's (NABR)Variable Rate System provide collisionrepairers an opportunity to reverse thepast trends of seriously deficient lev-els of labor and material rates. As a re-sult, NABR has contracted with FLbody shop owner Gunder to conduct aseries of nationwide real-time laborand material rate surveys beginningOct. 2014. The surveys will originatein the states of Florida and Georgia andshortly thereafter extend to every statein America.

Nationwide Ray Gunder LaborRate Surveys Announced

Charlotte, NC’s latest reportshows a jump in car wrecks. Theheavy rain last year coul havebeen a contributing factor.

Year Miles driven Collisions2013 19.8 million 20,9572012 19.6 million 14,5142011 19.1 million 15,1472010 19.7 million 15,7992009 20.3 million 17,6482008 22.1 million 22,401

The number of vehiclecrashes in Charlotte increasedsignificantly in 2013 comparedwith 2012, despite people driv-ing only slightly more miles, ac-cording to a recent city report.

Vehicle collisions were up44 percent, with 20,957 in 2013compared with 14,514 in 2012.The total number of vehicle milesdriven in 2013 was 19.8 millionmiles, which is only 1 percentmore miles than in 2012.

On the upside, the numberof fatal collisions was 43 in2013 compared with 44 a yearearlier.

Information from SteveHarrison, charlotteobserver.com.

Society of Collision Repair Specialists(SCRS) provided a Mega-Prize all ex-penses paid trip for two to SEMA at the100% Advisor Reception in June 2014.The package included: two VISA giftcards for airline expenses, two hotelrooms, two passes to the 2014 SEMAShow, and two full-series passes to theSCRS Repairer Driven Education(RDE) series.

Automotive Instructor SandyMartin of Starmount High School inBoonville, NC was the winning advi-sor who had joked only minutes be-fore the winning announcement thathis friends could give up because hewould be the lucky recipient.

“I’ve never won anything be-fore,” shared Martin. “I was just kid-ding around and then it became real!I’ve read all about the work SCRS isdoing at SEMA, and I’ve seen theshow on TV and in all sorts of maga-zines. I’ve always wanted to go, butnever thought that I would have theopportunity to attend it. This is such agreat opportunity to take in and beable to bring back to my kids this year.I’m speechless with gratitude. Skill-sUSA is such a rewarding program toeven be able to participate in, and thento walk away with more opportunitieslike this; it’s just indescribable.”

In addition to the Mega-Prize, allstudent competitors and sponsoringschools will be receiving a compli-mentary one year membership toSCRS so that they can remain con-nected to the ongoing activities withinthe industry.

“SkillsUSA is so very apprecia-tive of the support of the Society ofCollision Repair Specialists in award-ing this outstanding opportunity toone of our collision repair technologyinstructors,” said Executive Directorof SkillsUSA Tim Lawrence. “Be-cause of SCRS, this teacher will gainknowledge and updates directly fromthe industry that would be challengingto attain at the local school level. Up-dating our instructors is of paramountimportance to SkillsUSA as we de-pend heavily on our industry partnersto guide instruction, use of technologyand the latest techniques used in thefield for our school training programs.Industry partnerships are truly thelifeblood of SkillsUSA and how wekeep our programs, competitions,classrooms and labs in line with realworld needs and SCRS stands tall inmaking this process a reality.”

“It’s an honor to know through ourprize package with SCRS that we canhelp expose these advisors – and sub-

sequently their students – to the latestand greatest the automotive and colli-sion repair industries have to offer,”added VP, Events and Communicationsfor SEMA Peter MacGillivray. “Thereis an amazing world of opportunities inthis industry, and the more we can do tohelp advisors see them first-hand, thebetter equipped they are to develop stu-dents’ interest in the automotive field.”

For other collision repair instruc-tors who have an interest in attendingand participating in SCRS’s RepairerDriven Education series at the SEMAShow, the association has partneredwith the show to offer educators a sig-nificantly discounted full-series pass tothe education programs. Qualified edu-cators who make arrangements directlythrough Juliet Marshall, EducationAdministrator for SEMA, at [email protected] will receive full accessto all SCRS RDE regular sessions foronly $50. Admission into SCRS’s OEMCollision Repair Technology Summitwill also be discounted to $50 as well.

NC Automotive Instructor Awarded Trip to SEMAAuto Wrecks DramaticallyRise in Charlotte, NC

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Recently I read an article that was criti-cal of industry leaders who had not takena stand against DRPs. It brought to minda discussion I once had with (a member)who said there are things associationscan do that make some members happy,but that don’t mean anything. He calledit “feel good stuff.”

For association leaders to de-nounce all DRPs when half or more oftheir membership participate in directrepair programs would be nothing morethan “feel good stuff.” It feels good tothose who are not DRP shops, but whatabout those member shops who choseto go DRP?

It’s very easy to criticize associa-tions that have a neutral position onDRPs, but what would happen if theycame out against them? The best anyassociation can do is to rally againstthe abuses where they exist; to supportlegislation that protects a consumer’sright to choose the repair facility; andto do what it can to advise its mem-

bers on how to determine if DRPs area wise business decision for them.

There are a number of individuals,some of them leaders, who continue toyell about DRPs without offering anyreal solutions. But regardless of whatthey have said, it’s the collision repairprofessionals who have voted by mak-ing the business decision whether toparticipate in these programs.

All the yelling in the world won’teliminate DRPs. Those of you who can’taccept that reality can keep yelling, oryour can roll up your sleeves and go towork on the 65 percent of business thatwill never be DRP. Learn how to better

market your busi-ness and sell colli-sion repairs. Burythe DRP bogeymanand get to work. It’sin your best inter-est.

– From an edi-torial by John Lof-

tus, then the executive director of theSociety of Collision Repair Specialists(SCRS), published in Collision Expert.Loftus retired from SCRS in 2000.

15 years ago in the collision repairindustry (November 1999)Mike Melfi said the Coalition for Col-lision Repair Equality (CCRE) wasfounded about three years ago as an or-ganization to help like-minded shopsowners around the country “take backcontrol” of their businesses and reduceinsurer influence over the industry. Itwas incorporated as a for-profit com-pany so that it would never have to di-vulge a list of its members (which theorganization refers to as “sponsors” or“clients”). About 80 people – includ-ing about a dozen attorneys – attendedthe group’s recent meeting in Phoenix.

“These attorneys are just now re-alizing that there’s money to be madein property damage litigation,” saidAnn Spink, a Louisiana shop owner

and vice president of CCRE. “We be-lieve that legislation and education ispart of the answer but litigation is thebottom line. The reason CCRE existsis to try to put together the documen-tation and the expert witnesses to helpthese attorneys understand how to lit-igate for us. And because they’re classaction attorneys, we don’t have to paythem, just help educate them.”

Shop owner Melfi told CCRE par-ticipants he had predicted the first non-OEM parts lawsuit “victory” wouldtake two years.

“It took three years,” he admitted.“But now I have another prediction. Ifsteering continues, one day on the 6o’clock news, you’re going to see anexecutive of an insurance company inhandcuffs being put in a federal mar-shal’s car being charged with federalracketeering.”

– As reported in Parts & People.The non-OEM parts lawsuit victoryMelfi referred to was the $1.1 billion


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DRPs 20 years ago, Early CCRE, ADP Revises Labor Times

with John YoswickHistorical Snapshot

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

John Loftus

judgment against State Farm in 1999,which the Illinois Supreme Courtoverturned in 2005. A class action law-suit filed in Illinois earlier this year al-leges that seven of the Top 10 insurersviolate federal racketeering laws by il-legally conspiring to use their directrepair programs and other means toenforce “an artificial market value forcollision repairs.”

10 years ago in the collision repairindustry (November 2004)A widespread and significant drop inADP refinish labor times discoveredin recent weeks will be corrected inADP’s November CD update release,which the company says has been sentto ADP customers.

“The operational issues with therefinish times in the October CD are re-vised in the November CD,” ScottJenkins, senior director of “EstimatingSolutions” for ADP said. “The Novem-ber CD is consistent with the SeptemberCD. If the user did not load the OctoberCD, they were not impacted. We are in-structing our customers to load the No-vember CD immediately upon receipt.”

The October CD included manydecreased refinish labor times of 10 per-cent or more. Refinish times for 2000-

2004 Ford Taurus hood, for example,dropped from 3.9 on the SeptemberADP CD to 3.4 on the October CD.Times for a 1999-2004 Pontiac GrandAm fender dropped from 2.4 to 1.9, andthe front door time for a 1999-2004Chevy Cavalier dropped from 3.1 to 2.8.

Although some have looked forsome sort of intent behind the wide-spread reductions, ADP, while avoidingusing the term “mistake,” maintains thatthe problem was an “operational issue,”not an attempt to shave labor times.

“Some of our clients have experi-enced an operational issue regardingrefinish labor on hoods, doors, fenders,roofs, decklid/tailgates and backdoors,” Peggy Adams, operations man-ager for client services for ADP, wrotein an email response to questions aboutthe October CD. “All new estimatescreated with the November CD reflectthe updated refinish labor. We apolo-gize to our clients for any inconven-ience we may have caused.”

The issue has resulted in a flurryof email activity between shops and in-dustry organizations since it came tolight in early November. Part of theconcern was fueled by the fact that var-ious ADP personnel were giving con-flicting - or, at a minimum, ambiguous

- responses to questions about the labortime changes. An ADP tech supportemployee, for example, told one ADPshop customer in the Pacific Northwestthat the revised times were based on“new time studies” ADP had done.

– As reported in Autobody News.Prior to shops accessing the estimatingdatabase information over the Internet,the system providers sent monthly up-dates to the data to shops on compactdiscs. ADP’s Claims Services Group(including its estimating system) wasacquired by Audatex (now AudaEx-plore) in 2006.

5 years ago in the collision repairindustry (November 2009)In the transcript of a small claims ap-peal trial involving two of customers ofG & C Auto Body of Santa Rosa, Calif.,California Superior Court Judge JamesBertoli took State Farm to task for itsrate survey process and arguments re-garding reasonable repair costs.

Shop owner Gene Crozat’s cus-tomers had won after filing small claimscourt cases against State Farm insuredswhen the insurer refused to pay all of G& C’s charges. The insurer appealedboth cases, and the court heard the twoappeals together over two days.

Bertoli said State Farm could usewhatever method it specified in the in-surance contract to determine a reason-able price in first-party claims, even ifthey determined that price, “by readingchicken entrails, and consulting withthe three witches from MacBeth (whichis) just about as accurate as the surveyitself is. I think that survey from a sta-tistical standpoint would get a first-yearcollege student a flunking grade.”

But in a third-party case, the judgesaid, a reasonable charge “implies arange of charges” and “no particularcharge can be said to be the only rea-sonable charge.”

He said State Farm did not try toestablish that G & C’s rate was unrea-sonable, and it appears to fall within areasonable range of prices.

“Quite frankly with regard to thethird-party claims, this Court does notbelieve they should have been liti-gated,” Bertoli said in finding forCrozat’s customers. “I think the an-swer is clear, and I quite frankly see itas an effort on behalf of the insurer totry and suppress the price charged bysomeone outside of their range.”

– As reported in CRASH Net-work (www.CrashNetwork.com), No-vember 16, 2009.


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On Thursday, September 25, membersof the Georgia Collision Industry As-sociation (GCIA) gathered at the Dou-bleTree Hotel in Marietta, GA for aspecial presentation by Barrett Smith,President of Auto Damage Experts,Inc. Smith discussed the presence offear in the collision repair industry andhow it impacts business decisions inan attempt to educate industry profes-sionals on this rarely mentioned butall-pervasive issue.

Smith’s presentation, entitled“FEAR,” explained how the emotionof fear can be elicited by conditioning.Smith explains, “for decades, many inthe collision industry have been para-lyzed by fear. Not because the colli-sion industry is full of cowards andscaredy-cats; quite the contrary, theindustry is comprised of fearsomecompetitors with huge egos and a sin-cere desire to serve their communities.No, reasonable people don’t investhundreds of thousands and, for some,millions of dollars into a business be-cause they’re scared…no, the fearmany shop owners experience is gen-erally due to their lack of knowledgeand understanding in matters that arepertinent to their business and thethreat by outside interests harmingtheir business by their efforts to un-dermine and harm repairers who don'tfall in line with their desired mannerof conducting business.”

Though the collision repair in-dustry first became involved WITHinsurance companies in order to workwith them for the consumer’s benefit,this has become an effort to survivedespite them, and for some, the fearof being seen as working against in-surers has led to working FOR themto ensure the continued survival oftheir businesses. Smith believes thatthe majority of repairers are honest,hard-working individuals, but fear ofthis third-party entity has compelledmany to abide by insurers’ demandsto avoid conflict. Unfortunately, overtime, “the mandates, concessions, dis-counts and omissions of reasonableand necessary processes becomesgreater and great until, one day, theshop wakes up and realizes they havevirtually given their business away tothe point that they have little profits,

huge liabilities, and fear of the fu-ture,” Smith states.

Smith went on to explain that feardevelops from anxiety and uncertaintyabout the future, but fears can be re-duced with knowledge, tools, convic-tion, confidence and experience. Thisprocess begins with gaining theknowledge to see fear for what it is,determining the best way to confrontit, and then defeating it. In order to de-feat fear, you must utilize the tools atyour disposal, such as viable consult-ing, your state laws, industry associa-tions, business knowledge and otherreadily available resources, and bygaining the conviction that you aredoing the right things for the right rea-sons. From there, it’s simply a matterof sticking to these methods in orderto gain experience and confidence.

Another tool that Smith stronglyencourages shops to use is the Vari-able Rate Survey (VRS) as a way “forrepairers to learn what their true costof doing business is and to showwhere they are placed among theirpeers and competitors. Suggesting thatall repairers should be compensatedthe same, regardless of their level oftraining, certifications, equipment andcapabilities, is at best ludicrous. Theonly effective way to combat this in-tent by outside third-parties to lumpall repairers together is to have inde-pendently ascertained data to dispel,combat and show where your shoplies among others in your market area.I can assure that the cost will be liter-ally pennies on the dollar as far as in-vestment vs. return…but like any“tool”, you must use it, and use it ef-fectively, in order to gain the benefitsand ROI.”

Of course, the predicament thecollision repair industry finds itself indid not occur overnight. Initially, in-surance companies sought out qualityrepair facilities, but after a while, “in-surers began ‘conditioning’ the shopsby implementing new policies andprocedures,” Smith notes, comparingthis to the way the behavior of youngelephants is modified by binding theirlegs with rope until even a simplestring can keep them captive. “Theelephant could easily break the stringbut has convinced himself that the re-

straining force is greater than his ownstrength. So he gives up in defeat…Just like the baby elephant, repairershave been conditioned over the yearsto believe they must ‘keep in line’ andcan’t depart from it out of fear ofreprisal and the fear of being steeredfrom and against… and ultimately, thefailure of their business.”

So how can the collision repairindustry undo what has been doneover so many decades? It begins byunderstanding what has happened andrecognizing that it cannot be curedovernight. For the solution, Smithturns to the Parable of the BoilingFrog – if you place a frog into a pot ofboiling water, it will jump out imme-diately; however, if the frog is placedin water that is slowly heated, it willnot recognize the danger until it is toolate. Smith believes, “this parable il-lustrates how people should makethemselves aware of gradual changebefore they suffer the catastrophic

consequences. So it goes with the in-surance industry in gaining controlover the collision repair industry.”Now, the collision repair industryneeds to un-boil the frog, beginningby understanding what is happeningand getting out of the pot before it’stoo late. Smith lists the following tensteps to un-boiling the frog:

1. Know there is a better and moreprofitable way2. Know that others have been suc-cessful3. Know they didn’t accomplish itovernight4. Know it takes commitment to besuccessful5. Know that you can take the neces-sary steps6. Know that you must be honest andethical7. Know that you must provide qualityrepairs


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try that insurance companies often at-tempt to take control at the accidentscene, moving the damaged vehicleagainst the consumer’s wishes and try-ing to coerce the vehicle owner to agreeto having the repair completed at oneof their DRP shops. Although the con-sumer has the right to choose wheretheir vehicle is repaired and it couldeasily be argued that the insurers aretaking advantage of their customers, itis easier and cheaper for insurancecompanies when they get their way, asthey often do in these situations.

When questioned about why insur-ers are so adamant about steering de-spite the possibility of being sued, Eavesnoted that insurers profit greatly by thispractice as the benefits to them out-weigh the risk; this is the reason hispending lawsuit and other lawsuits arenecessary. Fowler reminded listenersthat this is a battle the collision repair in-dustry has been fighting for 25 years,but it has come to a point where qualityrepair shops will go out of business ifnothing is done to “rectify this travesty.”

Moving on to the topic of after-

market and OEM parts, Fowler saidthat his opinion has changed. Previ-ously, he believed it should be the cus-tomer’s choice whether or not to useaftermarket parts, but because mostconsumers don’t understand the dif-ferences and implications of usingthese parts, he now feels that it is thecollision repair professional’s respon-sibility to educate the consumer. Hereiterated that “testing proves that af-termarket parts do not always performthe same as genuine OEM parts.”

In response to the radio hosts’ ques-tion about whether “imitation parts”have been implicated as the cause of anyaccidents, Eaves unambiguously statedthat the use of poor quality aftermarketparts has caused a multitude of accidentsacross the country. Unfortunately, fewpeople are aware of this concern becausethese settled cases included confidential-ity agreements to prevent them from be-coming public knowledge. Furthermore,as many parts, including windshields,tires and airbags, directly affect thesafety of the vehicle, investment in partsis more crucial than ever. According toEaves, YouTube features many videoson how aftermarket parts affect vehiclesafety, and documentaries are currentlybeing filmed on this issue as well.

Eaves is not optimistic that thelawsuit will go to trial quickly, but he isprepared to fight this battle for quitesome time if necessary, noting “this isbigger than just a lawsuit; it’s a cam-paign!” Part of this campaign includesasking Congress to support legislationto restore the proper balance of powerbetween the insurance industry and thecollision repair industry. As precedentfor his request, Eaves cited the ConsentDecree, a similar situation in the 1960swhen insurance companies tried to dic-tate which parts could be used and howmuch they would pay for repairs. TheU.S. Department of Justice sued the in-surance industry, and the resulting rul-ing was that insurers cannot forcecollision repair facilities to compromisethe quality of their repairs. Thus, thebalance of power between these two in-dustries was restored if not enforced.Eaves said he hopes that his current ef-forts will yield the same results for themodern collision repair industry.

Directing his attention to whatconsumers can do to aid in this battle,Fowler reminded consumers that theyhave the right to choose the facility thatrepairs their vehicle, and he encouragedthem to act on this right by taking theircar to whichever shop they prefer. He

cautioned that it is a red flag if the in-surer insists on dictating where the ve-hicle is repaired, and this could indicatethat the insurer is engaging in other un-savory practices, such as mandatingwhich parts are used in the repair.

Though vehicle manufacturers pro-vide specific repair information to main-tain a vehicle’s safety, Fowler said he hasexperienced firsthand that some insurerswill demand used parts be installed, eventhough both he and the manufacturerwarned that such a practice could com-promise the vehicle’s safety. Despite in-surers’ tendency to use intimidating intheir interactions with both consumersand repair facilities, Fowler states, “thereare shops that try to do what’s right, butthey are vilified, disparaged and essen-tially squeezed out of business.”

Eaves agrees that it is imperativefor consumers to trust the facility re-pairing their vehicle as their lives arebeing placed in the hands of these pro-fessionals, and a poor quality repairjeopardizes the safety of the consumer,their family and anyone else on thehighway. The importance of finding atrustworthy repairer is so great thatFowler founded www.safecars.us, awebsite that promises to place the con-


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of claims would drop as a result ofthat is enough to make me know thatwe will be in trouble,” she said.

“My employees are better off thisway,” said Maimone. “Several havebeen given a promotion and better op-portunities. I couldn’t give them that.”

Shortly after acquiring Marco’s,Service King reached an agreementto acquire Car West Auto Body, anMSO with seven shops in NorthernCalifornia. With these additions aswell as the 62 Sterling Collision Cen-ters the company acquired earlier thisyear in April, Service King now has191 shops in 20 states, including 18in CA.

Service King, based in Dallasand founded nearly 40 years ago, toldAutobody News that, due to companypolicy, they weren’t able to commentfurther until their acquisition of Car-west was finalized.

However, Service King releasedthe following statement: “Our recentSterling Autobody acquisition andMarco’s Collision Centers acquisitionserve as a platform for our growth in

the California market,” Chris Abra-ham, the CEO of Service King, said inthe press release. “The addition of CarWest and their 360 teammates will give

us an even greaterfootprint in theheart of SiliconValley. We are ex-cited to have theteam on board andlook forward to de-livering the Serv-ice King standardof exceptional cus-

tomer service and high quality repairsin these communities.”

“People are selling because of manydifferent reasons,” said Farzam Af-shar, CEO of VeriFacts Automotive, awell-respected training company thatdescribes itself as the industry’s only“independent onsite quality verifica-tion service and in-shop technician as-sessment provider.”

One reason, Afshar said, “is thatthey able to get a very high rate of re-turn on their investment. In addition,business owners increasingly need tocompete with consolidators in theirbackyard while vehicles are becomingmore complex.


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Some of these models might include vari-ous types of repair segmentation; e.g. alu-minum or other new material/technology,fleet, small hit expedited repair, paintlessdent repair, cosmollision, ethnic market, andcar auction repair. As MSO consolidatorsgain in the breadth and depth of their reachand coverage in markets around the coun-try, insurers will look to balance their localmarket networks with strong performingand recognized branded independent opera-tors. The balance of power will be normal-ized as long as the independent’s metricsand service offering are comparable to theMSO consolidator. Insurers also want tohave local market independents and MSOscompeting with the MSO consolidator sothat the best peer performance is alwaysbeing established in a market among all cur-rent and prospective repairers.

What is the benefit/challenge ofbeing an MSO vs. a single-location shopwhen forming a relationship with insur-ance companies? MSO consolidators andmany non-consolidator MSOs have the per-sonnel, sales/marketing structure andbudget to frequently call on insurance com-pany corporate decision makers as well asmulti-level contacts regionally. They partici-pate on insurance company advisory or re-

view boards which brings them to the tablefor input, old business and new conceptdiscussions, and collaboration on currentand future business process and perform-ance models. They develop multi-level per-sonal relationships that help when issuesneed to be resolved quickly. However, ifservice deteriorates somewhere in thecountry for a larger MSO it could have neg-ative ramifications across their nationalfootprint or some other regional market oftheirs. The MSO consolidator offer insurersbroader multiple market coverage thansmaller MSOs and independents. However,local market MSOs and independents canand do market that they provide that laserfocus local market performance that insur-ers want. Many independents and localmarket MSOs position and market them-selves as high performers relative to theMSO consolidator in their geographic niche.A strong recognized brand with top per-formance metrics relative to a MSO consol-idator can give the independent and localmarket MSO a competitive edge whenvying for insurer DRP business. MSO con-solidators are also offering self-managedand co-managed capabilities for cus-tomized and new DRP models, quality as-surance and self-audit process andprocedures, call centers, and single point ofcontact, all of which helps reduce costs forthe insurer while positioning the MSO con-solidator for business that the independentoperator may find more difficult to secure.


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Farzam Afsharfile photo

By now most shop owners and man-agers have realized that when it comesto marketing, one size does not fit all.Franchises and multiple shop opera-tions that account for about 15 percentof the shops in the U.S. are in a posi-tion to approach marketing from an en-tirely different perspective from theindependent shop owner. But 72 per-cent of the shops are still independent,single-location shops and many ofthese shops market just to keep surviv-ing. The question then becomes, whatdo you mean by “grow?” Growth bycloning or opening other locations ismore of an operational strategy than amarketing proposition. Real growth foran independent shop is simply aboutgetting more vehicles in the door andenjoying more profit on every job.

Franchises and MSOs can affordto advertise just to build name recog-nition to try to drive business to anyshop in the group. But few independ-ents can afford to spend marketingdollars solely on building name recog-nition. A marketing plan has to differ-entiate a shop from the competitionand provide a strong reason to selectthat shop over all the others. A recentarticle in Inc. Magazine might suggestone way to do that. A software com-pany originally called “37 Signals”changed it’s operating philosophy andchanged its name to “Basecamp,” thename of a project management prod-uct that represented 87 percent of theirsales and 90% of their recent growth.

This reminded me of a strategicmove made by Colonel Harlan Sanders

when he was operating a small chain offast food operations with about 100items on the menu. He was having se-rious trouble trying to grow so he hireda consultant named David Thomas.The first thing Thomas did was cut themenu down to a handful of items andrenamed the franchise operation, “Ken-tucky Fried Chicken.” From there on,the growth was phenomenal. Now ob-viously most shops can’t eliminate anyof the steps needed to restore a vehicleback to pre-accident condition, but theycan always choose what they want toemphasize in their marketing. And thismay be the key to convincing the buy-ing public that this shop is the right onefor them.

If you decide to try this approachto marketing, the next question is“what to emphasize?” Paint specialtyshops like Maaco have already begunto capture some of the body work thatindependent shops rely on, but theykeep paint as their central focal point.While any shop is free to make refin-ishing quality their main marketingemphasis, there may be reasons tochoose a different emphasis. One bigadvantage an independent shop hasover franchises and MSOs is the veryfact of their uniqueness. While theseother shops may have a cookie-cuttersameness look, the independent shopowner can individuate any way he orshe chooses. I’ve seen a number ofshops that emphasize the family as-pect of their business. Photos of sev-eral generations of owners adorn thewalls, the website and any ads. The

emphasis, of course, is “we care morebecause for us it’s personal.”

Another key factor in marketingemphasis choice is shop location. Ashop in Silicon Valley or other high-tech region may thrive best with anemphasis on the technical aspects ofcollision repair. A contemporary focuson hybrids and exotic metal repairspecialties could communicate well inan area like this. In an entirely differ-ent direction, I ran across a shop inhorse country that emphasized a spe-cialty in working on horse trailers andlarger transport vehicles. In an agelike ours where big box stores havebecome the norm, a lot of peoplechoose to look for vendors who un-derstand their particular niche in life.Choosing which of these to focus onbrings us back to the question, do youwant to market to just survive, or doyou want to really grow?

Whatever you decide to empha-size in your marketing, to make it a

growth proposition calls for an allout effort. For example, a shop lo-cated in an area where campers andlarge SUVs are commonplace mightchoose to emphasize oversize framemachines and larger spray boothsable to accommodate them. To makethis a growth move, the shop wouldhave to display these capabilitiesmore prominently with colorful pho-tos and stories of exceptional jobs onthe website and literature. But theywould have to go beyond this to goout and be involved in trade shows,vehicle shows, club presentationsand more. Choosing an emphasisthat encompasses a lot of peopleopens up an entire horizon of oppor-tunities to get out and connect withprospective customers. Not everyshop owner is comfortable with thiskind of glad-handing, but if the realgrowth is out there to be gotten, it’sworth while hiring someone with theskill to go out and get it.


Are You Marketing to Merely Survive or Are You Trying to Grow?

On Creative Marketingwith Thomas Franklin

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

Fire at FL Shop Damaged CarsCars were burned and an auto repairshop damaged when it caught fireon Oct. 15. The fire occurred at A1Auto Care Center in Miramar, FL,during the early morning hours.Two Honda Civics parked in thebay area where the fire started, eachestimated at $50,000, were a totalloss, according to reports by ErikaPesantes, sun-sentinel.com. Theowner, Azhar Mohammad, saidthey were used for racing. Otherdamages include the emblem on thehood of a green Mercedes Benz,which was melted off and reducedto a small silver puddle. No one wasinjured.

The Women’s Industry Network(WIN) is kicking-off their 2015Membership Drive. WIN member-ship is annual and based on a calen-dar year. Their goal is to reach 400members by 2015.

WIN is focused on engagingwomen in the collision repair indus-try through education, networkingand sharing of resources. This year’sdrive will include several outreachopportunities. A membership drivedrawing for new members, renewingmembers and referrals, and an addedgrand prize of one free 2015 WINEducation Conference RegistrationFee will all be part of the festivities.

WIN 2015 Membership Drive


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Though Halloween is just around thecorner, witches, ghosts and vampiresaren’t the scariest things on the mindsof collision repair professionals acrossthe nation this October; what these ex-perts find terrifying is the amount ofundue influence the insurance indus-try, a third-party entity, exerts on theirrepair practices and their businesses asa whole. Given the number of lawsuitsthat have been filed against insurers in2014 alone, this isn’t anything new,but the collaboration of a group of in-dustry professionals in order to com-bat this issue has led to the creation ofSafeCars, an organization dedicated tothe premise that “every vehicle ownerdeserves a safe and complete repair.”

As such, SafeCars has organizeda series of meetings across the countryto engage other collision repair pro-fessionals in the discussion to deter-mine the best way to combat insurerinterference in their industry. RonPerretta, owner of Professionals Auto

Body in Altoona, PA and one of Safe-Cars’ organizers, took time to explaintheir goals and what they have next onthe agenda. “The purpose of thesemeetings is to discuss the issue of in-surer interference in general, but it isalso about bringing shops together toanswer any questions they have on thecurrent litigation.”

SafeCars hopes to explain the dif-ferences between several nationallawsuits that are currently pending.The first is a class action lawsuit. Thesecond, the complaint Attorney JohnEaves Jr filed against multiple insurerson behalf of 21 shops in January 2014,is the pending MDL litigation whichPerretta hopes shops will be inspiredto participate in. Perretta and othermembers of SafeCars believe that thecollision repair industry has beenbadly suppressed over the years.Some of the issues they hope to ad-dress are static labor rates, the im-proper use of procedure pages in

estimating systems, the prevalence ofinsurer steering, and the overall influ-ence of the insurance industry in col-lision repair businesses across thecountry.

On September 20, SafeCarshosted a meeting at the Holiday Inn inFort Washington, PA, and Perrettasays, “the meeting went extremelywell. At this point, PA has more peo-ple involved with this litigation thanany other state.”

SafeCArs also held a meeting inSan Diego, CA on October 11, andthey have scheduled a meeting for Oc-tober 18 at the DoubleTree Hotel inLinthicum Heights, MD to run fromnoon until 4PM. Speakers for the MDmeeting include Perretta, AttorneyJohn Eaves Jr and Tony Passwater ofthe Indiana Auto Body Association.These are only a few of the meetingsthat SafeCars intends to hold aroundthe U.S. as they travel “up the EastCoast and down the West Coast to in-

form industry professionals of theseissues and collaborate to find a solu-tion,” Perretta states, adding “these ef-forts are way past due.”

These free meetings are open tocollision repairers and OEM industryvendors. Pre-registration is required,and attendees must provide a businesscard and photo ID to verify their iden-tify as SafeCars has prohibited insur-ers from attending these meetings inorder to encourage honest dialogueamongst collision repairers and to pre-vent retaliation against attendees.

Explaining why this level of se-curity is necessary, Perretta shares, “Ireceived a phone call from a womanwho runs a shop and wants to attendour MD meeting, but she asked if anyinsurance people will be there becauseshe’s worried they’ll find out she wasthere getting information. It’s sadwhen collision repair professionals areso scared that you can’t go where you


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SafeCars Hosts Meetings Around the Country to Discuss Insurer Interference and National Lawsuits

See SafeCars Hosts, Page 36

Admittedly, the owner of a well-known 80-year-old body shop inChicago was guilty of texting in hisown vehicle himself for several yearsuntil he saw more than a few damagedcars in his shop caused by his cus-tomers’ lapses in attention while tex-ting. Rather than ignore what is nowan national epidemic that causes 1.6million accidents annually, Bob Got-tfred, the owner of Erie-LaSalle BodyShop, decided to start his own anti-texting campaign.

Erie-LaSalle Body Shop wasfounded in 1934 and over the years ithas become a neighborhood institu-tion in downtown Chicago. “We’re thelongest continuously owned auto bodyof its kind in Chicago and Illinois,”Gottfred explained. “We now have ahandful of third-generation customerscoming in here and it’s great to heartheir stories about when their grandfa-ther or even great grandfather broughthis car here decades before. Addition-

ally, we have expanded our servicearea by acquiring a 30-year body shopon the southwest side of Chicago.”

Gottfred, 64, had what he de-scribed as a “marginal interest” in carsas a kid, so his path to owning a bodyshop wasn’t part of his life plan, hesaid. “I grew up working here in theshop as a teenager and to be honest, Iwasn’t crazy about it. I had no inten-tion of taking over the shop, but whenI came home around Christmas time in1975, my stepfather told me he could-n’t do it anymore. His health wasn’tvery good so he said, ‘If you’re inter-ested -- hop in” or he was going to sellit. So, in January 1976 I started runningthe business full-time and then eventu-ally bought out my stepfather in 1995.”

Today, both of Gottfred’s sonswork with him at the shop and eventu-ally the business will belong to them –but not tomorrow, Gottfred said. “Jim(36) and Jay (34) could take over rightnow and do a great job, because they’velearned the business and they’re ready.They’re right at the hand-off point nowand I know it would be a seamless tran-

sition, but I’m not quite ready to retire.I currently work on customer acquisi-tion and foster the great relationshipswe have with the insurance companiesand agents, so it works well right now.Opening the new shop in a very differ-ent market has also been a challenge. Ilike to be the rainmaker around hereand take a lot of the administrative stuffoff my sons’ radar, so that they can con-centrate on the most important things,such as quality and customer service.”

New proposed anti-texting lawshave gained more momentum in thiscountry, most recently led by a docu-mentary called “From One Second tothe Next,” a cautionary tale about thedangers of texting while driving. Thefilm was funded by mobile providersAT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint and Verizonand has received major awards and ac-colades.

The genesis of Gottfred’s anti-tex-ting campaign began when he decided


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Chicago Body Shop’s Anti-Texting Campaign Catches Fire

See Anti-Texting Campaign, Page 39

Erie-LaSalle started getting involved in an anti-texting campaign after creating this fire hydrantto raise money for 51 Club, an organization thatraises money for families of firemen killed in theline of duty


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8. Know that you need the tools forsuccess9. Know that it won’t always be easy,but right10. Know that if you’re not havingfun…you’re likely doing somethingwrong!

In conclusion, Smith notes, “justas when Toto pulled back the curtainon the Wizard of Oz and saw that hewas just a weak old man pulling on abunch of cables and ropes whilespeaking into a loud speaker, the fearand unknowing is no longer “AllPowerful”. Once one understands thatinsurance companies are not the "AllPowerful” they would like you to be-lieve they are and you learn that In-

surers have legal obligations and lia-bilities, just like you and any otherbusiness, and once you know whatyours are and what theirs are, it takesa lot of the mystery and unknowingaway, and along with it - the fear. Ifyou believe you can’t do it… you’d beright!”

Batchelor was pleased withSmith’s message and believes “every-one understood the need to step out ofthe box, but some may be unable dueto insurer influence. Still, if we caneducate one shop on how to addressthis issue, then we have achieved ourgoal.”

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want to go, be with the people youwant to be with, and talk about thethings you want to talk about… Thelast time people acted like this was be-fore Lincoln freed the slaves. This isAmerica, not the Mafia, yet it’s almostlike the insurance industry is theMafia offering their protection toshops but only if we do what they say.We all rely on insurers for business,but if we continue to be scared, ourbusinesses will just get worse. It’sridiculous for our industry to be at thispoint, but it’s exactly where the insur-ers want us.”

Ironically enough, Perretta sug-gests it was “actually a good thingwhen State Farm tried to jam Part-sTrader down people’s throats. It wasthe straw that nearly broke the camel’sback, and it got a lot of shops up inarms, so State Farm kind of did us afavor by introducing PartsTrader.”

SafeCars has also released avideo on YouTube, featuring Perretta,to address the “pressing industry is-sues dramatically affecting you, yourtechnicians, your business, and thesafety of your customers.” He ex-plains how both the class action andMDL lawsuits will have a positive ef-fect on the industry and how businessis done in the near future. Claimingthat collision repair professionalsacross the country are faced with thesame issues, Perretta lists these con-cerns as follows: suppression of labor

rates, steering, manipulation of data-bases, not using procedure pages asdesigned, refusals to pay for requiredprocedures, refusals to follow manu-facturer guidelines, pressure from in-surers to cut corners and use inferiorparts that could jeopardize consumers’safety, intervention into collision re-pair businesses, interference withagreements shops have with their cus-tomers and their vendors, and insur-ers’ efforts to use intimidation to forceshops to comply with their demandslest they be blackballed and targeted.

In the imminent future, SafeCarsplans to host webinars and teleconfer-ences to explain the benefits to awider audience of collision repairers,but in the meantime, Perretta encour-ages anyone who is interested to con-tact him so he can explain how youcan help in more detail. In closing,Perretta pleads, “Please don’t sit onthe sidelines and do nothing! Help ustake back our industry so we’re ableto fix vehicles properly and safely forour customers.”

Perretta can be reached on hiscell phone at 814-931-7669 or viaemail at [email protected]. Formore information on SafeCars, visit:www.safecars.us.


SafeCars Hosts Quest Donates $280,000 in Paint & Abrasives to CREFQuest Automotive Products (QAP) do-nated $280,000 in paint and abrasivesto high school and post-secondary col-lision school programs across thecountry through the Collision RepairEducation Foundation.

The products donated by QAPwill allow students the opportunity topractice their collision repair and re-finishing skills. QAP is committed tobringing awareness of the shortage oftechnicians within the collision in-dustry and acknowledge that manycollision school programs have budg-ets that are shrinking each year.

“QAP strongly believes in sup-porting the future professionals withinour industry and ensuring they obtainthe education that they deserve inorder to be successful in the automo-tive profession,” said David Brunori,President of Quest Automotive Prod-ucts.

“QAP has recently been in-volved with supporting the Colli-sion Repair Education Foundationthrough donating product and rais-ing money with its first Artists 4Education auction, held in the Ma-trix Automotive Finishes booth dur-ing SEMA last year, which raised$25,000 for the Education Founda-tion. We are proud to be working to-

gether with them again in 2014 withthe second annual auction at SEMAthis year (booth 10669).”

Collision Repair EducationFoundation Director of Develop-ment Brandon Eckenrode noted,“This product donation from QAPwill have a significant impact on thecollision school programs by pro-viding instructors with the neededmaterial in order to provide a qual-ity technical education for students.We look forward to working to-gether with QAP to raise additionalfunds through the second annualArtists 4 Education auction at SEMAthis year. I would also invite colli-sion industry businesses to followQAP’s lead in providing both prod-uct and monetary donations to theEducation Foundation so that we canwork towards ensuring that the grad-uating collision students are readyfor entry-level employment withinthe industry.”

Industry members interested inhelping high school and/or collegecollision school programs through theCollision Repair Education Founda-tion should contact Brandon Ecken-rode at:[email protected] or 847-463-5244.


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“Fixing cars is become moreand more challenging than ever be-fore,” said Afshar. “The vehicles areso different now and they may lookthe same outside but what’s inside isnot the same.” With the standards setby the Insurance Institute for High-way Safety (IIHS) and the CorporateAverage Fuel Economy, cars need tobe lighter but still pass safety re-

quirements.Afshar said another challenge

for those in collision repair is em-ploying proper technicians with theright mind set. Afshar, who sold hisMSO Sterling Automotive Group in1998, said technology is moving sorapidly that detailed knowledge,training and equipment is becomingeven more necessary for shops to besuccessful and he encourages techni-cians to be open-minded and learnnew techniques that they’ve neverused before.


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MSO Consolidations For the last few years, Chevrolet hasused the annual State Fair of Texas inDallas to preview its plans for SEMA,according to an article written byMark Williams on pickuptrucks.com.This year, the focus of the state fairand SEMA is pickup concept truckparts.

The Silverado “Toughnology” re-minds customers that aluminum, thelatest material-fad of the auto work,cannot compete with the high-strengthof steel, which is located throughout

this pickup truck’s frame, cab, bodyand interior, which, GM has alwaysnoted, is “much less cost intensive thanmore exotic materials.”

This concept also showcases GMaccessories like unique grille inserts,sidesteps, a hard tonneau cover, a car-peted bedliner, fender-flare accents andtinted headlights. A graphic package,including 20-inch wheels and tires,OnStar 4G LTE with Wi-Fi hotspot ca-pability, a wireless charging mat andSiri Eyes Free, is also included.

Chevrolet Debuts Pickup Concept Trucks for SEMA


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Berkshire Hathaway Inc. and VanTuyl Group announced on October 2that they have entered into a defini-tive agreement in which BerkshireHathaway will acquire the Van TuylGroup, the nation’s largest privately-owned auto dealership group, rankingfifth among all U.S. auto dealershipgroups.

After becoming a part of the Berk-shire Hathaway family of businesses,the company will be known as Berk-shire Hathaway Automotive. The com-pany will continue to be led by LarryVan Tuyl, who will become Chairman,and Jeff Rachor, who will assume therole of CEO, as well as its experiencedsenior management team. Berkshire

Hathaway Automotive will be head-quartered in Dallas, Texas and continueto pursue its strategy of operational ex-cellence and disciplined acquisitiongrowth, which is the business modelthe company has pursued for the last 62years.

“The Van Tuyl Group fits per-fectly into Berkshire Hathaway fromboth a financial and cultural view-point. Larry Van Tuyl along with hisfather, Cecil, spent decades buildingoutstanding dealerships operated bylocal partners. In recent years, he hasshared management with Jeff Rachor,a seasoned auto retailer who will re-tain a financial interest in all dealer-ships. The Van Tuyl Group enjoys

excellent relations with the major automanufacturers and delivers unusuallyhigh volumes at its 78 locations. Thisis just the beginning for BerkshireHathaway Automotive,” said Berk-shire Hathaway’s Chairman and CEO,Warren Buffett.

“We are proud of all that has beenaccomplished with the support of ourdealer partners, our employees and themanufacturers that we represent. Weare very pleased to have one of theworld’s most respected companies,Berkshire Hathaway, assume owner-ship of our company with the commit-ment to preserving our unique culture,business model and philosophy,” saidVan Tuyl. “I cannot think of a better

steward to continue the legacy of whatmy father and I have built over the last62 years, and I am confident this trans-action will position the company on acourse of continued success.”

The transaction is expected to becompleted in the first quarter of 2015and is subject to obtaining approvalsfrom the major auto manufacturers aswell as certain customary closing con-ditions, including various regulatoryapprovals.

Stephens Inc. is serving as finan-cial advisor to Van Tuyl Group. DLAPiper is providing legal advice to VanTuyl Group, and Munger, Tolles &Olson LLP is providing legal advice toBerkshire Hathaway.

Berkshire Hathaway to Acquire Van Tuyl Group, Largest Privately-Owned Auto Dealership Group

CCC Information Services Inc. an-nounced the addition of the Aftermar-ket Auto Parts Alliance (Alliance) as asupplier to the CCC TRUE™ PartsNetwork on October 16.

The Alliance, which goes to mar-ket under a variety of store brands in-cluding Auto Value and Bumper toBumper, becomes a significant contrib-utor of mechanical parts and repair sup-plies to CCC TRUE Parts Network.

“Providing our customers with ac-

cess to the Alliance’s extensive offeringof repair parts and related supplies viatheir robust MyPlaceForParts™ net-work extends our footprint and providesour repair and insurance customers witheven greater choice and flexibility intheir parts options,” said David Boden,VP, CCC’s Parts Services Group.

“We look forward to workingwith the Alliance and integrating itsparts inventory with CCC TRUE PartsNetwork.”

“Collision repair shops have atremendous need for easy access to me-chanical repair parts and supplies,” saidJon Owens, Vice President of salesand market development for the Al-liance. “Streamlining that access wasthe purpose of our participating in theCCC TRUE Parts Network and wecould not be more delighted with theopportunity to bring our extensive in-ventory to CCC’s customers.”

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to participate in the Great Chicago FireHydrants Project, a public art exhibitionthat celebrates the heroism of Chicago’sfirefighters. This citywide public art in-stallation features oversized replicas ofChicago’s iconic standard fire hydrants,designed, painted, decorated and/ordressed by local artists, architects, andeven fashion and interior designers.These colorful sculptures are placedthroughout the city in tribute to thework and heroism of Chicago’s belovedfirefighters. At the conclusion of eachyear’s exhibition, the hydrants are gath-ered for a final exhibition before being

auctioned, with net proceeds benefitingcharities that support the families of firevictims and other fire safety programs

in the Windy City.As part of his company’s ongoing

philanthropy, Gottfred decided to par-ticipate in the project. “We purchaseda five-foot fire hydrant made out offiberglass for the project to decorate,”Gottfred explained. “We painted thewords ‘Texting & Driving, It Can Wait’on the fire hydrant and then decided totake the whole thing one step further.We had purchased a little Smart Car awhile back and we have our logo on theside of it. We use it to shuttle customersaround or pick up parts and we love it.We thought maybe we can use theSmart Car and the hydrant together toget our anti-texting message out there.We disassembled the front end of theSmart Car and parked it out front of our

shop and made it appear asthough the Smart Car had justbashed into the fire hydrant.We get 40,000 people drivingby our shop every day and sopretty quickly everyone wastalking about it.”

Then last October, Gottfreddecided to use Halloween asan opportunity to take his anti-

texting message to another level, hesaid. “We put a dummy in the frontseat of the Smart Car and deployed an

old airbag we had sitting around andstrapped it to the steering wheel. Later,I went out there and the local policeand fire department were out in frontof the shop. Someone had reported a

car accident with serious injuries, andafter we explained what was going on,we all laughed about it and they took afew photos. We left it there until theend of November and then the hydrantgot auctioned off, raising $500 for the51 Club. We bought it originally for

$1,500 and that money went to Club51 too, so we donated $2,000 total,which was nice.”

Once Gottfred got involved in hisanti-texting campaign, he stopped tex-ting altogether. “When people use theircell phones while driving, the bottomline is that they’re distracted,” he said.“I was doing it too, because you get atext message and your first reaction isto respond to it. But in the end it can re-ally wait. We get damaged cars in hereall the time and the customers willnever admit that they were texting whenit occurred, but I know many of theseaccidents are the result of texting.”

Gottfred teaches CE (ContinuingEducation) classes to insurance agentsand now he has created a class deal-ing with the topic of texting. “We dis-cuss how to insure teenage drivers andwhat can happen when they text,” hesaid. “I show some gruesome videosto get their attention and to raise theirconsciousness about texting.”


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Anti-Texting Campaign

Bob Gottfred (center) has been running Erie-LaSalle Body Shop since 1975 and soon hissons Jim (left) and Jay (right) will be takingover the reins

Erie-LaSalle Body Shop was founded in 1934 and over theyears its iconic neon sign has become a Chicago landmark

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One of the biggest complaints I hearfrom shops is that it is so hard to getpeople to change their habits and con-form to a new way of doing things.Unfortunately, failing to implement apermanent change initiative has be-come the norm at most collision repairshops these days. Some of this resist-

ance we bring on ourselves by what Ilike to call the “Flavor of the Month.”I am sure most of you can relate to thisscenario when the boss returns fromNACE or some great seminar and allof a sudden he wants to fix everythingovernight! These changes rarely takepermanent hold in the organizationand the more changes managementtries to implement, the bigger the jokeit becomes to the staff. Sad, but sotrue!

There are many reasons that peo-ple are resistant to change, but I amsurprised at how often it is the owneror manager himself that is the realproblem! The art of communicatingand understanding what make yourpeople tick are of utmost importancethese days. The old “iron-fisted” man-agement style of yester-year rarelyworks these days.

How are you going to get yourstaff to buy-into change initiatives andconsistently perform the vital steps re-quired with new processes such asBlueprinting, and other lean concepts?Many great books have been writtenon the subject of change, and I recom-mend you read them and learn asmuch as you can to better understandthe behaviors and intrinsic values ofyou and your team. In addition to youdoing some studies of your own, Ihope you will find these 3 tips helpfulto your change efforts.

ConvenienceOne of the biggest reasons peopledon’t follow the steps is because thesteps are too hard to perform. Callthem lazy, call them whatever youwant, but the reality of it is that if you

give someone a task that is critical tosuccess and the task is too difficult, itis human nature that it likely won’t getdone consistently if at all. Let me giveyou an example. Let’s say that at yourbody shop, you have discovered thatchecking the replacement parts forcorrectness (mirror matching) is

CRITICAL to your success. So if youremove the old parts from the car andthrow them into a big messy pile inthe corner, do you really think theparts guy is going to dig through thatheap to find the parts he needs to mir-ror match vs. the new replacements?Probably not going to happen, right?You must make critical to successtasks as easy as you possibly can ifyou want them to get done. Conven-ience also means keeping tools, infor-mation, and anything else that wouldbe needed to perform a critical taskclose and easily accessible. Things notgetting done are often not a work ethicproblem as much as it is a spatial orprocedural problem.

SpaceIf you were trying to shed a fewpounds and decided that you needto quit eating donuts, do you thinkit would be better to have the boxof donuts that your rental carprovider just gifted sitting on yourdesk, or would it be better to placethe delicious box of devilish delightas far away as possible? My pointis to set up your shop space to helpdrive the vital behaviors to succeed.A classic example of this is when itcomes to Blueprinting. One of thevital behaviors of Blueprinting, inmy opinion, is to have your esti-mating computer out with you atthe damaged car. Can this happen atyour shop, or are your estimatorsstill writing everything down on apiece of paper and then walkingthis back to their office to enter aquestionably accurate supplementinto the estimating system? If this

isn’t bad enough, I still see manyshops that let the technician writethe supplement on a piece of paperand then put it on the estimator’sdesk to key in. What kind of behav-ior does this spatial arrangementencourage? Think about it!

Make it UnavoidableMake it difficult for people todo the wrong thing. Can youthink of any tasks critical orotherwise that are being suc-cessfully performed at yourshop consistently? What isdifferent about those tasksthat you can learn from andapply to your new initiativesand critical tasks? The act ofmoving a vehicle into thetechnician’s stall makes itpretty unavoidable that it willget seen and worked on by thetechnician. Making a task un-avoidable is quite often a visual thing,

and something that has to get done be-fore it can go to the next step. Con-sider the use of visual quality controlin between departments to eliminatedefects, and make it hard to screw up!

Outcomes• Recommended readingo Leading Change – Kotter


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

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Chevrolet Brings Back the Corvette Stingray in Time for SEMAThe SEMA Auto Show isn’t just anevent for established aftermarketcompanies to showcase their latest

creations. It’s also a chance for newplayers in the business to introducethemselves to the industry. This year,Revorix falls under the latter cate-gory, and it’s prepared a special pro-gram for the Chevrolet CorvetteStingray. The new aftermarket com-pany has just set up its business inAnaheim, California with the solepurpose of creating aftermarket

products that highlights a car’s“functional beauty." Seeing as it’sstill a relative neophyte in the indus-try, you can’t fault Roverix from en-listing the help of Rowen Japan,considered as one of the best after-market car body specialists in Japan.

Together, the two companies cre-ated the Revorix Corvette Package,which features a comprehensive list ofnew aerodynamic components de-signed to give the Corvette Stingray asportier look and improved dynamics.There are no performance upgradesbut that’s not overly important whenyou’re a new entry to the market look-ing to make a name.

The important thing is to estab-lish yourself first, and one way to doso is to build a body kit that will catchpeoples’ attention, which is exactlywhat it has with the Revorix CorvettePackage. It’s a tough task catchingsome eyes at the SEMA Auto Show,but Revorix, with the help of RowenJapan, might have the kit to pull it off.

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Toyota Motor Corp. is set to becomethe next global automaker to beginmaking the expensive shift fromsteel to aluminum for a high-volumevehicle, according to reports in Au-tomotive News.

The U.S.-built Camry, thecountry’s best-selling car, is slatedto get an aluminum hood in 2018,according to a source familiar withthe plans.

Toyota’s first foray into alu-minum closures in North Americawill come next year when the 2016Lexus RX 350 crossover, which ismade in Cambridge, Ontario, getsan aluminum hood and liftgate, thesource said.

The aluminum sheet for theCamry hood likely will comefrom a joint venture between Toy-ota Tsusho Corp., a trading com-pany affiliated with Toyota MotorCorp., and Kobe Steel to producemore aluminum sheet metal in theU.S.

Toyota will be among theventure’s first customers, severalsources confirmed. Production isexpected to begin in 2017 andramp up to full output at the be-ginning of 2018.

Toyota Moves to AluminumHood for Camry in 2018

The regional recall of millions ofU.S. vehicles with potentially de-fective airbags made by Japan’sTakata Corp. may expand to in-clude General Motors models, ac-cording to documents filed in Sept.with U.S. regulators.

More than 4.3 million carsproduced by automakers, in-cluding Honda Motor Co., Fiat’sChrysler Group and ToyotaMotor Corp., are affected by theregional recalls. They began inJune in certain high-humidityareas of the United States afterthe National Highway TrafficSafety Administration started in-vestigating reports of airbag ex-plosions in Florida and PuertoRico.

The regional recalls initiallyaffected nine automakers, but doc-uments filed by Takata for a Sept.meeting with NHTSA and the af-fected companies listed GM forthe first time as being potentiallyaffected. The Takata documents,posted online by NHTSA, said thenumber of vehicles produced bythe largest U.S. automaker was un-determined.

GM declined to comment.

Takata Airbag Recall MayInclude GM Vehicles

Mercedes-Benz USA and its dealersare spending about $30 millionover the next four years to train26,000 employees and immersethem in the brand’s culture.

Later this year, the first waveof employees will go through atwo-day program called the BrandImmersion Experience at the Mer-cedes-Benz factory in Vance, Ala-bama, near Tuscaloosa.

The investment includes a $6million revamp of the visitor cen-ter at the factory for classroomtraining, including digital interac-tive displays.

“We have been driving hardfor the last few years on the cus-tomer experience,” said GarethJoyce, vice president of customerservices at Mercedes-Benz USA.“It is not just about the product; it isall about the package and how youlook after the customers as well.

“This is just one of the build-ing blocks in our portfolio to drivethat program forward through ourdealer network.”

Mercedes Will Train 26,000in the Brand’s New Culture

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Ferrari Recall of 458 Italiaand Spider ModelsFerrari is recalling 3,000 458 Italiaand Spider models for trunk safetyissues. The new models’ trunks willbe able to be opened from the in-side to decrease the possibility ofinjury. The previous cars lackedthis feature, and were found in vio-lation of federal safety mandates.Ferrari owners will be notified bythe company and will need to re-turn their car to the local dealer formodifications.

Chrysler Recall of SUVsChrysler Group is recalling an esti-mated 184,215 SUVs because a pos-sible short circuit in a part coulddisable airbags and seat belt preten-sioners. The same part was responsi-ble for a Sept. recall of more than850,000 Ford vehicles. Chrysler saidan electrical short circuit may occurin the occupant restraint control mod-ule in certain 2014 Dodge Durangoand Jeep Grand Cherokee SUVs. Theautomaker said it is unaware of in-juries or accidents related to the issue.The recall covers 126,772 vehicles inthe U.S., 8,106 in Canada, 3,722 inMexico and 45,615 elsewhere.

their body shops.“We wanted to make the legisla-

tors aware of what the insurance com-panies are doing to the consumer,”said Matt Parker, owner of ParkerAuto Body in Louisiana who is part ofthe lawsuit. “The insurance industryshould not tell us how to repair cars.We’re the professionals here, notthem. We have all the liability, theydon’t,” he said.

Tony Passwater, Executive Di-rector of the Indiana Autobody Asso-ciation and President of AEIIConsulting Services, said that whatstarted as multi-district litigation inApril with just five states, includingMississippi, Florida, Tennessee, Indi-ana and Utah, and later by Louisiana,is now part of a much bigger action toregain control that he termed “TheMovement.”

He said, as part of “The Move-ment,” shop owners representing adozen states went to Capital Hill “…todiscuss the growing concerns for con-sumer safety, the mandating by insur-ers to require repair shops to use

untested and unsafe parts on vehicles,and the intimidation tactics the insur-ers use when a repairer refuses to doso.”

“Most [members of Congress]have had their car repaired and werevery empathetic and were alreadyconcerned about the issue, so we werevery encouraged by the response,”said the lead attorney John Arthur

Eaves, Jr. of Eaves Law Firm inJackson, MS.

Eaves said many were still notaware of the Robert Kennedy-era1963 Consent Decree and now is anexcellent opportunity to ask them tohelp enforce what is the official public

policy of the United States govern-ment. He said the body shops plan tovisit Washington D.C. again in No-vember when congress comes backinto session and the hope is that a billwill be introduced at that time. “Thelaw will really be a codification of thepolicy of the United States that wasset in 1963.”

It was that year that the U.S. De-partment of Justice, underthe direction of AttorneyGeneral Robert Kennedy,investigated the concerns ofthe collision repair industryand found 265 insurancecompanies, and the threemajor trade associationsthat represented insurers,were in violation of theSherman Antitrust Act. AnAntitrust Consent Orderwas signed by these com-panies on October 23,1963, requiring that insur-

ers must refrain from “fixing, estab-lishing, maintaining or otherwisecontrolling the prices to be paid for theappraisal of damage, or to be chargedby independent or dealer franchisedautomotive repair shops for the repairof damage to automotive vehicles orfor replacement parts or labor in con-nection therewith, whether by coer-cion, boycott or intimidation or by theuse of flat rate or parts manuals or oth-erwise.”

“If you look at the Con-sent Decree and read it, itwould look like somebodyfrom today wrote it becauseall the things they’ve beendoing since the 40s they arecontinuing to do,” saidParker. “To be honest withyou, everything they’re doingis against the law.”

Parker, who has been inthe business for 30 years, saidthe Consent Decree mandatesthat insurance companies are sup-posed to be in the business of insur-ance, “not telling us how to repaircars, not writing estimates, not tellingpeople where to get glass put in theircar. We’re the only business in theworld that has to try to figure out howto make a profit when we can’t evenset our own rates.”

Eaves originally filed the lawsuitin April on behalf of more than twodozen body shops that claimed 16 in-surance companies manipulated laborrates and other charges and weren’tcompensated for their work.

The Mississippi lawyer said thelawsuit is largely based on antitrust is-sues that surface when insurance com-panies get involved with body shopsby telling them what labor rate theycan charge, what percentages they’renot going to pay for, and what partsthey have to put on a car. In the1970’s, the labor rate was $16 and themechanical rate was $15. Currently,Eaves said the body shop rate acrossthe nation is usually half of the me-chanical rate with no justification. Hesaid this is due to insurance compa-nies that have artificially suppressedthe rate and is a clear violation of theConsent Decree.

Another main component of thelawsuit is against steering. “Moststates in the country say it is illegal forinsurance companies to purposely in-terfere in the business relationship ofthe customer and the body shop,” saidEaves. However, insurance companiesdo it regularly, telling customers theyhave to go to their DRP body shops orselect service shops. “That’s a big partof our lawsuit and one of the thingswe think is pure violation of theproper balance between the two in-dustries,” said Eaves. “By having thesame practices exposed by all bodyshops in one litigation, the judge canmore clearly see that this is a patternof practice,” said Eaves.

Eaves said that in addition tothese challenges faced by shop own-

ers, the industry also has to adapt tonew technology. “Only the shops thatactually get paid for what they do willhave the resources necessary to investin all of this technology,” said Eaves.“That’s basically what the lawsuitcomponent is all about… making surethat people who do the work and do itright get paid for it so they can con-tinue to provide that service to theAmerican customer.”

The next court date is set for No-vember in Orlando, FL. “The allega-tions that are part of the multi-district


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Congress Support


(l to r) Joe and Karen Enneking of Enneking Body Shop inIndiana, Congressman Luke Messer and Tony Passwater,Executive Director of the Indiana Autobody Association inWashington D.C.

(l to r) Tony Passwater, Executive Director of the Indiana Au-tobody Association; John Arthur Eaves, the lead attorney forthe case; and Karen and Joe Enneking from Enneking BodyShop in Indiana, during their trip to Washington D.C.

sumer’s safety above all else and plansto feature member shops who havecommitted to this goal.

Although Fowler believes thatsome insurance agents would like todo the right thing for their customers,the rules are passed down from the in-surance companies’ corporate offices,leaving the agents powerless to makechanges. Unfortunately, the insurersare the only ones to benefit, and thesepractices are actually performed to thedetriment of the collision repair facil-ities, the consumers and even lendinginstitutions as an improperly repairedvehicle is apt to create a situation ofdiminished value.

When radio hosts questionedwhy some insurance companies havedepartments that deal in diminishedvalues, Fowler notes, “they pay whenthey’re forced to pay, but they arenever going to voluntarily do the rightthing because it’s not profitable, andeverything they do is profit-driven.”In fact, he warns that diminishedvalue can occur to such an extent thatthe vehicle should have been declared

a total loss because it is no longer safeto be driven on the road! Luckily, di-minished value is an issue that con-sumers are becoming increasinglyaware of, and Fowler encourages any-one with doubts about the safety or in-tegrity of a repair to get a post-repairinspection. His shop will gladly in-spect repairs and provide objective as-sessments, as will many shops acrossthe nation. As the show ended, Fowlerencouraged consumers to stand up fortheir rights. Though he would like tobelieve that the insurers look out fortheir customers’ best interests, his ob-servations indicate that they are onlyconcerned with profits. “This war hasbeen going on for a long time, mostlybehind the consumers’ backs, but it af-fects everyone because if a car is un-safely repaired and out of control, it isdangerous to everyone on the high-way. The U.S. public needs to be con-cerned with this issue… You neverknow what battles you can win untilyou fight them. Doing nothing onlyensures you will lose.”

To access to the radio broadcast, goto http://www.iaba.info/Documents/Newsletters/Issues/2014/10%20October/Full%20Stories/Article%207.html (link is at the bottom of the page).


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• Make critical tasks conveniento Tasks that specifically lead toyour company’s success like Blue-print steps, parts mirror matching,customer communication, etc. must

be made to be EASY!• Setup office and shop spaces to in-fluence vital behaviorso Is communication a problem?Consider how your office is set up.o How far do people have to walk

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Lean Implementation


Memphis RadioCar-O-Liner has entered the social mediarealm, and is now offering a variety ofnews ways for consumers to connectwith the company. These channels in-clude Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+,Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Pinter-est. Car-O-Liner President Jeff Kern, saidhe is excited about the new social mediacommunications and anticipates theseactivities will benefit business relationsthrough technical knowledge sharing.“Our social media connection allows usto not only share our activities, but alsojoin the conversation through communi-cation with both our customers and theindustry,” he said. “It is important to lis-ten and be heard as we extend our reachthrough these interactive tools.”Follow Car-O-Liner at:

Facebook: facebook.com/carolinercompany

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/car-o-liner?trk=top_ nav_home

Google+: https://plus.google.com/102972787963006534481/posts

Twitter: @car_o_linerInstagram: @car_o_linerYoutube: https://www.youtube

.com/channel/UCFZEhZcZS4Xo4CwannUGcEQ

Pintrest: http://www.pintrest.com/carolinerauto/

Car-O-Liner ParticipationEnhanced With Social Media

Ford Motor Co. is recalling850,050 2013 and 2014 vehiclesfor an electrical flaw that couldcause airbags and seat belt preten-sioners to malfunction in the eventof a crash, according to reports inAutomotive News.

The affected vehicles includethe 2013-14 Ford C-Max, Fusion,Escape and Lincoln MKZ. Fordsaid in a statement on Sept. 26 therestraints-control module in the ve-hicles could short circuit, causingthe airbag warning indicator to il-luminate.

This is the 12th recall of the2013 Escape, although a spokes-woman said in August that no sin-gle Escape has been involved in allthe recalls.

Flaws that other recalls on theEscape have addressed includefluid leaks that could cause an en-gine fire, doors that can open whilethe vehicle is moving and rolloverairbags that may not deploy quicklyenough.

Ford Recalls 850,000 Carsfor Airbag & Seat Belt Glitch

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by Stacey Phillips, Assisant Editor

With only a toolbox, some tools and aCorvette he was hired to restore, MikeMiles and his wife Valerie have builttheir Raleigh, North Carolina custompaint and body studio into a businessthey can be proud of. He said it hastaken a lot of hard work and persever-ance but he has learned a lot along theway and isn’t going to give up.

“You have to be a go-getter, youcan’t be lazy by any means,” said Miles,who had to re-locate his business, AutoArts Inc., to three different locationsover the last eight years due to unfore-seen circumstances. “To have a suc-cessful business, in my opinion, in theend you have to put it in front of every-thing at all times,” he said.

Miles started in the auto bodyand collision repair business when hewas 16 and hired by Paragon Colli-sion Repair in Raleigh. Starting fromthe ground up he took out the trash,washed cars, buffed and polished cars,and helped out wherever they neededhim. He trained as an I-CAR techni-cian and then began doing collisionrepair. After 11 years of working atParagon, he cashed out his 401K anddecided to open Auto Arts Inc. in2006. A friend had started his ownsmall shop and Miles asked if he

could share the space. They split thebills down the middle and focused ontheir own businesses.

Miles said it was challenging togo from making $90,000 a year plusthe income from his wife’s job to liv-

ing off approximately $17,000 fromhis retirement savings. “To go fromthat to buying a home, cars and all kindof toys and stuff to nothing, it’s a biglife change,” he said.

After working day and night, hestarted to build up his customer base.In the meantime, he found it wasn’tworking out sharing the workspace

with his friend so he decided to find aplace of his own. A customer offeredto help out so Miles could afford tomove into the 5,000 square foot space.The rent was triple what he had beenpaying and Miles said he was “going

at it again, blindfolded, notknowing how in the worldwe’re going to make thishappen.”

It wasn’t long before Milesrealized Auto Arts wasn’tmaking nearly the amount ofmoney needed and they werejust scraping by. “When I did-n’t have anything to work on,which was often, my wife andI put together these CDs withpictures of my work.” Hedrove around to any place as-sociated with the auto bodyindustry – body shops, after-market accessories stores,stereo shops, dealerships andeven car washes – to spread

the word about Auto Arts and drum upbusiness.

“I wasn’t going to try to takeanybody’s work or take anybody’sjob,” said Miles. Instead, he walked inwith confidence and offered to helpout with any work they didn’t havetime for, while building relationshipswith the other businesses in the com-munity.

Then in 2011 the lease for hisbuilding was going to run out and an-other tenant wanted to expand. Itmeant another move. “It was like start-ing over again for the third time,” said

Miles. The current shop is almost10,000 square feet and specializes incollision repair and custom paint andbody work.

His wife Valerie said the “cus-tom” side of the business often bringsin the “collision” side. “Many of ourcustomers start off wanting some-thing special or custom for their carsand then much like finding a goodbarber or hairdresser, they come backfor small repairs or larger insurancework/jobs,” she said. Their plan is tostay at this location and eventuallypurchase the building.

Miles said he has grown his busi-ness significantly through word ofmouth and his hands-on approach. “Idon’t think it’s the well-oiled machinethat I want it to be yet but at the sametime I work in the business as muchor more so than on the business,” hesaid. Valerie handles all of the mar-keting and built the company’s web-site. Much of their current businesscomes from a consistent presence atcar shows, Facebook and Instagramwhere they post photos of their proj-ects daily.

Over the last four years Miles wasasked to take part in three different tele-vision shows but declined. “If I’m goingto do it, it’s going to be the real deal,how I got here,” said the business ownerwho has gone through two moves and arecession.

“I’m not in it for money. I’m in itfor the look on people’s faces whenthey get their vehicle back,” said Miles.“I love what I do and will die doing it.”


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Third Time is the Charm at North Carolina Custom Paint and Auto Body Shop

The Auto Arts team from left to right: Zack Matthews,Alfred Anzelon, Shea Jenness, Travis Brown, andowners Mike and Valerie Miles.

litigation being heard in Florida arenot in line with State Farm’s missionto serve the needs of its customers, andour long, proud history of achieve-ments in advancing vehicle safety,”said Dick Luedke, spokesperson forState Farm Insurance.

“A vibrant, profitable auto colli-sion repair industry is in the interestof State Farm,” said Luedke. “At thesame time, we are advocates on be-half of our customers for reasonablerepair costs. We believe repairer prof-itability and quality auto repairs thatare reasonably priced can both beachieved.

“Our customers choose wheretheir vehicles are going to be re-paired. We provide information aboutour Select Service program while atthe same time making it clear they canselect which shop will do the work,”

he said.Parker Auto Body was part of

State Farm’s Select Service DRP untilearlier this year. Since the businessowner left the program in April, hesaid they have steered a substantialamount of business away from him.“Just in short pays alone I have over$150,000 worth of claims they won’tpay,” he said. “Operations that we ac-tually do the vehicles to make the ve-hicles safe that they won’t pay us todo.

“These shops need to stand upfor what’s right and quit letting the in-surance industry run their business forthem,” said Parker. “They are just ter-rified that the insurance companiesare going to steer the work away.”

Parker acknowledges their con-cerns but said, “We’re just as busynow as we were because we’re edu-cating consumers.” He has found itbeneficial to explain to consumerswhat the insurance companies are


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doing. “They need to take their busi-nesses back and they need to run theirown businesses.”

When Autobody News went topress this month, an additional 25states were in the process of filinglawsuits to meet an Oct. 31 deadlinebefore returning to court in Novem-ber. “What we want to achieve isnumber one, that the safety and thequality of repairs for the Americanpublic is restored,” said Eaves. “Theindustry will never be the same afterthis.”

When contacted by AutobodyNews, Allstate Insurance Companyand Progressive both said that due tocompany policy, they do not commenton pending litigation. Stay tuned toAutobody News for more develop-ments.

was completely hacked and butchered.It was a death trap and it eventuallygot totaled and the driver got paid off.Our video told the story and showedthe evidence clearly, and that was whyit worked so well. Since coming out,the Maryland Attorney General andthe Insurance Commissioner has seenthe video and body shops show it totheir customers all the time. We getgreat feedback about it and it’s alsohelping us to get higher rankings onGoogle.”

Currently, AP Media is producing

a series of four automotive certifica-tion videos for Mark’s Body Shop.

“K & M has done a few OE cer-tification videos and they’re power-ful, to say the least, so we’re doingthe same,” Schaech said. “They did aPorsche certification video and nowthey’re on top of all the search rank-ings as a result. We use video to in-form and educate our customers, butenhanced SEO is also a big part of it.Years ago, we spent a lot of money oncable advertising and the responsewas weak, but these videos cost usless and they get us more response.We’ll be making more all the time,because we can new see they pay forthemselves in the end.”


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