november 2012 northeast edition

North State Autobahn Inc., a Westch-ester-NY-based body shop owned byGreg Coccaro, has won an importantvictory in the New York SupremeCourt Appellate Division againstProgressive Northeast InsuranceCompany, Progressive Casualty In-surance Company, Progressive Di-rect Insurance Company, ProgressiveSpecialty Insurance Company, andNicholas Stanton. The result likelycreates a case law basis for deceptiveacts and practices claims against autoinsurance companies that divert pol-icyholders away from repair shopsoutside their DRP networks.

In a fifteen page decision, thecourt went into great lengths explain-ing the history of “Business Law Sec-tion 349, Deceptive Business Practices”and the intent of it, writing: “This casepresents us with the question ofwhether a business entity [North State]has stated a valid cause of action for vi-olation of General Business Law§349(h) where it alleges that anotherbusiness entity [Progressive] deceivedand misled prospective customers,causing it to sustain direct economicloss in the form of more than $5 millionin lost business sales. We conclude that

See Greg Coccaro, Page 48

NACE 2012 in New Orleans

Attendance was down on the show floor butsome booths attracted record business. p. 26.

ALLDATA’s Dan Espersen imparts his 37 plusyears of experience in “OEM Best Practices.”

CARS chair Bill Moss (l) and NACE chair, RonNagy, address the opening session. See p. 24.

Mike Dolabi (l) of National Autobody PartsWarehouse and Terry Fortner of LKQ on theParts Panel discussion.

Dick Cross, keynote speaker at the opening ses-sion, demonstrates the pyramid top of the or-ganization. See story p. 24.

A New Orleans-style National Anthem kickedoff the keynote address. New Orleans appearsto have recovered its pre-Katrina spirit.

AEII’s Tony Passwater presented on designingand implementing a complete repair plan.

The Autobody News staff doing its part tocover the industry.

Autobody News asked former StateFarm Estimatics Team Manager StevePlier about his thoughts on PartsTrader

earlier this month. Plier worked forState Farm for more than 22 years,starting out in 1987 as a property dam-age claim representative handling autoclaims, and in 1993, he moved into asupervisory position where he spent thelast 13 years of his State Farm career asan estimatics team manager. Today,Steve Plier is president of ConsumerAuto Repair Excellence, Inc. (CARE).

ABN: Why did you quit State Farm?Plier: I resigned my position at StateFarm because my responsibilitieswere being defined as ‘manage in a

Former State Farm Claims Rep, Steve Plier,Now Consultant, Talks ‘PartsTrader’

See Steve Plier, 8

Greg Coccaro Wins Significant Appeal fromProgressive Insurance, Changes Case Law

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Amato Agency. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36Audi Wholesale Parts Dealers. . . . 42Audi of Turnersville . . . . . . . . . . . . 37Auto Data Labels. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8Auto Land Hyundai-Suzuki . . . . . . . 4BASF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5BMW Wholesale Parts Dealers . . . 48Central Avenue Chrysler-Jeep-Dodge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Chief Automotive. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13Classifieds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55DCH Family of BMW Stores . . . . . 19Empire Auto Parts . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34Equalizer Industries. . . . . . . . . . . . 32Ford Wholesale Parts Dealers. . . . 45Fred Beans Parts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56Garmat. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20Glanzmann Subaru . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6Hackettstown Honda. . . . . . . . . . . 32Haydell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41Healey Hyundai. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14Honda-Acura Wholesale PartsDealers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28-29

Hyundai Wholesale Parts Dealers. 47Jaguar Wholesale Parts Dealers. . 54Kia Motors Wholesale PartsDealers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Koeppel VW-Mazda. . . . . . . . . . . . 33Lexus Wholesale Parts Dealers. . . 46

Malco. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7Maxon Hyundai . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31Maxon Mazda . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25Mazda Wholesale Parts Dealers . . 43MINI Wholesale Parts Dealers. . . . 50MOPAR Wholesale Parts Dealers . 39Nissan/Infiniti Wholesale PartsDealers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

Nucar Mazda. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35Plaza Auto Mall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15Porsche Wholesale Parts Dealers. 40PPG . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2Pro-Spray Help Wanted . . . . . . . . 18Reliable Automotive Equipment . . 21Safety Regulations . . . . . . . . . . . . 24SATA Spray Equipment . . . . . . . . 17SCA Appraisal Company . . . . . . . 26Scion Wholesale Parts Dealers. . . 53Security Dodge-Chrysler-Jeep . . . 16Solution Finish. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50Subaru Wholesale Parts DealersDE, South NJ, PA . . . . . . . . . 10-11

Subaru Wholesale Parts DealersNorth NJ, NY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

Thompson Organization . . . . . . . . 23Toyota Wholesale Parts Dealers . . 53Volkswagen Wholesale PartsDealers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

Volvo Wholesale Parts Dealers . . . 44

Inde

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REGIONAL‘Tis the Season for Auto Body Techniciansto be Busy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

100 Golfers Attend LIABRA’s 11th Annual Golf Tournament; and Meet on Labor Laws . . . 43

AASP/NJ Tradeshow Lawsuit Dismissed. . . . . 7Allegheny Auto Body Shop Owner isFinally Evicted by Cops. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Allstate Returns to Massachusetts25 Years Later . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Body Shop Manager Hits Deer toBecome His Own Customer . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Body Shop Owner, Nicholas Biondi,Dies Sept. 18 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Body Shop Working on Patching upPopular Rt. 66 Beetle Sign . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Brooklyn Police Bill Mother $710 to RepairDent on Police Cruiser that Killed Son . . . . 14

Car Vs. Deer Crashes Keep New YorkAuto Body Shops Busy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Carsmetics Expert Accident RepairExpands in Keyport . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Connecticut Body Shop Owner and GirlfriendArrested in Murder–for–Hire Plot . . . . . . . 16

Don’t Smile for License Photo . . . . . . . . . . . . 4Gerber Collision Opens in MD . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4Greg Coccaro Wins Significant Appeal fromProgressive Insurance, Changes Case Law. 1

H&V Collision Partners to PromoteWorkplace Safety . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Items Stolen from Noaker’s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4Keenan’s Jingle Contest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4Long Branch Shop Sustains Damagefrom Crash. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

New York Auto Body Owner Faces FelonyCharges over State Police Vehicle Repairs. . 7

NJ Shop Donates Media Center toRescue Squad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

NY and MA Dealers Sue Tesla OverFranchise Laws . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

NY Village Board Debates LiftingRestrictions on Auto Body Use . . . . . . . . . 12

PA Bill Exempts Newer Cars fromEmission Inspection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Queens Auto Shop Goes Green withNew Hybrid Vehicle Certification . . . . . . . . . 9

Queens Body Shop Uncovers 50 Yr-Old Fire . 45Recycling Grants Awarded toPennsylvania Townships. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Sisters Buy 80-Year-Old Family Supreme Auto Shop to Keep it in Business . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Syracuse Body Shop Restores Ride forCo-Founder of Youth Mentoring Program . . 45

COLUMNISTSAttanasio: The Original Social Media, andMost Important, is the Phone Call . . . . . . . 44

Franklin: The New Co-Op Marketing . . . . . . . 36Gesterkamp: E-Coated Parts Procedure . . . . 34Insider: Clean Up Your Own House BeforeYou Gripe About Someone Else’s . . . . . . . 51

Sisk: CCRE’s Fall Seminar Covers Adhesion,Warranties, and Much More . . . . . . . . . . . 38

Sisk: The NitroTech Spray GeneratorControls the Uncontrollable. . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Yoswick: NACE Keynote Speech Focuseson Thinking about Business . . . . . . . . . . . 24

NATIONALAkzoNobel Secures McLaren AutomotiveSupply Agreement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

ALLDATA Shows Off New ComplianceTool at NACE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

American Honda Launches ProFirstShop Recognition Program. . . . . . . . . . . . 47

ATI Expands Curriculum to IncludeCollision Repair . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Automaker, OEM and Recall News . . . . . . . . 30BASF Showcases Newest Additions toVisionPlus Online Tools at NACE. . . . . . . . 52

Collision Repair Industry Loses a Legendand a Friend, David McBroom . . . . . . . . . 20

Copart Says It is Posting BalancedVolume Gains. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

DEG & the Keys to Successful EstimatingPresented in New Orleans. . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

Dykstra Automotive Institute Survey Identifies Broad Industry Concerns in 2013 . . . . . . . 49

Esurance recognizes Three CARSTARshops with awards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

GM Will Hire 3,000 HP Workers toBring Info Tech Work in-house . . . . . . . . . 22

Honda Develops New Welding Technology,UHSS Structure for 2013 Accord . . . . . . . 46

How to be a ‘Courageous Leader’Presented at NACE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

Insurers Talk MSOs, Consolidation,the Cloud, and Tech Trends. . . . . . . . . . . . 37

John Shoemaker Coaches Shopsto ‘Negotiate for Success’ . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

Martin Senour Kicks Off 4Q Training Program . 55Matrix Electronic Measuring, Inc.Awarded Two Patents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

NABC Gifts 6 Vehicles to Needy New Orleans Families at NACE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

NACE 2012 in New Orleans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1NACE Sees Fewer People, But Quality Events. 26Overhaulin’s New Season Starring Chip Foose. 43Steve Trapp Presents ImplementingBest Practices for SOPs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

VW Beetle Convertible to Get PlatformShared with Jetta, Golf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

PartsTrader CoverageAASP/NJ Annual Meeting DiscussedPartsTrader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

ASA’s Caspersen Comments onPartsTrader Meetings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Former State Farm Claims Rep, Steve Plier,Now Consultant, Talks ‘PartsTrader’ . . . . . . 1

George Avery Spoke on PartsTraderto GCIA Sept. 20 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

PartsTrader Reduces MinimumQuote Time to 30 mins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

WMABA Sees Good Turnout atPartsTrader Meetings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

Contents

Publisher & Editor: Jeremy HayhurstGeneral Manager: Barbara DaviesAssistant Editor: Melanie AndersonContributing Writers: Tom Franklin, David Brown,John Yoswick, Rich Evans, Janet Chaney, Toby Chess,Ed Attanasio, Chasidy SiskAdvertising Sales: Joe Momber, Sean Hartman,Jay Lukes (800) 699-8251Sales Assistant: Kristy NavarroArt Director: Rodolfo GarciaServing New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware

and adjacent metro areas, Autobody News is a monthlypublication for the autobody industry. Permission to re-produce in any form the material published in AutobodyNews must be obtained in writing from the publisher.©2012 Adamantine Media LLC.

Autobody NewsP.O. Box 1516, Carlsbad, CA 92018(800) 699-8251 (760) 721-0253 Faxwww.autobodynews.comEmail: [email protected] N

ortheast

www.autobodynews.com | NOVEMBER 2012 AUTOBODY NEWS 3

ASA’s Caspersen Comments on PartsTrader MeetingsReductions in parts profits was thebiggest concern voiced by more than125 collision repairers who attendedtwo Automotive Service Association-sponsored meetings recently in Ohiocentered around State Farm’s elec-tronic parts ordering pilot.

The meetings were open to every-one in the collision repair industry atno charge. The first meeting was heldin the Cleveland area Sept. 18; the sec-ond in the Cincinnati area Sept. 19.

Denise Caspersen, manager ofASA’s collision division, presented theelements of the pilot to date, reviewedindustry concerns, and collected anyadditional questions, concerns andsuggestions from attendees.

Repairers are concerned over thepilot’s inclusion of a discounted manu-facturer’s suggested retail selling price(MSRP) column. Suppliers have the op-tion to provide a discounted MSRPalong with the margins of the part andthe quote price. If a supplier elects toprovide a discounted MSRP along witha quote for a part, it could result in lowerprofit margins on parts for the collisionrepair shop if that part is selected. StateFarm stated in July that it does not askfor discounts on parts but if a supplierprovides a discounted MSRP, this datais available to State Farm.

Repairers are responsible for rec-ommending suppliers and determin-ing their default OEM and preferredOEM suppliers. Once a Select Serv-ice shop requests a quote on an esti-mate, the quoting request is sent to allsuppliers whose application “prefer-ences” match the content of the esti-mate. Suppliers, just like repairers, areable to set preferences. Suppliers arealso responsible for setting their mar-ket area, parts type, and rates of de-livery. Meeting attendees questionedwhy State Farm is doing this, whathappens to repairers’ parts profits ifthis goes into effect, where is the effi-ciency, what State Farm sees as the fu-ture for collision claims and the sizeof their Select Service network—andthe reigning question overall—whereis the benefit to the collision repairersparticipating in the pilot?

“We continue to present to StateFarm the concerns of ASA members.If State Farm cannot provide datashowing how this application benefitscollision repairers (operationally/fi-nancially), ASA will respond appro-priately on behalf of repairers,” saidCaspersen. “ASA has provided StateFarm with a timeline for data and willbe meeting with State Farm to assessfuture actions.”


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Folks in New Jersey are being toldnot to smile for their driver’s licensephotos. The state has banned mo-torists from making big smiles be-cause such expressions don’t workwith facial recognition software. Thepolicy has gone mostly unnoticedsince taking effect in January. VelvetMcNeil from Sicklerville was so madabout being told not to smile that shestormed out of the Cherry Hill MotorVehicle Commission office. Afterlearning the reason for the policy, the38-year-old says she’ll go back andpose with a slight smile.

Don’t Smile for License Photo

Keenan President and COO MichaelLeVasseur recently announced thatBrent Morgan won the Keenan AutoBody jingle contest. His slogan of“We Gotchya!” began airing as afully produced TV commercial onseveral Philadelphia-based networksin October. The jingle contest was amarketing initiative to bring the bodyshop’s Facebook community ofnearly 2,400 users together. The num-ber of Facebook ‘likes’ increased tomore than 3,200. Morgan’s jingle wasselected by four Keenan corporateemployees from 26 entries.

Keenan’s Jingle Contest

The Boyd Group Inc. recently an-nounced the opening of a new colli-sion repair center in Germantown,MD. The new repair center is ap-proximately 17,000 square feet andwill operate under the Gerber Colli-sion & Glass trade name. The BoydGroup now owns and operates eightlocations in Maryland, which bringsthe total number of U.S. locations to153. The company’s head offices arebased in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Thiscenter will serve the northwest Wash-ington D.C. customers and insurancepartners.

Gerber Collision Opens in MD

The Alliance of Automotive ServiceProviders in New Jersey held its annualmeeting Oct. 11 and it included a dis-cussion on insurance-mandated partsprocurement programs, such as theState Farm/PartsTrader pilot program.

According to the association,the parts procurement discussion is“the biggest issue to impact the colli-sion industry in recent years. Theyhave the potential of negatively im-pacting both your profits and the wayyou do business.”

The meeting was consideredcritically important to its members to“better understand how these pro-grams are being implemented, whatfeedback is stemming from the mar-kets facing it firsthand, and how itmight affect you if it is allowed toenter the New Jersey market.”

Collision shops and parts ven-dors were encouraged to attend.

Guest speaker was SCRS Exec-utive Director, Aaron Schulenburg,who presented the most current in-formation available and answeredquestions.

AASP/NJ Annual MeetingDiscussed PartsTrader

Dealers in Massachusetts and NewYork are suing to shut down TeslaMotors stores they say run afoul offranchise laws and consumer protec-tion measures in their states.

The Massachusetts State Auto-mobile Dealers Association andsome of its dealers filed a complaintTuesday in Norfolk County SuperiorCourt seeking to shut down Tesla’sstore in the Natick Mall in suburbanBoston. A request for a temporary re-straining order was rejected, but ahearing on whether to issue a prelim-inary injunction is scheduled for Oct.25.

In New York, the Greater NewYork Automobile Dealers Associa-tion and one of its dealer memberssued Tesla and the state Departmentof Motor Vehicles on Tuesday in theNew York State Supreme Court.

Tesla spokeswoman ShannaHendriks said today that Tesla isaware of the Massachusetts actionand continues to comply with munic-ipal and state laws. She said she wasnot aware of the New York lawsuit.

The California electric-vehiclemaker, which models its retail ap-proach on the Apple store experi-ence, operates 18 U.S. retaillocations in 11 states and DC. Com-pany officials have said they areworking within the limits of state andlocal laws at all locations.

NY and MA Dealers SueTesla Over Franchise Laws

Two rolls of copper tubing, 30 alu-minum awning tubes, six aluminumvehicle rims, 10 radiators and a five-gallon bucket of miscellaneous scrapbrass was stolen from Noaker’s AutoBody in Wheatfield Township, PA,sometime between 12:30 and 3:10a.m. on Oct. 8.

The suspects were driving a redextended-cab pick-up.

Anyone with information isasked to contact State Police at New-port (567-3110).

Items Stolen from Noaker’s

An auto body shop in Long Branch,NJ, sustained structural damage froma motor vehicle crash Sept. 23. The collision occurred at 9:21 a.m.,said Long Branch police Sgt. JorgeSilverio. The unidentified driver wasnot seriously injured and no criminalcharges will be filed, Silverio said.

As police investigated the crash,Neptune OEM and Asbury Park’s Spe-cial operations crew assessed thestructural damaged and worked totemporarily reinforce a damaged sup-port beam inside Auto Body Solutions.

Auto Body Solutions’ employeeBrian Leal, 25, said no one was in-side the building at the time of thecollision.

“After the crash the driver wasoutside of the car walking around,”Leal said. “He seemed shaken up, butit looked like he was fine.”

Leal said the car crashed into agarage bay door and caused damageto not only a support beam but the twovehicles parked inside the building.

“We just finished painting theone on the lift,” Leal said. “We won’tbe able to open until the damage isrepaired.”

Long Branch Shop SustainsDamage from Crash

SEMA-supported legislation to pro-vide a 10-year emissions inspectionexemption for vehicles never beforeregistered in Pennsylvania or anyother jurisdiction was approved bythe Senate.

The bill now moves to theHouse Transportation Committee.Current law only exempts new vehi-cles that have less than 5,000 mileson their odometer for one year aftertheir first registration. The bill ac-knowledges that it is senseless to testnewer vehicles, the results of whichdemonstrate no significant air-qual-ity benefits.

The idea behind exempting anyclass of vehicles is to reduce costswhile not losing appreciable emis-sions reductions. This strategy buildssupport for emissions-inspection pro-grams, but also directs finite re-sources to where they will be mostvaluable in cleaning the air. Themeasure still requires that the newest10 model-year vehicles be subject tovisual anti-tampering inspections forthe presence of emissions-controlcomponents installed on the vehicleby manufacturers.

For details, visit the SEMA Ac-tion Network (SAN) website. Formore information, contact Steve Mc-Donald at [email protected]

PA Bill Exempts Newer Carsfrom Emission Inspection

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Body Shop Owner, Nicholas Biondi, Dies Sept. 18Nicholas A. Biondi, 83, formerly ofGoshen, NY, died Sept. 18, 2012, sur-rounded by his family.

He was born June 14, 1929, inQueens to parents Michael and Eliza-beth (Dolce) Biondi. He moved toGoshen, where he lived most of hislife before moving to Claryville inSullivan County and finally FloweryBranch, GA.

He owned and operated Nick’sAuto Body Shop in Middletown for 25years, retiring in 1985. Following re-tirement, he worked for Lothar’sBody Shop in Middletown, NY.

He honorably served in the Ma-rine Corps 1948-1952 and served inthe Korean War. He was a member ofthe Knights of Columbus, St. John’sCouncil No. 1106, in Goshen, servingas financial secretary for 33 years.

An avid outdoorsman, he mostenjoyed his Claryville home in themountains and hunting with familyand friends, especially his best friendTed Mudrick, whom he met in theMarine Corps.

Survivors include his wife of 57years, Martha (Grippe); five sons,David and his wife, Lucia, of Prince-ton, NJ, Richard and his wife, Joyce,of Denville, NJ, Nicholas and his wife,Laurie, of Cortland, Robert of Flow-

ery Branch, GA, and Anthony and hiswife, Janice, of Surprise, AZ; a daugh-ter, Christine and her husband, PeterWanczyk, of Florida, NY; a sister, SaraPost of Melbourne Beach, FL; abrother, Michael Biondi of Middle-town; a sister-in-law, Carmel Biondiof Middletown; 11 grandchildren, Vic-toria, Richard, John, Jason, Nicholas,Lucas, Nicole, Noel, Allison, Kathleenand Gianna; three great-grandchildren,Kierstyn, Rieley and Hazel; and manynieces, nephews and cousins.

He was preceded in death by hisparents, Michael and Elizabeth (Dolce)Biondi; an infant son, Nicholas Jr.; anda brother, Albert Biondi.

A Mass of Christian burial wascelebrated Sept. 22 at St. John theEvangelist Roman Catholic Church,71 Murray Ave., in Goshen. Intermentwas at St. John’s Cemetery in Goshen.

In lieu of flowers, donations inNick’s memory can be made to theAmerican Heart Association andAmerican Cancer Society.

With the changing of colors comedeer rutting season and that meanswork gets busier for auto body shopsin Pennsylvania.

“In the fall is when animal colli-sions really, really pick up pace,” saidFrank Feldmann of Auto Body Tech-nicians, who has been an owner for 22years along Business Route 209 inSmithfield Township.

The early darkness is also a bigfactor, as well as wintry, slick roadconditions.

“We’re probably recession proof.It’s like going to a doctor,” RandyJanosko told the Pocono Record Busi-ness. Janosko has worked in collisionrepair for 36 years and was foreman atABT for 10 years until he bought intoa share of the partnership in 2000.

Auto Body Technicians expandedwhen it moved from a building itrented down the street with five em-ployees to one that was built in 1995.The shop doubled its space in 2000 to15,000 square feet and remodeled itsfront office area in April. Its work-force increased to 16 to 18 full-timeworkers who service an average of 25to 30 cars a week. Even when workslows for a time, there are no layoffs,said Feldmann.

Half of its business is return cus-tomers.

The business in the past decade“has changed dramatically,” saidFeldmann, with computerized diag-nostics introduced less than six yearsago, pinpointing problems quickerand cutting the service time in half. Asa direct repair shop, it makes for aquicker turnaround for insuranceclaims to be processed.

Nowdays, technicians need morediverse computer skills and commandof software.

“It’s a pretty broad database,”Feldmann said. “Software tells youmodules for safety restraints, foranti-lock braking systems. We haveresources in-house to keep the jobmoving.”

“In the past, we’d have to flatbedthe car to a dealership in Lehigh Val-ley or New Jersey to diagnose a prob-lem,” said Janosko, although majormechanical work still gets subletted.

“There is a trend now for water-based paints. We haven’t switchedover to that but we’re considering it.We’re talking to manufacturers,” Feld-mann said.

‘Tis the Season for Auto Body Technicians to beBusy; PA Owner Says They’re ‘Recession Proof’

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AASP/NJ Tradeshow Lawsuit DismissedA lawsuit against the Alliance of Au-tomotive Service Providers of NewJersey (AASP/NJ) was recently dis-missed by a U.S. District Judge.

U.S. District Judge KennethKaras dismissed several complaintsmade by Rockland Exposition Inc.in a lawsuit filed against ThomasGreco Publishing, AASP/NJ and theorganization’s board members TomElder, Thomas Greco and GlennVillacari.

AASP/NJ said REI filed a law-suit in 2008 after the associationchose not to renew its managementcontract with REI, and instead movethe AASP/NJ NORTHEAST tradeshow back to New Jersey.

REI’s lawsuit claimed thatAASP/NJ and the other cited defen-dants infringed on its rights of the“NORTHEAST” trademark. In addi-tion, REI’s lawsuit made claims offalse and deceptive advertising, tradelibel and disparagement, tortious in-terference with prospective businessadvantage, and tortious interferencewith contract.

AASP/NJ said REI was seekinginjunctive relief and damages fortrademark infringement, dilution andunfair competition under New Yorklaw. After four years of litigation,

AASP/NJ said Judge Karas dismissedeach of REI’s claims with an 87-pageopinion.

“We are extremely happy thatthis is over. It has been a long, painfulexperience that has taken its toll onmany of the dedicated volunteers whoserve our association, and we areproud that we took a stand to makesure justice was served,” said JeffMcDowell, president of AASP/NJ.

“There are many people tothank, especially board membersBrian Vesley and Joe Amato. Brianhas spent countless hours of his owntime making sure that AASP/NJ’s in-terests were being looked after fromday one. Joe went way beyond thecall of duty to make sure we wereprotected from an insurance stand-point. I don’t know where we’d bewithout those two individuals. Our as-sociation and our industry are in-debted to them.”

Allstate Returns to Massachusetts 25 Years LaterFor the first time in a generation, con-sumers can visit an Allstate agent inthe Boston area.

The insurer left the Massachu-setts auto insurance marketplace in1987—fed up with the state’s govern-ment-mandated ratemaking system.

Allstate wasn’t the only insurerto leave. Less than 20 companieswrote auto insurance in Massachusettsbefore it switched to a “managedcompetition” system to allow compa-nies to set their own rates.

After years of “evaluating the at-mosphere” of the new ratemakingscheme, Allstate has allowed a newagency in the Boston suburb of NorthAndover to open—and a handful of oth-ers are planned in the near future, saysAllstate spokesman Chris Conner.

“Allstate monitored the progressin the market and kept a close eye onregulation,” he says. “We feel it’s theright time for a brick-and-mortar pres-ence in Massachusetts.”

Conner says Allstate will look torecruit agency owners in the state, andsays the company is willing to con-sider candidates from outside the in-surance world. The insurer will seekentrepreneurs with management ex-perience from various branches of thebusiness world, Conner explains.

The insurer actually reenteredthe market in 2009, using agents inthe neighboring states of Connecticut,Rhode Island and New Hampshire aswell as direct sales.

Since then, Allstate has accumu-lated about 1.4% of the market. TheMapfre North America Group led allprivate passenger auto insurers with a28.4% market share in 2011, accord-ing to A.M. Best Co.

There is no exact goal for increas-ing market share in the state, Connersays, but an “aggressive ramp-up” inthe state is planned for 2013, he adds.

“It takes a while to get the brandreintroduced,” says Conner. “Our ini-tial efforts have been well-received.We think we can grow significantly.”

Allstate joins a number of insur-ers who have found the Massachusettsauto-insurance market much more ap-pealing with managed competition.Geico and Progressive have rejoinedthe fray as well.

New York Auto Body Owner Faces FelonyCharges over State Police Vehicle RepairsAn auto body and repair serviceowner in Bedford, NY, faces severalcriminal chargesconnected to thealleged fraudu-lent repair ofstate police vehi-cles. Police sayBrian Prato, 55,of Bedford, waspart of an insur-ance fraud inwhich state policecars were repairedwith used parts butcharged for newones.

Prato was arrested on Oct. 4. Theowner of B&B Auto Body wascharged with five felonies and twomisdemeanors. He faces grand lar-ceny and insurance fraud chargesbrought by state and county investi-gators who allege they uncovered ascheme to defraud the state and the in-surance company that covered statepolice vehicles. Police said an inves-tigation showed Prato charged fornew parts but installed used parts, in-cluding some from old cruisers nolonger used.

According to state police,

“The investigation found that in-surance companies were payingfor new parts to be used in the re-pairs of the vehicles as written inestimates submitted by the autobody shops. Inspection of the ve-hicles showed that new parts werenot installed as written in paper-work submitted to insurance com-panies; instead used parts wereused for some of the repairs onthree New York State Police vehi-cles. In some instances, parts weretaken off retired New York StatePolice vehicles and were used forrepairs.”

In addition to the fraud, policesaid the installation of old parts on thevehicles could have put the lives oftroopers in jeopardy. Prosecutorscharged Prato with third- and fourth-degree insurance fraud, fourth-degreegrand larceny, attempted third-degreegrand larceny, first-degree scheme todefraud, all felonies; and fifth-degreeinsurance fraud and attempted pettylarceny, misdemeanors.

Prato was arraigned before Bed-ford Town Justice Erik P. Jacobsen,who set bail at $10,000. Prato postedbail and was ordered to return to courtOct. 25.

Brian Prato ofBedford chargedwith grand larcenyand insurance fraudby NY State Police

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Great Bear Auto Body and Auto Re-pair Shop owner Audra Fordin re-cently won a $55,000 grant to train herstaff on hybrid vehicle certification.The shop achieved the first hybridauto repair certification grant offeredin New York City.

The Flushing, NY, shop ownersecured a $55,419 grant from the cityDepartment of Small Business Serv-ices to train her staff in alternative en-ergy vehicles.

Fordin, a fourth-generation me-chanic, had spent her life honing herunder-the-hood skills, but realized shewas ill-equipped for the influx of high-tech, fuel efficient cars that were gain-ing traction. She froze the first time ahybrid vehicle pulled into her repairshop three years ago.

“I couldn’t believe that I wasafraid,” recalled Fordin, 41. “I had tosend him away.”

Since then, Fordin has beendriven to tune up the shop that hasbeen family owned since 1933 andmake it the last time she turned a cus-tomer away. “My ancestors wereworking on the Model T,” she said.“Five generations is my goal.”

In August, Great Bear completedthe alternative energy program and re-ceived the city’s first Alternative FuelVehicle certification.

“The automotive industry must re-vamp. It’s antiquated,” Fordin told theDaily News. “This is where it’s going.”

Even with the sizeable grant,Fordin forked over more than $31,000to cover the remaining cost of thetraining program.

Fordin said she hopes the invest-ment will lead to contracts to work ongovernment-owned hybrid vehiclesand attract cars with expiring war-ranties.

The days of the oil-covered tech-nician repairing carburetors and cool-ing systems have given way toregenerative breaking and other tech-nologies.

“The old thinking is that a me-chanic is covered in grease and dirty.

It’s not like that anymore,” Fordinsaid. “We need to be computer ex-perts. We need to be IT technicians.”

Officials with the SBS, whichawarded the NYC Business SolutionsCustomized Training grant, praisedthe Flushing shop for its pioneering at-titude.

“Great Bear Auto has been suc-cessful because of Audra Fordin’s cre-ativity and drive, and now she cancontinue to grow by investing in herworkforce and training staff on hy-brid/electric vehicles, reaching newand expanding markets,” said agencyspokeswoman Merideth Weber.

The Go-Green’s State Universityprogram took over one year to developand was initially structured as astrictly online program for alternativefuel vehicles (AFV). However, Fordinrequested that Go-Green Auto Centersredevelop the program to a classroomsetting to bring the 13-module courseinto eight weeks. Both Go-Green andthe city accepted the redevelopment ofthe curriculum and all eight techni-cians, including Fordin, received theirState University certification.

Go-Green Auto Centers devel-oped the training program with theState University system to offer autocenters across the country certificationin hybrid and electric training.

Queens Auto Shop Goes Green with New Hybrid Vehicle Certification

Audra Fordin and staff at Great Bear AutoBody and Auto Repair Shop achieved thefirst hybrid auto repair certification in NYC

More than $70,000 in Recycling Per-formance Grants were recentlyawarded to three municipalities inCumberland County, PA, according toa release from Sen. Pat Vance, R-31.

The grants are based on totaltons recycled and the municipality’spopulation for calendar year 2010.Those receiving grants were:• East Pennsboro Township: $39,430for 2,929 tons recycled.• Lower Allen Township: $29,081 for2,751 tons recycled.• Mt. Holly Springs Borough: $3,980for 290 tons recycled.

“Interest in recycling by Cum-berland County residents remainshigh,” Vance said. “Those who arehighly committed can greatly reducethe trash they produce that ends up inlandfills. These grants provide anextra incentive to continue separatingtrash from recyclable materials.”

The grant helps Pennsylvaniacommunities increase their recyclingrates and meet the statewide goal ofrecycling 35% of all municipalwaste, according to Vance. It is in ad-dition to funds that the Departmentof Environmental Protection allo-cates to municipalities to establishand maintain recycling programs.

Recycling Grants Awardedto Pennsylvania Townships


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An auto body shop owner in MineolaVillage in New York has hit a speedbump with plans to expand his busi-ness, Gullwing Motors.

In mid September, the Mineola Vil-lage Board delayed making a decisionon an application for a new auto bodyshop at 380 Sagamore Ave. to review a2006 village law that specifically pro-hibits a body shop at the location.

Louis Palumbo, owner of Gull-wing Motors at 100 Windsor Ave., inMay purchased the large buildingwhich was previously the site of anautobody repair shop, in order to splitthe work his shop does into two sepa-rate divisions: restorations and repairs.

Palumbo had been leasing theproperty, but he said he now intendsto use the site for specialized restora-tion work on antique and classic cars.

“My intention is to separate therestoration portion of the repairs onthe cars across the street so that wecan keep them separate,” Palumbosaid during a special use hearing of thevillage board on September 12 at thevillage hall, “because there’s a lot ofdust. We want to keep Gullwing withthe auto repairs as far as we can... andthe restoration portion of the businesswould be done across the street.”

Palumbo said that his business isexpanding, particularly in terms ofclassic cars, adding that he can alsoconduct body repairs should his cus-tomers desire, but that he is not ac-tively targeting that market.

“I have enough business with therestoration,” Palumbo said. “I’m verybusy with that. It’s the same thingwe’ve been doing for the last 35 years,the only thing is we’re getting morerestoration work so I want to just sep-arate the two so we can move it alonga little quicker. Things can be morelike an assembly line instead of get-ting things in each other’s way.”

Additional workers would be hiredto operate the new facility. There arecurrently no lifts or springs in the build-ing now, but Palumbo intends to add aspray booth in the new facility, whichhe reportedly does not have in his cur-rent location. Such a booth would ne-cessitate the application for a fan andrespective permits for other equipmentin use for a spraypainting facility.

Palumbo asked the board to re-move a restrictive covenant placed onthe site six years ago after the priorowner sold the property. The MineolaVillage Board restricted another auto-

motive repair business from operatingout of the location.

In May, 2006, the board imposedthe restriction against permitting an-other body shop at 380 Sagamore Ave.after giving approval to its previousowner, John Alden, to move BarronBody Works to a larger building atnearby 381 Sagamore Ave. The restric-tion was that the former location wouldno longer be used as an auto body shopin perpetuity in exchange for a newspecial use permit at their new location.

Attorney Marco Silva, represent-ing Palumbo, said the restriction hadits intended effect at the time but hedoubted the board intended it as along-term restriction.

Though village trustees LawrenceWerther and Paul Cusato were bothon the board at the time of the restric-tion, neither could recall why the deci-sion was made.

The property at 380 SagamoreAve. has been transferred twice, in-cluding its most recent use as a BinaOffice Furniture storage warehouseand is now being used as storage for12 cars, according to Silva. He addedthat while no violations have occurred,there was confirmation of the issuanceof a notice of violation for parking carson the premises for storage.

Silva stated that Palumbo wasaware of the restriction before theproperty was purchased by him, butwent ahead with the purchase anyway.

Harry Kutner, representingRobert Alden, the owner of BarronAuto Body, who sold the property in2006, stated that Palumbo “bought thiseyes open. He knew coming into thispiece of property that this particularuse in inappropriate. The village im-posed this restriction for a set of rea-sons in 2006, they haven’t changedone iota: they wanted to limit the num-ber of auto body shops in that area.”

When Mineola Deputy MayorPaul Pereira asked Palumbo why hebought the property knowing of therestriction, Palumbo said, “It’s an in-dustrial zone. I thought there would beno problem in getting a variance.”

Silva admitted that his client tooka chance on the purchase, “but it’s acalculated chance. Clearly the boardthat puts the restrictive covenant on ithas the power to undo it. I understandwhat they were trying to do at the timeand I think they probably went a littletoo far because this is potentially per-manent and that can’t possibly be the

intent because as I said, it sort of cre-ates a situation where you are makingcompetition impossible and that couldnot have been the purpose.”

Kutner said he negotiated the re-strictive covenant with deputy villageattorney Benjamin Truncale in 2006and said circumstances in the areawere unchanged.

Truncale said the restrictivecovenant was passed as condition ofapproving Barron’s move to its pres-ent location.

“He knew this particular use wasinappropriate,” Kutner said of Palumbo.“[The board] wanted to limit the num-ber of body shops in that area.”

Kutner negotiated the restrictionswith the village in 2006 since Aldenwanted to move to a larger facility. Thenegotiations ended in an agreementsaying that in exchange for movingacross the street, Alden could no longeruse the property at 381 Sagamore Ave.as an auto body shop. He added that“nothing” has changed since 2006 andthat Alden sold the property for about60% of its estimated $1 million valueto Bina instead of accepting offers fromother auto body shops.

Alden said he could have sold theproperty for more than the $600,000he got from a furniture company thathad since vacated the location if thebuilding could have housed an autobody business.

“My problem is not with Mr.Palumbo to restrict his business. Myproblem is to me I have a loss,” Aldensaid.

In response, Pereira said that, “Iwould think that future boards have theright to govern as they see fit at that timeand what they believe is in the best in-terest of the village. I’m sorry Mr. Aldenif you sold it for 60% less, but thatfrankly, is not our issue. If there wereperspective buyers who wanted to put inan auto body shop, perhaps they shouldhave asked that board at that time,maybe the answer would have been dif-ferent. I take exception to the fact that‘nothing has changed since 2006.’”

It was stated that there is spray-painting currently going on at the site,but Alden could not produce any hardevidence confirming the behavior.Building superintendent Dan Whalenstated that he did not observe any

NY Village Board Debates Lifting Restrictions on Auto Body Use


See NY Village Board, Page 14

He’s known for a long time that thisday was coming, but Pittsburgh Policeand Allegheny County Sheriff’sdeputies finally had to evict WilliamLeiberth, Sr., the last holdout on theRoute 28 expansion.

As the last business owner standingalong the Route 28work zone, Leib-erth, 56, was told bydeputies on Oct. 1that his auto bodybusiness is closedand that he mustleave the propertythat for almost four

decades has been home to his family’sshop, Allegheny Auto Body.

A court order was issued on Sept.10, that said should the plaintiff fail tovacate the premises the sheriff is di-rected to evict or remove the plaintiff.

PennDOT, in the midst of a proj-ect to expand Route 28, first contactedLieberth in 2007 about acquiring his7,000-square-foot Allegheny AutoBody shop and 7,000-square-foot ad-jacent parking lots on East Ohio Street,land that the agency said is necessaryto complete the road project.

But even as PennDOT reached re-location agreements with 15 other res-idences and 24 business along Route28, Lieberth refused to go. In Novem-ber 2011, PennDOT took ownershipof the property by eminent domainand sent Lieberth $120,000.

A dispute about the value of theproperty went to the Board of View-ers, a board within the Court of Com-mon Pleas that handles appeals ofproperty assessments, in April. Theboard determined the value to be$215,000.

Both Lieberth and PennDOT ap-pealed, but in July, PennDOT sentLieberth a letter stating he must vacatethe building by Aug. 6 so road workcan proceed.

An attorney for Lieberth reacheda settlement with PennDOT in August,agreeing to a total payment of$245,000 and a delay in vacating theproperty until Oct. 1.

However, Lieberth maintains henever agreed to the settlement.

Three weeks ago, an AlleghenyCounty judge ordered him to acceptthe settlement, pay his former attorneyhis fee of more than $30,000 and va-

cate his Route 28 auto repair businessby or on Oct. 1.

Lieberth said sheriff’s deputiestook his keys and gave him a checkfrom PennDOT for $97,237.94.Lieberth maintains he is owed $80,000to $100,000 more, but a spokesman forthe agency said there is no moremoney owed to Lieberth, unless he in-curs relocation expenses.

On the morning of his eviction,officers watched Lieberth, his wife,and their two sons moved papers,tools and items from the shop. A po-lice dog searched the area, and twoPennDOT employees later entered thebuilding.

A tow truck arrived to take awaythe last car to get auto body work at Al-

legheny Auto Body – a 1990 GMCJimmy truck with a broken transmissionowned by Lieberth. His 35-year-old son,Bill Lieberth Jr., had completed thetruck’s red and white paint job.

Lieberth, Sr. thought he had untilthe end of the business day to vacate.

“I got your check, give me yourkeys, we own the building and you’regoing to be out of here in a coupleminutes. They did give us half anhour. They did let me get my truck,”Lieberth said.

Bill Lieberth Jr. used to think thathis sons, now ages 6 and 3, wouldwork with him eventually at the sameshop where he worked with his dadfor 18 years.

“I don’t even know what I’ll bedoing tomorrow,” he said.

Lieberth, Sr. is currently lookingfor another property in order to dobusiness.

Allegheny Auto Body Shop Owner is Finally Evicted by Cops


After a long fight, William Leiberth, Sr. isevicted from his location along the Rt. 28

William Lieberth




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HyundaiBrooklyn Police Bill Mother $710 to RepairDent on Police Cruiser that Killed SonThe family of a dead man, killed by apolice cruiser, have responded withfury to a bill sent to them for $710 tocover the damage his body did to thecar, according to the Daily Mail Re-porter.

Tamon Robinson was fatally hitin April during a police chase inBrooklyn.

He had been caught digging uppaving stones outside his BayviewHouses home in Canarsie and wasfleeing on foot when the car smashedinto him, causing blunt impact headinjuries.

The 23-year-old slipped into acoma upon the moment of impactfrom which he never awoke and hedied six days later.

According to news reports, alarge dent in the side of the patrol carthat hit Robinson prompted a demandto his family.

The letter from the New YorkPolice Department asked the familyto pay $710 for “property damage toa vehicle owned by the New York Po-lice Department.” Failure to do sowithin 10 days, it continued, wouldresult in a lawsuit.

“We’re still grieving, and this is

like a slap in the face,” Robinson’smother, Laverne Dobbinson, 45,told the New York Daily News.

“They want my son to pay fordamage to the vehicle that killed him.It’s crazy.”

Incensed by the police force’sactions, Dobbinson sought legal ad-vice of her own and intends to sue thecity. Sanford Rubenstein, herlawyer, called the bill a ‘disgrace’ inhis filing, warning the NYPD not todo any repairs to the damaged car.

Dobbinson has further com-plaints about the way in which herson was treated by officers in thehours after he was struck by them.Lying brain–dead in bed, Robinsonwas shackled to his bed under policeguard, his mother only allowed tovisit him for 20 minutes.

The city medical examiner ruledRobinson’s death an accident but theincident remains under investigationby the Brooklyn District Attorney, aswell as the NYPD’s Internal AffairsBureau, over witness allegations thatRobinson was deliberately run over.

New York City officials havesince apologized for sending the col-lection letter.

spraypainting on the premises at thetime of his inspection. Silva said thatthe new spraybooths are “a very dif-ferent thing” than the stereotype, asnew ones are filtered and completelysealed and are cleaner, not allowingparticulates to leak out of the facility.

Mineola Mayor Scott Straussasked Alden if he had evidence to sup-port his claim that painting had beentaking place. Alden said he didn’thave any proof.

Daniel Whalen, superintendent ofthe village Buildings Department, saidhis department was made aware of carsbeing stored in violation of the restric-tion and issued a notice of violation toPalumbo. Whalen said he didn’t seepainting taking place on the site.

Attorney Harry Kutner, repre-senting Alden, said his client had seenbody painting at the 380 SagamoreAve. location.

Kutner said the body painting wasa violation of state environmental law.He said Palumbo had been cited bythe village for a violation.

Village attorney Ben Truncale re-quested a continuance of the hearing to

review the legal notes and research therationale behind the issuance of the ini-tial restriction and the decisions madeon the property before a vote is held.

Pereira took issue with Kutner’scontention that circumstances had notchanged since 2006.

“There have been changes since2006, namely that three members ofthe board were not sitting there,”Pereira said, adding that he hadn’tbeen in on the 2006 decision.

“Future boards have rights togovern as they see fit,” he added.

Strauss supported Pereira, saying,“We can change this whenever wewant.”

Sandra Correia, who resides onnearby Pennsylvania Avenue, saidarea residents are already concernedabout noxious odors from the auto re-pair shops on Sagamore.

“We just want to make sure it’sproperly operated. We do have issueswith smells at the moment. We justwant it to be safe. That’s our mainconcern,” she said.

Strauss suggested the board re-view the 2006 board decision beforemaking a determination on Palumbo’sapplication and the board unani-mously voted to do that.

Continued from Page 12

NY Village BoardAutomotive Training Institute (ATI)has announced plans to expand itstraining curriculum and coachingsystem into the collision repair in-dustry.

“For nearly 30 years, ATI hasbeen helping thousands of automo-tive repair shop owners increase theirprofits, reduce stress and grow theirbusinesses into the companies oftheir dreams,” said Chris “Chubby”Frederick. “We recognize that colli-

sion repair busi-ness owners canbenefit from ourexperience andexpertise in busi-ness training,coaching andconsulting serv-ices to improvetheir businessesin this highly

competitive market. We are ex-tremely pleased to have TomMcGee, director of ATI Collision,join the ATI team to lead the devel-opment and introduction of the ATICollision program.”

McGee brings more than 30years of experience in the collisionindustry to the ATI team.

ATI Expands Curriculum toInclude Collision Repair

AkzoNobel has signed an agreement tosupply advanced paint technology toMcLaren Automotive, building on thesuccess of the existing corporate part-nership with the Vodafone McLarenMercedes (VMM) Formula 1 team.Through its Sikkens automotive brand,AkzoNobel has been the official sup-plier of paint solutions to VMM since2008. The new agreement now extendsthis relationship to include road carsand will see the company offer tech-nology-led paint solutions for the MP4-12C and MP4-12C Spider, as well asthe P1 when it enters production.

“We’re proud to have been se-lected to supply paint for McLaren’sroad cars,” said Keith Nichols, Ak-zoNobel’s CFO. “The extension ofour technology partnership to includeroad cars confirms that our color ex-cellence and advanced coatings meetthe most stringent customer require-ments. Whether we are perfecting aparticular finish or meeting the needfor fewer layers of paint, offering acompetitive advantage and buildingstrong relationships such as this arevital for our business. We thereforelook forward to an ongoing and mu-tually beneficial cooperation withMcLaren.”

AkzoNobel Secures McLarenAutomotive Supply Agreement

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Connecticut Body Shop Owner and Girlfriend Arrested in Murder–for–Hire Plot

H&V Collision Centers of New York,the largest independently owned col-lision repair company in the capitalregion, partnered with state, federaland local departments to ensureworkplace and fire safety on Oct. 24.

The fire training was conductedby the state Department of Labor,along with the federal OccupationalHealth and Safety Administration.

The training took place at theH&V Collision Centers location onOakwood Avenue.

“H&V Collision Centers placesa great emphasis and value on safety,”said H&V’s Vartan Jerian Jr. “Thistraining will help ensure H&V has thesafest possible locations for our cus-tomers and employees. We appreciatethe help from our partners in state andfederal government, along with ourlocal fire department, in helpingH&V meet our very strict standardsof safety.”

The training by the state Depart-ment of Labor is part of a voluntarystate program that offers assistance tocompanies in improving safety andcompliance.

Additionally, H&V has improvedsafety and environmental compliance byswitching to greener, less toxic paints.

H&V Collision Partners toPromote Workplace SafetyAn auto body shop owner and his girl-

friend were arrested in connectionwith a murder–for–hire plot in Mil-ford, CT.

Gregory A. Christofakis, 50,and his girlfriend, Ziba Guy, 44, werearrested Oct. 4. The couple planned tosolicit the assault and murder of twopeople, police spokesman Officer Jef-frey Nielsen said in a news release.

New reports said the intended tar-gets of the murder–for–hire wereChristofakis’s estranged wife andGuy’s ex–husband.

Christofakis, owner of Greg’s Au-tobody & Sales in Milford, is beingcharged with criminal attempt to com-mit murder and conspiracy to commitfirst-degree assault. Guy was chargedwith conspiracy to commit first-de-gree assault. Christofakis was held inlieu of $1 million bond, and Guy washeld in lieu of $500,000 bond. Theyare both due back in court Oct. 23.

Christofakis and Guy, both for-mer Milford residents, now live in Or-ange. Christofakis previously ownedTrumbull Auto Body in Bridgeport be-fore moving his business to Milfordsix years ago.

According to news reports,Christofakis has a long list of priors,including threatening and disorderly

conduct. His divorce case was set togo to court a week after his arrest.

In December 2011, Christofakiswas charged with two counts of threat-ening after police said he threatened tokill his wife and her attorney.

A restraining order barringChristofakis from contacting his wifewas issued in 2011.

According to the arrest warrantapplication in that case, on Nov. 30,Christofakis, who had been living at theHyatt Hotel in Milford with Guy, ob-tained a restraining order against hiswife and moved back into their Milfordhome. Jacqueline Christofakis toldpolice that when a state marshal servedthe order, he told her Christofakis andGuy would live in the basement of thehouse. Jacqueline Christofakis went topolice to apply for a protective orderafter that because she said she fearedfor her life.

Jacqueline Christofakis said thataround Nov. 7, 2011, during an argu-ment over money, her husband said hewas going to burn down their housewith her still in it if she didn’t pay themortgage or move out. A few dayslater, according to the affidavit,Jacqueline said her husband told her ifhe got arrested because of her, hewould kill her and her attorney when

he got out of jail. Christofakis didn’timmediately report the incident to po-lice because she was afraid of her hus-band, she later told police.

The threatening charges arepending against Christofakis.

In August 2012, Christofakis wasarrested again and charged with vio-lating the protective order. Police saidat the time that Christofakis, while“operating a vehicle in an erratic man-ner on New Haven Avenue,” drove tooclose to a car occupied by his wife andperformed “an unsafe passing maneu-ver.” That charge is also still pending.Christofakis had been due in court onOct. 15 in Milford.

Christofakis has a lengthy crimi-nal record dating back to 1992, ac-cording to court records, includingconvictions for third-degree assaultand drug possession.

Guy’s ex-husband told news re-porters that he isn’t surprised by thenews and that she had been arrestedlast year for threatening his life.

The couple work together atChristafakis’ business, Greg’s Auto-body. Guy is a former doctor whopracticed as an obstetrician and gyne-cologist in New York, but did notpractice in Connecticut. Reportedly,Guy sold purses out of the body shop.


When it looked like Supreme AutoBody at 2011 Walbert Ave, in Allen-town, PA, was going to have to close itdoors, sisters Diane Holzman andTina Mellenberg decided they wouldstep up and keep it going. After all, thebusiness has been in the family for 80years.

They purchased the busi-ness from their brother, MichaelFonzone Jr., who had run itsince their father, Michael Fon-zone Sr., passed away in 1987.The shop was founded in 1932by their uncle, Joseph Fonzone.

When Holzman and Mel-lenberg bought the company, ithad been closed for a couplemonths and the employees,many of whom had workedtheir entire careers at Supreme,had been let go.

The sisters, who quit theircareers in other fields in orderto reopen the shop, were able torehire all 12 employees.

“We didn’t think it was time yetfor Supreme to stay closed,” Holzmansaid.

So Holzman now heads up oper-ations for the company and Mellen-berg concentrates on bookkeeping andsales.

The auto body industry haschanged a lot from when their fatherand brother ran it, but the sisters sayrelationships between insurance com-panies and repeat customers are stillkey. They have been working hard tore-establish their foothold in the mar-

ket because many clients went else-where when the shop was brieflyclosed.

“This business has changedrapid fire within the last five years,”Mellenberg said. “The capacity andinsurance companies are very com-petitive.”

Once the largest shop on the EastCoast, Supreme Auto Body still has itsstellar reputation and talented staff.And for many locals it will forever behome of the “Fender Dent-ist” – anadvertising campaign with a logo thatis now trademarked.

It is a full-service shop witha 15,000-square-foot shopfilled with state-of-the artequipment. Supreme offers col-lision repair, refinishing, paint-ing, 24-hour towing (it’s freefrom the scene of an accident)and even some maintenanceservices, like oil changes andbrakes.

They are also the preferredvendor for many local entitieslike South Whitehall Township,the Diocese of Allentown andService Electric.

“It’s the people that makethe difference,” Mellenbergsaid. “All shops have the same

equipment but we take pride in whatwe do and our staff has basically noturnover.”

The shop has been in the samespot since 1932.

Sisters Buy 80-Year-Old Family Supreme Auto Shop to Keep it in Business

Sisters Tina Mellenberg and Diane Holzman own andoperate Supreme Auto Body

Carsmetics Expert Accident Repairhas opened their fifth location inKeyport, NJ, servicing local resi-dents in Hazlet, Aberdeen, Mat-tawan, Old Bridge, Clifford Beachand Union Beach.

The new location is betweenRoute 35 and Route 36, just a halfmile from the Garden State Parkway,in a 7500-square-foot repair facility.Their focus is on repairing drivabledamage in 1-2 days.

Carsmetics repairs panels,bumpers, fenders, hoods and wheelrims, making them look new again.They offer a lifetime warranty and apromise that the car’s paint colorwill be matched perfectly. Carsmet-ics has partnerships with 3M andDuPont and uses green productssuch as DuPont Waterborne Auto-motive Paints.

“If you can drive it, we can fixit,” said General Manager DannyGomes. “We’re known for repairingrather than replacing parts. We keepthe original part in tact when possi-ble to save the customer time andmoney. Damage is repaired in oneday, where the industry typically hasvery long delays for lighter collisionrepair.”

Carsmetics Expert AccidentRepair Expands in Keyport



perfect world by numbers.’ Moreoften than not, in this industry, realityis much different than the perfectworld. Reports/scorecards of repairersare formed through a perfect worldcomputerized format. For example:new parts can and are often damagedin shipping, causing returns and de-lays; used parts often are not of qual-ity to be used in the repair process;vehicle owners often leave their vehi-cles (that are safe to drive) at repair-ers on Fridays because a claimsrepresentative has ok’d a rental. Theseexamples are only a few that come tomind that can affect a repairer’s score-card. Some of the numbers/averageson the scorecard include formulas thathave key performance indicators in aweighted format that could never beexplained as how the particular num-ber/average score was determined.Not a comfortable situation when at-tempting to discuss a repairer’s per-formance considering we do not livein a perfect world.

ABN: What do you think of the Part-sTrader pilot program?Plier: My opinion of the Partstraderprogram is not positive. The informa-tion provided to me by repairers onthe program, from individuals thatwere in meetings with State Farm em-ployees during the test pilot roll out inAlabama, the information that is beingprovided by the many different publi-cations and the information providedby State Farm Consultant GeorgeAvery at the recent Georgia CollisionIndustry Association meeting indicateto me there are a lot of questions thatState Farm and/or PartsTrader eitherrefuse to answer or do not have an an-swer for. I would suggest everyone toconsider if something is mandated,why is it being mandated? Items, pro-grams, actions, etc. that have to bemandated usually have a lot more badfor a large multiple sectored groupthan good. Is this the reason the por-tion of the Select Service agreement isbeing actively enforced on this pro-gram? Any repairer on the SelectService program agreed if re-quested/required by State Farm to usea parts locating/procurement programthey would. There are several otherssections within the Select Serviceagreement with the same type lan-guage that repairers have agreed to.

ABN: Why do you think State Farmintroduced this program? Where doyou think State Farm is going with it?Plier: I feel there are multiple rea-sons. First and for the immediatetime, I feel State Farm was aware ofmanufacturers offering parts pricingmatch programs and believed the im-plementation of a program such asPartsTrader could lead to supplierstaking an aggressive approach to ex-pand business by reducing prices in abid/quote program such as this. How-ever, I believe the bigger purposehere is if successfully implemented,this would open the door to the othersections of the Select Service agree-ment requiring additional actionsfrom repairers as agreed to such asthis.

ABN: How do you think the programwill affect the industry? Repairersare saying this pilot program is inef-ficient and costs them more than itsworth.Plier: I feel if State Farm is success-ful with this program resulting inmandated use of locating and pro-curement systems, the balance of theinsurance industry will quickly fol-low with the same or similar pro-grams. My opinion is this will not begood news for the consumer. I knowState Farm is saying this is intendedto be focused on claims expense andno one should be against anythingthat might result in reduced cost, andaccording to State Farm, a possiblereduction in premiums for policy-holders. I am currently a State Farmpolicyholder; I definitely want mypremiums to be as cheap as possible,but even more importantly, I want myvehicle repaired properly. For repair-ers to keep up with the ever-changingtechnology, training is a must. Equip-ment requirements must be main-tained so if programs such as thisaffect industry members’ ability tomeet these needs it is not good. Ihave read and heard Mr. Avery sayState Farm does not want to tell re-pairers who to buy from, but I havenot heard State Farm address the ac-tual inefficiencies that to date I haveseen this program cause to repairersand other inefficiencies I have beentold of by repairers. There does notseem to be any concern from StateFarm and/or Partstrader that this pro-gram does indeed have an additionallabor and administrative time/ex-pense associated to it for the repairerand supplier. I read in an article, that

according to the writer, the repairersthey had spoken with suggested anaverage additional 30 minutes perday. The repairers I have spoken within Birmingham suggest to me theyapproximate spending an average ofan additional 30 minutes per claim.Birmingham repairers note you mayhave some claims that only require anadditional five to ten minutes of ad-ditional time, but you also have thoseclaims they may require an additionalhour of administrative time. I havenot spoken specifically with anyparts suppliers on the PartsTrader list,but feel any supplier on the Part-strader list is also incurring addi-tional administrative time andexpenses if they are following therules of the program.

ABN: Does this program offer anybenefits to the repairers?Plier: Based on the current infor-mation provided and from the feed-back received from Birminghamarea repairers, I have not been ableto identify what I would consider abenefit for a repairer on the pro-gram. State Farm has stated theyhave received positive feedbackfrom their evaluations, the only

thing is, to my knowledge, StateFarm has not to this date provided asingle item with the industry thatcan be viewed as positive feedback.If there has been anything positivefor the repairer, I have not heard norhave I read about it.

ABN: With repairers highly wary ofthe program, what do you think the so-lution is?Plier: I feel the distrust and con-frontational nature of this industry be-tween the two parties are much deeperthan this program. I am not sure thereis a simple solution for this issue if allsides must benefit. If attempts aremade to identify efficient alternatives,both sides must work together to iden-tify the many different possibilities.There already exist electronic order-ing opportunities used by many re-pairers, so if there is ever to be asolution that all sides agree to, I feelthere will be multiple businesses/venders to choose from. I do not feelmandating a particular program is theanswer.

ABN: Was State Farm too aggressivein launching this program?Plier: Considering the information


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Continued from Cover

Steve Plier


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that has been provided to the industry,‘yes.’ I do not believe the details hadbeen thoroughly reviewed and con-sidered.

ABN: What does it suggest to youwhen State Farm can’t come up with asingle benefit to repairers?Plier: Maybe because there is not asingle benefit associated to the shopin regards to this program. I believe ifState Farm had identified benefits forthe shops and or the suppliers, wewould all have heard about them bynow.

ABN: What kind of damage controlcould State Farm do now?Plier: I’m not sure there is a definitesingle thing that could be focused onhere. There are many issues in the re-pair industry that need to be addressedfor the “RIGHT REASON”—the con-sumer. Many of these issues havebeen around for many years, but havenever been addressed. As rules iden-tified in repair agreements continue toexpand, the magnification of themany issues grow. For example: theneed for an independent third-partysurvey process to identify a competi-tive pricing range; the agreement thatthe repair procedure pages are notpick and choose, but will be honoredcompletely at all times, just to name acouple.

ABN: What should affected shops bedoing right now about PartsTrader?Plier: My recommendation wouldbe for each and every repairer on theSelect Service repair program or anyrepair program to review their pro-gram agreements and then rereadthem again. List questions or con-cerns identified in the agreementsand contact the particular insurancecompany to discuss any questions orconcerns. After any discussions,make a business decision based onconsideration of all factors of whatyou feel is in the best interest of yourbusiness.

ABN: What is the background ofState Farm’s previous efforts on thisissue?Plier: State Farm had a trial programin California and Indiana in 2009, butdiscontinued the program afterChrysler filed for bankruptcy and GMaccepted a government bailout in2009. The trial was structured differ-ently then as compared to the Part-sTrader program now.

About CAREPlier started his business, CARE, in2010 after leaving State Farm. Hisgoal, focus and efforts with ConsumerAuto Repair Excellence, Inc. has beento assist repair facility owners andmanager with a better understandingof simple business principles, such asunderstanding their business operat-ing cost and the importance of qualitycontrol programs, and to understandsimple things involved in the repairprocess, that if itemized, they shouldand could be compensated for by themajority of the insurance companies.

The services provided by CAREalso involve assistance to repairersby investigating issues and ques-tions that repairers encounter andproviding documentation to backthe recommended positions. Plierassists repairers with identifyingpossible solutions that would bebeneficial to the industry and in par-ticular focused on what is appropri-ate and in the best interest of theconsumer.

Steve Plier, PresidentConsumer Auto Repair ExcellenceInc. www.consumerautocare.com205-623-9307


Dave McBroomFebruary 16, 1945 – October 11, 2012

The collision repair industry is mourn-ing the loss of Dave McBroom, pres-ident of the Florida AutobodyCollision Alliance, and friend, brotherand mentor to countless people whoselives he touched.

William David “Dave” McB-room passed away peacefully on Oc-tober 11, 2012 in Jacksonville, FL, atthe age of 67. A native of Cookeville,TN, and a graduate of the Universityof Tennessee, Dave served in the U.S.Army for 21 years and was a deco-rated helicopter pilot in Vietnam be-fore retiring as a Colonel.

Dave was also president of Sun-beam Autobody in Jacksonville andwas committed to raising the profes-sional image of the collision repair in-dustry. Through Dave’s leadership andpassion, the Florida Autobody Colli-sion Alliance was formed and grewfrom three body shop owners havingcoffee once a month to more than 400members in six chapters throughoutthe state.

“FACA’s members and board ofdirectors grieve Dave’s untimely deathand extend our deepest condolences tohis wife Terri and his entire family,”

said Cathy Mills, FACA’s executivedirector. “Dave was an absolute rolemodel—a caring friend, a supportivehusband and loving father and grand-father, and a passionate industry ad-vocate. Our lives will be foreverchanged with his passing.”

“I have lost a very dear friend,”said Chuck Sulkala, executive direc-

tor of the NationalAuto Body Coun-cil. “Dave’s everpresent greetingof ‘what can I doto help you today’will be my pleas-ure to ask of oth-ers I now meet. Iam sad beyond

belief and he will be missed deeply.May Dave’s legacy be with us for-ever.”

“Dave McBroom was an amaz-ing, inspiring individual,” sharedSCRS executive director AaronSchulenburg. “His membership, hispeers, and his friends flocked to him.He had a lifetime of well earned expe-riences that gave him the apt ability totell an inspiring tale on just about anysubject matter, and a compelling kind-ness in his disposition that offered acharisma held by few. His passion for

the industry, for what is right, and forliving life to its fullest was unparal-leled and it is an immeasurable loss forall of us.”

Dave leaves behind his wifeTerese “Terri” Walker McBroom,sister Marilyn Joyce “Joby” Clouti-aux; children Kevin McBroom (Pam)of St. Augustine, FL, Stephanie Nel-son (John) of Cookeville, TN andAmy Helms (Alan) of South Carolina;niece Shayne Harris (Kirk), nephewRobin Trousdale (Sonia); grandnieceand nephew Ashley Pelfrey and Clay-ton Hopper. As “Pap,” he will bemissed by his adoring grandchildrenAndrew, Isaac, Kingston, Winston,Ally, Abby, Lily, Lyla, William, Ash-lyn, and Lexy.

Funeral services were held Oct.18 in the Chapel of Hardage-Gid-dens Funeral Home of Mandarin.Interment will be held at a later datein Double Springs Cemetery ofCookeville, TN.

In lieu of flowers, the family re-quests donations be made in memoryof Dave McBroom to Hubbard HouseWomen’s Shelter, Attn: Development,P.O. Box 4909, Jacksonville, FL32201, or Concerns of Police Sur-vivors (C.O.P.S) 5530 Beach Blvd,Jacksonville, FL 32207.

Collision Repair Industry Loses a Legend and a Friend; McBroom Passed Away Oct. 11

Dave McBroom

Auto body shop owner Al Furney,owner of Excel Auto Body alongRoute 66 in Salem Township, PA, isworking on patching up the distinctiveand popular 1960s era double–frontVW Beetle that has been a Route 66landmark for years.

The Volkswagen Beetle that satatop a 20-foot pole at Excel Auto Body

has been missing for two years —andmotorists still miss seeing the blastfrom the past.

“Everybody’s calls and asks whenit’s going to be back,” said Furney,owner of the shop since 1979.

For the time being, the Beetle —which is actually the front ends of twosimilar 1968 vehicles welded togetherat the doors — is sitting on a framemount in Furney’s shop. He has noidea when he will able to have it re-

mounted outside his shop near Del-mont, but he’s working on it.

Furney’s vehicle is the second tobe on the pole. The original was putthere in 1970 by Excel’s originalowner, Ed Britz, who wanted to ad-vertise his new shop along what wasthen a less-traveled Route 66 North.Back in 1968, Britz needed something

to catch the attention of customershaving a tough time finding his newbody shop.

With little money to spare, Britzused what he had — two wrecked Volk-swagen Beetles — to craft a sign thatwould become not only a symbol of hisbusiness, but a cherished landmarkalong Route 66 in Salem Township.

“I had two VWs sitting there, justjunk, and I decided to put the two frontends together and make a sign,” the re-

tired Britz recalled. “On that July daywhen the crane lifted the car onto itsperch, traffic stopped both ways.”

Britz welded the fronts of thetwo cars together — facing in oppo-sition directions — to form a singleGeneral Motors Hawaiian Blue Bee-tle that he perched atop a pole outsidehis business. In no time, the whimsi-cal sign became a conversation piece.

“Back then that was really un-usual,” he said. ‘Now, anything goes.”

Years of stormy weather, road saltand debris from passing trucks causedthe original to rust.

“I put a brand new one togetherand switched them in a week [in themid-1980s],” Furney said. “No oneknew it was a different car.”

He is now patching up that secondcar, doing body work, putting new pan-els in the floor and painting the vehicleHawaiian blue.

“It’s a unique body creation,” hesaid.

When he rebuilt his Beetle, almost30 years ago, it was easy to find thebody parts in junk yards. To refurbishthe car now, he is ordering many parts,such as fenders, hoods and front nosepieces from a supplier in California.

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This 1960s era double-front VW Beetle hasbeen a Route 66 landmark for years

New Jersey body shop owners Frankand Tracy Constandi have beenlong-time supporters of the local res-cue squad’s community CPR and firstaid classes by always being amongthe first businesses to help underwritethe courses so they can be free to thepublic.

Frank’s Auto Repair and AutoBody donated a 55” HDTV and asso-ciated hardware to the squad trainingprogram.

“The Rescue Squad volunteersdo such great service for our commu-nity, we were happy to help,” saidTracy, who is the newly elected presi-dent of the Fanwood Business andProfessional Association. Frank, a for-mer volunteer fireman, is the treasurer.

At a time when the squad’s ex-penses are rising and state fundingfor volunteer EMT training has allbut disappeared, the squad decided toappeal to supporters for assistance inpurchasing this fairly expensive item.

“The new TV will be used toteach these community courses andother courses given to our EMTs andothers,” said Tom Kranz, rescuesquad captain, who has taught a num-ber of community CPR and first aidcourses, all of which use video.

NJ Shop Donates MediaCenter to Rescue Squad

Excel Auto Body owner Al Furney is patchingup the distinctive landmark that has sat atopa 20-foot pole in front of his shop since 1970


The Georgia Collision Industry Associ-ation met on Sept. 20 and hosted guestspeaker George Avery, State Farm’sclaims consultant. Avery gave informa-tion about the PartsTrader parts pro-curement pilot program to a crowd ofapproximately 130, some of whom hadtraveled to the meeting from Birming-ham, AL, one of the test markets.

“Mr. Avery gave an overview ofthe PartsTrader program and why theystarted the pilot program,” said GCIAExecutive Director Howard Batche-lor. “He said that they spend roughly $3billion a year on parts and needed a wayto control the cost. The meeting wasmainly subdued until the Q&A sessionat the end. Many of the attendeeswanted to know how this benefits theshops. There [was concern about] addi-tional administrative duties for both thesuppliers and the shops.”

Avery also talked about some ofthe enhancements State Farm has cre-ated since the pilot began. “The esti-mating systems have created aninterface that will update the prices onthe estimate. They have also cut thetime to respond from two hours downto 30 minutes.

Several shops from Alabama alsoattended and said that PartsTraderneeded to work out some of the bugsbefore they implement the program inother areas. Some of the attendees alsomentioned they are willing to try theprogram but asked ‘If this program doesnot work for me, am I able to quit usingit?’ and George replied that ‘This is abusiness decision that each shop shouldreview and evaluate on its own mer-its,’” Batchelor reported.

Steve Plier, President of Con-sumer Auto Repair Excellence, Inc.(CARE), a consulting company basedin Birmingham, AL, was also in atten-dance taking notes. (See interview withPlier this issue.) CARE is a companyfocused on the auto repair industry withits primary focus assisting repair facili-ties with basic fundamentals and basicbusiness principals that are often over-looked resulting in diminished com-pensation and profits for the repairfacility.

Plier said the first number listed inAvery’s PowerPoint presentation was“$3 billion” which Avery stated was theamount State Farm ‘gives’ to the repairindustry for parts in a year. Later, duringthe Q&A, a member of the audiencespoke up and said he took offense toAvery’s statement of “giving” as the $3

billion actually refers to the amount ofparts purchased, not given.

Avery’s slide presentation indi-cated that State Farm holds 41 millionautomobile policies and the insurer han-dles an average of 32,000 claims eachday. State Farm had 20,000 ServiceFirst repairers at the peak of the oldService First program compared withapproximately 10,300 Select Serviceproviders in the Select Service programtoday.

Avery noted that 63% of all claimsare handled through Select Service,with the lowest percentage of 17% of

claims being handled through SelectService in Long Island, NY.

“Mr. Avery spoke of meeting withdifferent large providers discussingwhere the majority of delays occurredand noted the response centered onparts delays and that by assisting the in-dustry and improving cycle time to re-duce the time of repairs by one daywould reduce State Farm’s rental ex-pense by $43 million for each day ofcycle time reduced,” Plier reported.

State Farm originally piloted aparts procurement program back in2008/2009 but it was discontinuedwhen Chrysler filed for bankruptcy andGM accepted government bailoutfunds. However, during that pilot theydiscovered by their numbers a parts re-turn percentage between 14–17%, andbased on this fact, the decision wasmade to search for additional optionsafter shutting down the pilot. Shortlyafter the program was discontinued,State Farm filed a request for proposaland PartsTrader was selected from thisprocess.

“Per Mr. Avery, State Farm wantsto assist the industry (use of PartsTraderand a parts locating/procurement pro-gram) by reducing totals because ofparts competitiveness reducing repaircost. He says this would be an assis-tance to all (the consumer, the OE man-ufacturer, the insurance company, andthe repair facilities),” reported Plier.

During his presentation, Averystated only suppliers nominated by Se-lect Service repairers are and will be onthe PartsTrader list. Avery also said thatPartsTrader is continuing to make im-

provements in the electronic processand two of the test market areas now areoperating on a 30-minute bid window.

Avery also noted that the numberof repairers in the Chicago metro area,the fifth and final test market who areexpected to test the PartsTrader pro-gram in December, will outnumber thetotal number of repairers currently onthe pilot in the other four test marketscombined.

Plier reported that during theQ&A, the first question asked camefrom a frustrated individual about aslide from Avery’s presentation show-

ing a PartsTrader screen shot that indi-cated parts, days of delivery and theshop cost, but not the price that wouldbe listed on the estimate. After severalother attempts by members of the audi-ence to get clear answers on list price,“Mr. Avery eventually admitted that theshops’ margins were not guaranteed toremain what they currently are,” Plierreported.

Another sticking point in the meet-ing centered around whether or not re-pairers in test markets were givingpositive feedback.

“Mr. Avery stated State Farm hadreceived positive feedback from theevaluation from the four current testareas, but he gave no specific examplesof positives,” Plier said. The evalua-tions indicated there must be a bettertraining process and that is being ad-dressed by PartsTrader. “Mr. Averynoted State Farm and PartsTrader arehand-in-hand in this process and Part-sTrader must prove and provide a valueto the industry.”

As Avery was saying the evalua-tions had returned positive information,Dave McBroom, director of the FloridaAutomotive Collision Association,spoke up to disagree. [Editor’s Note:Dave McBroom, passed away on Oct.11. Read his obituary on page 20.]

“Mr. McBroom told the partici-pants he had flown in from Tuscon thatafternoon so he could be a part of themeeting. Mr. McBroom noted to thegroup he had been in Tuscon for a weekand had spent time in repair facilities onthe program and had completed thesteps to sending out the bids, and then

went to the parts suppliers to see howthe program worked on both sides,”Plier said.

“Mr. McBroom then began nam-ing different repairers and supplierswho had removed themselves from thePartsTrader program. At this point, Mr.Avery spoke up and stated he did notfeel this was fair. The audience becamevocal enough that Mr. Avery allowedMr. McBroom to continue for a few ad-ditional statements.”

In general, members of the audi-ence felt that much of the informationprovided by Avery was very much thesame information that has been pub-lished since the pilot program wasstarted, and that the only new informa-tion he provided was related to whyState Farm was attempting anotherparts procurement program.

“At no time did or could Mr. Averyprovide how this program would bene-fit a repairer and/or a supplier,” Pliersaid. He also reported that several of theaudience questions were repetitive innature because Avery avoided givingspecific answers. The meeting endedlate at 9:45 p.m. Before closing, Batch-elor invited shop owners from Alabamato return for another meeting later thisyear to allow GCIA members to heartheir side of the story now that they hadheard from State Farm.

Special thanks from AutobodyNews to Steve Plier for providing noteson the meeting.

George Avery Spoke on PartsTrader to GCIA Sept. 20: Parts Margins “Not Guaranteed to Remain” As Are

“Mr. Avery eventually admitted that shops’margins were ‘not guaranteed’ to remain

what they currently are”

General Motors said it will hire 3,000Hewlett-Packard Co. employees as partof its ongoing effort to bring most in-formation-technology work back in-house. The hiring will be part of a newmulti-year software and services agree-ment between the two companies. GMdescribed the deal as “cost-neutral,” butit did not provide any additional detailson the size or length of the contract orwhere the workers will be located. Theemployees being hired already work onGM’s business at HP and are expectedto be on GM’s payroll within sixmonths. An undisclosed number of HPemployees currently assigned to GMare not affected, the companies said.“These agreements with HP will enableus to accelerate the progress of our ITtransformation by delivering increasedinnovation and speed of delivery to ourGM business partners, and reduce thecost of ongoing IT operations,” RandyMott, GM’s chief information officer,said in the statement.

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During his keynote address at the 2012International Autobody Congress &Exposition (NACE) in New Orleans,LA, former CARSTAR CEO DickCross offered his corollary to a Ma-hatma Gandhi quote by telling a crowdof 800 attendees, “A business is but theproduct of the CEO’s thoughts. Whatshe thinks, it becomes.”

It’s a concept NACE organizersthemselves may need to keep in mindas they acknowledged that while thisyear’s show offered “some big wins,”it also was down slightly in terms ofboth exhibitors and attendees.

Twenty minutes, three times a weekCross kicked off the event by sayingthat although the business successesthat he’s had that were cited in his in-troduction are true, his career has notbeen a “charmed path.”

“I have probably over two-and-a-half decades made every business mis-take that everyone in this audiences hasmade, and maybe even some of themthat you would never make,” Cross said.“Unintentionally, I have made decisionsthat have hurt business performance. Ihave failed to create circumstances thatwould allow everyone to make theircontribution to the cause. I have termi-nated people that I have wondered in theaftermath whether it was the right thingto do. There were times in my careerwhen I hesitated to lay my job as CEOon the line, to stand my ground for whatI knew was right. But as painful as allthose things are to remember and thinkabout, they are the things that drove myobsession to understand and to becomevery good at the job at the top.”

In addition to leading CARSTARfrom 2005–10, Cross has been broughtin by private equity firms to run a half-dozen other under-performing compa-nies, and through his consulting firm,he said he’s helped more than 150 otherCEOs improve their company’s per-formance. He said one of the biggestfailings he sees among many businessowners and CEOs is not regularly set-ting aside time to just think about thebusiness.

“For most of us in this room,thinking is the hardest work that wehave to do,” he said. “If there’s any-thing else to occupy our time besides

thinking, we’ll generally be doing it.My observation is that about 90% ofthe time, most of the CEOs in theUnited States are doing things thathave nothing to do with this job at thetop. But thinking helps you understandwhat the possibilities of your businesscould be, and helps you to understandgenerally how to make it happen.”

He offered several “big picture”ways that CEOs should think about thebusiness. For example, he said that busi-nesses are like products in that they havea life cycle; they begin with an idea, anembryo, and then some go on to growand mature. Whether they go on to con-tinued success or wither and die, Crosssaid, is often up to the person at the top,who can either get complacent andcoast—usually leading to the com-pany’s demise—or who can restart thecycle by finding a new set of customersfor the business or by finding other waysto serve the needs of existing customers.

Cross said good CEOs also recog-nize the difference between leadershipand management. Leadership, he said,sets in front of others very enticinggoals and helps make them want tohelp achieve those things. Managementis only about assembling the resourcesneeded to execute on that vision.

At CARSTAR, he cited as an ex-ample, he worked to help everyone inthe organization realize their purposewasn’t to just fix cars.

“The purpose of CARSTAR be-came: We help people though a crisisin their lives,” Cross said.

The kind of thinking that makes

companies succeed, Cross said, can beaccomplished by those at the top whoset aside 20 minutes a day, three daysa week, to tune out other day-to-daydistractions and just think about thebusiness.

“Running a business is not a full-time job,” Cross said. “You probablyspend most of your time doing otherstuff, stuff that others ought to be doingthemselves rather than having you do it.But you can do a great job running yourbusiness 20 minutes, a day three days aweek, thinking about those things.”

Show leaders offer their viewTwo years after shifting away from hold-ing NACE in Las Vegas each fall, eventorganizers cited a number of reasons at-tendance may have been down this year,from the still-slowly-recovering econ-omy to the New Orleans location, whichhas fewer shops than Orlando within aneasy-to-drive distance.

“Attendance at all the key (show)

events was up,” Lindsay Roberts ofHanley Wood, who manages the showfor its sponsor, the Automotive ServiceAssociation, said just hours before theshow closed. “We had some major play-ers who hadn’t exhibited at the show fora while. We got some of the paint com-panies back. We got some of the OEMsback. But we are a little disappointed.Total attendance is going to be down. It’spretty hard to compare to the Orlandolast year where we up over 20% from the2010 event. We had really hoped wewould see that growth through to thisyear. We’ll release final numbers proba-bly within the next five to seven days.But we do think we’re going to beslightly down over last year.”

But Roberts chiefly cited a con-tinued decline in the number of com-panies exhibiting at the show, whichis down about 17% from as recentlyas 2010.

“What we need is more product,


NACE Keynote Speech Focuses on Thinking about Business

Industry Insightwith John Yoswick

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

Dick Cross, former CEO of CARSTAR, presentedconcepts from his book, “Just Run It!” Copieson display sold out quickly

See NACE Keynote Speech, Page 27


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Collision repair professionals fromacross North America came together re-cently at NACE in New Orleans, LA,to network, see the latest and greatest inequipment and products, and to con-template a smaller but still high-qualityevent. Some 225 companies occupied50,000 sq. ft. of exhibit space but atten-dees were fewer in number from lastyear’s Orlando venue.

“It was a great pleasure to haveDick Cross open the 30th Anniver-sary general session,” said Ron Pyle,ASA president. “He delivered a prac-tical and easy-to-implement plan forsuccess. I am sure everyone in atten-dance agrees that he was extremelymotivational and an excellent choiceto kick off this very special ASRW.”

Leadership and Management TacticsNACE began October 10 with a seriesof seminars and lectures regardingsales tactics and innovation of paintand materials, including The Art of theDeal—Acquiring and DevelopingNew Locations; Marketing to Genera-tions X and Y; and Paint and Materi-als: The Paradigm Shift.

The afternoon sessions saw afocus on leadership, delegation andcustomer management tactics, aimedat retaining and appeasing your staffand customers. Seminars includedLeadership Best Practices—How toInspire, Delegate and Coach YourTeam to Success, by Mike Anderson;Calming and Retaining Angry Cus-tomers, by Margie Seyfer and Guiltby Association—Defining Your Image,by Tony Nethery. Kurt Lammon ofUrethane Supply Company instructedviewers on how to properly weld plas-tic with nitrogen, while Dan Espersenof ALLDATA taught the best practicalapplications of OEM Information.

I-CAR spokesmen Bob Zelanoand Jeff Poole ran afternoon seminarson Corrosion Protection and Haz-ardous Materials, Personal Safety andRefinish Safety, respectively.

The first day of NACE wascapped off with the Assembly, a con-fidential, closed-door forum for colli-sion repairers.

Profit BuildingNACE continued with tutorials,demonstrations and information per-taining to every aspect of the collisionrepair industry. The exposition portionof the event also opened at 10:00 am,offering the latest products, services

and technologies from industry leaders.The Profit Building Pavilion

portion of the exposition showcasedvendors with customer-driven prod-ucts, such as Autoshop Solutions, De-mandforce, Mudlick Mail Co. and NetDriven Media.

The morning of Oct. 10 saw sev-eral seminars headed by I-CAR. BobZelano ran a seminar on automotivefoams and Tony Nethery instructedparticipants on proper measuringmethods.

Educational highlights included I-CAR representative Shawn Collins’sworkshop on Blueprinting Process andDamage Discovery, (BLU01); I-CAR’sBob Zelano presenting the Steel Unit-

ized Structures Technologies and Repairclass and Bryan Dodge of Dodge De-velopment’s presentation on balancingyour work and life.

Blueprinting Process and Damage Dis-coveryThis new course provided an interac-tive training experience and was filledto capacity during both sessions. I-CAR offered special premiere pricingfor this course launch with a cost sav-ings of $56 for standard pricing.

The new Live Demo coursedemonstrates I-CAR’s commitmentto increased student interaction inthe classroom and uses an actual ve-hicle to demonstrate technique whileengaging students in the learningprocess.

Rich Southerland of Alldata at-tended the Thursday premiere of Blue-printing Process and DamageDiscovery and stated, “This is the bestI-CAR class I’ve attended. I couldn’timagine how this would not benefitany tech or shop employee.”

The course led students be-yond the disassembly of dam-aged parts to help themuncover hidden damage thatcan impact the repair processand provided a number ofdemonstrations, includingquick checks and implementa-tion tips. Students who at-tended the course gained anunderstanding of the definitionof the blueprinting process and

how the process can help improve re-pair quality through a standardized ap-proach to collision repair planning.

The day wound down with theASRW Welcome Party, sponsoredby CCC, and held at the iconic MardiGras World venue, basically a ware-house of larger-than-life charactersused on floats and in Mardi Grasthemed events. Attendees were touredthrough the warehouse where Mardi

Gras floats are manufactured, andended up at the Grand Oaks Mansionnext door where some excellent localdishes were offered.

NACE events on Oct. 11 endedwith the ASRW Industry Awardsceremony completing the second dayof NACE. The ceremony was held atthe National World War Two museum.

The NACE conference continuedon Oct. 11 with several I-CAR semi-nars, human resource tutorials andteam development clinics. TheASRW Collision Forum also tookplace in the morning.

MSO SymposiumThe ten-and-a-half-hour MSO(Multi-store operators) Symposiumhosted by Matthew Ohrnstein ofSymphony Advisors took place Fri-day. The symposium spanned theduration of the NACE Friday sched-ule and was comprised of five pan-els that aimed to help multi-storebusiness owners, many of whomtake over failing operations in orderto rejuvenate them, improve aspectsof their businesses including culture,branding, customer relations, lead-


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NACE Sees Fewer People, But Quality Events

Ron Pyle, ASA President and ASRW Chair

Margie Seyfer presenting Calming andRetaining Angry Customers

more exhibitors on the show floor,”Roberts said. “We need to give atten-dees three days worth of product andpeople to network with. We need theexecutives from these major compa-nies who were here walking the aislesto have booth space on the show floorand to support the show.”

She did say that more than 40companies have already signed on fornext year’s event, up one-third from thenumber who had signed contracts forthis year’s show during the 2011 event.

But NACE organizers have alsogiven themselves the added challengeof holding the 2013 event in Las Vegasnext October 16–19—in the same cityjust two weeks before SEMA, whichhas been working to attract collisionrepair industry exhibitors and atten-dees.

That may have been one of thereasons NACE organizers took the un-precedented step of also announcingthat two years from now, NACE willagain be on the east coast, returning tothe city that hosted the very firstNACE back in 1983: Nashville, TN.

ership and finance.The MSO Symposium also in-

cluded networking opportunities forowners, and ended with a networkingreception in the evening.

Shawn Collins held his secondseminar on Blueprinting Process andDamage Discovery, while Bob Ze-lano taught the second StructuralStraightening Steel seminar, bothhosted by I-CAR. The seminars wereadd-on educational seminars avail-able on both Thursday and Friday.OEMs including General Motors,Toyota and Nissan all sponsoredbooths during the show, offeringpromotional giveaways and show-casing new products.

Expo FloorSome highlights from the on-floor demoarea included exhibits from InnovaElectronics Corp. on how their CarScantools benefit shops and CAS of NewEngland revealing The Truth About Pro-gramming in Today’s Vehicles.

Kaeser Compressors created an in-formative technical (not sales-oriented)presentation titled “Compressed Air Re-quirements for Waterborne Paints.” Itwas held October 10 to help repairersmake practical choices for their shops.

Topics included: sources of moistureand contaminants, air system compo-nents that affect paints and finishes, theimpact of air amplifiers and more.

Some workshops on Friday after-noon focused on the financial aspectof collision repair. Mike Anderson ofCollisonAdvice.com spoke on meas-uring performance in Financial BestPractices. Dan Stander of FIX AutoHighland Ranch moderated The Keysto Successful Estimating! panel, inwhich data providers addressed audi-ence questions.

Denise Caspersen of ASA andMelissa Miller of CARSTAR encour-aged women to be courageous leadersin their seminar, one of several in theWomen’s Professional Development

track of NACE. (See story this issue.)

Twenty 2.0 peer benchmarkingA new-to-NACE-this-year, Twenty 2.0peer benchmarking event was attendedby about 20 repairers and ran on Fri-day afternoon hosted by keynotespeaker Dick Cross.

Twenty 2.0 is/was a peer bench-marking/virtual 20 group concept, ap-plicable to both mechanicalservice/repair and collision repairshop owners focused on doing “thejob at the top.” The 90-minute sessionbegan with a half hour introductorysession, followed by an hour-longbreakout session. All participants hadthe opportunity to enroll in the formal(ongoing) Twenty 2.0 virtual 20 groupat the conclusion of the session.

“Shop owners interested in ob-taining the value of participating in a20 group process with a non-tradi-tional time or financial investmentwon’t want to miss this unique ses-sion,” said ASA president Ron Pyle inadvance of the event. “We’ve takenthe 20 group concept and upgraded itto the digital age. Participants whoformally enroll will receive all thebenefits of belonging to a 20 group,with a virtual twist.”


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NACE Keynote Speech


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AUTOMAKER, OEM, AND RECALLAUTOMAKER, OEM, AND RECALL

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Autobody News November 2012NEW YORK • NEW JERSEY • PENNSYLVANIA • DELAWARE


Honda Recalls 820,000 Civics,Pilots Over Headlight ProblemHonda recently expanded itsMarch recall of vehicles with alow-beam headlight wiring issue toinclude 820,000 Civics and Pilotsin North America, its second bigexpansion of a recall in recentdays.

“[A] potential failure with thewiring of the headlight switch ...may cause the low-beam head-lights to become inoperative” inthe model-year 2002-2003 Civicsedans and 2004-2005 Pilot sportsutility vehicles that have beenadded to the recall, the carmakersaid in a statement. Meanwhile,some 550,000 model-year 2002-2004 CR-Vs and 2003 Pilots werethe vehicles named in the initial re-call in March.

Honda said the low-beamproblem could “increase the risk ofa crash,” but stated that “no crashesor injuries have been reported re-lated to this issue.” The companyadvised owners of the models inquestion to take their cars to author-ized Honda dealers for inspectionand replacement of components inthe headlight wiring system if nec-essary.

Honda also recently expandeda May recall related to a leakypower steering hose to include572,000 model-year 2003-2007Accord V6 cars in the U.S., in ad-dition to the 2007-2008 Acura TLmodels in the original recall.

High temperatures under thehood on those models can causethe power steering hose to crackand leak fluid that could causesmoke or even a fire. Honda saidone engine fire had been reportedbut no reported accidents or in-juries had occurred as a result ofthe problem.

The carmaker said owners ofvehicles being recalled for thepower steering hose issue wouldn'tbe able to have their cars fixeduntil early 2013 due to a shortageof parts.

The company said it beganmailing customers about the low-beam recall in late September.

General Motors Co. is recalling about41,000 Chevrolet, Pontiac and Saturncars in the United States because ofconcerns that a defective plastic partmight cause a fuel leak, according tothe National Highway Traffic SafetyAdministration. GM’s latest movefollows the company’s recall of473,841 Chevrolet, Pontiac and Sat-urns in September to fix a conditionthat could lead the cars to move whenthe drivers think they are in park. Po-tentially, 40,859 vehicles sold inArkansas, Arizona, California,Florida, Nevada, Oklahoma, or Texascould be affected in the latest recall.

GM Recalls 41,000 Chevy, Pon-tiac and Saturns Over Fuel Leak

Chrysler Halts Tests Plug-insAfter Batteries OverheatChrysler Group LLC temporarily sus-pended testing of its fleet of advancedplug-in hybrid electric vehicles afterthree of the pickups were damagedwhen their prototype lithium-ion bat-teries overheated.

The trucks were unoccupiedwhen the incidents occurred, and noone was injured. But the automakerwill replace the batteries in the testvehicles with units that use a differentchemistry.

“Hiccups happen. We’re disap-pointed, but it by no means spells theend of the program,” said Chryslerspokesman Eric Mayne.

The pickups are part of a fleet of109 trucks being evaluated by theAuburn Hills automaker and a group ofutility companies and municipalitiesacross 20 states. It is part of a programjointly funded by Chrysler and the U.S.Department of Energy.

They include the first-ever factory-produced vehicles capable of reversepower flow. The experimental systemwould allow fleet operators to use theirplug-in hybrids to supply electricity fora building during a power outage, re-duce power usage when electric ratesare high or even sell electricity back totheir utility company.

“You can link them all togetherand establish your own mini grid,”Mayne said.

Chevy Dealer Sells Car forWrong Price, Buyer ArrestedA Virginia man spent four hours in jailafter purchasing a Chevrolet Traversefrom Priority Chevrolet in Chesa-peake, VA. The dealer’s sales staff ac-cidentally sold the SUV to DannySawyer for $5,600 less than theyshould have, and when Sawyer re-fused to sign a new, more expensivecontract for the correct amount, thedealership called the local police al-leging the buyer had stolen the vehi-cle. Law enforcement then pickedSawyer up and held him for four hoursbefore getting the situation straight.

Dennis Ellmer, president of Pri-ority Chevrolet, says he owes Sawyeran apology on behalf of the dealership,and had intended to do right by thebuyer by letting him have the vehicleat the agreed-upon price. But Sawyer’slawyer says it’s a little too late for say-ing sorry. The briefly-incarceratedowner has filed two lawsuits againstthe dealer, accusing the business of ma-licious prosecution, slander, defama-tion and abuse of process. All told, thesuits seek a total of $2.2 million indamages, plus attorney fees. That$5,600 seems awfully cheap now.

GM Recalls SaturnsGeneral Motors is recalling certainmodel year 2007-2010 Saturn Auraand model year 2008-2010 ChevroletMalibu and Pontiac G6 vehicles,equipped with a 4-speed automatictransmission. On these vehicles, thetabs on the transmission shift cableend may fracture and separate.

If the tabs were to fracture andseparate, the shift lever and the actualposition of the transmission gear maynot match. The driver would be ableto move the shifter to PARK and re-move the ignition key, but the trans-mission gear may not be in PARK.The vehicle may not be able to berestarted and the vehicle could rollaway after the driver has exited thevehicle, resulting in a possible crashwithout prior warning. GM will no-tify owners, and dealers will install aretainer over the cable end or replacethe shift cable as necessary. This serv-ice will be performed free of charge.

Dodge Charger As All-WheelDrive Enters Police MarketChrysler Group is upping the ante in thebattle for the police cruiser market, of-fering a new all-wheel-drive version ofits Dodge Charger Pursuit sedanequipped with a powerful 5.7-literHEMI V-8.

“Adding available all-wheel-drivecapability to the already popular DodgeCharger Pursuit will broaden theCharger’s appeal to police departmentsthat are accustomed to dealing withrough winters and adverse weather con-ditions,” said Peter Grady, vice presi-dent in charge of fleet operations for theAuburn Hills automaker.

“With the Charger Pursuit now of-fering dual capability of both rear- andall-wheel-drive, we’ll be able to meetthe needs of our police fleet customersacross the country.”

The all-wheel-drive version willbe equipped with the same engine as theHEMI-powered rear-wheel-drivemodel that achieved the fastest-ever laptime at the 2012 Michigan State Police’sVehicle Evaluation Test at GrattanRaceway in Michigan. The engine de-livers 370 horsepower and 390 lb.-ft. oftorque.

GM Recalling Some SonicsGeneral Motors is recalling certainmodel year 2013 Chevrolet Sonic ve-hicles manufactured from May 29,2012, through August 29, 2012.When a turn signal lamp fails to op-erate, the Body Control Module inthese vehicles does not detect thiscondition and will not indicate thecondition to the driver. These vehiclesfail to conform to Federal Motor Ve-hicle Safety Standard No. 108,“Lamps, Reflective Devices, and As-sociated Equipment.”

If the driver is not aware that theturn signal is not functioning anddoes not have the light repaired, otherdrivers may not be alerted that the ve-hicle is turning, increasing the risk ofa crash. GM will notify owners, anddealers will reprogram the BCM andthe vehicle’s key fobs, free of charge.The safety recall began on October 3,2012.


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Wildlife researcher Brian Under-wood has spent his life studying deer.When he spotted a doe on the side ofthe road in central New York recently,he slowed down. What happened next,however, stunned even Underwood, aprofessor at the SUNY College of En-vironmental Sciences and Forestry inSyracuse, according to the IthacaJournal.

A second deer darted out from theopposite side of the road, slamminginto the side of his pickup truck with aloud thump. It then scampered off,leaving behind $2,500 in damage tothe driver’s door.

“I’m mad at myself,” Underwoodsaid, noting that he should havelooked both ways. “I drive the roads,looking for deer. For 35 years, I neveronce hit a deer. I had a lot of closecalls. My perfect record is blem-ished.”

In the United States, there areat least 1 million motor vehicle ac-cidents involving large wildlifeeach year. Federal officials say thateach year, these accidents kill about200 people, injure 29,000 and causemore than $1 billion in property

damage.Each year, there are roughly

65,000 motor vehicle crashes inNew York that involve white-taileddeer, according to state officials,with most of them occurring fromOctober to December — the ani-mals’ mating season, which peaks inNovember. Because bucks are chas-ing reluctant does, the animals aremore likely to jump into traffic, ex-perts say.

Harold Aken, 54, of Rye, hit adeer last fall around dusk. Aken, whowasn’t injured, spent several thousanddollars to repair the horn, headlight,fog lights and bumper on his KiaSorento, which he had just purchasednew a few months before.

The population of white-taileddeer in New York could be as high asa million. Paul Curtis, a wildlifespecialist in the Department of Nat-ural Resources at Cornell University,said, “Deer-vehicle accidents aredefinitely correlated to deer abun-dance, particularly in urban-subur-ban areas.”

Hunting restrictions and a varietyof plants and flowers in people’s gar-

dens have allowed deer to flourish inthe suburbs especially, Curtis said.Adult deer can typically weigh be-tween 125 to 200 pounds, and males,which grow antlers every summer, canreach 300 pounds, state wildlife offi-cials say.

Depending on the type of car, re-pair costs from a deer collision caneasily total more than $10,000, autobody shop owners say.

Greg Zurla’s Auto Body, in Con-gers, recently had several vehicles inits garage that had been involved incrashes with deer.

“We got a new Lincoln here, andit was hit on the side, and it took outboth doors. It’s a lot of work,” Zurlasaid.

Matt Grasso, co-owner of North-ern Westchester Auto Body in BedfordHills, said the worst accident after-math he has seen involved a rental caron Interstate 684 that struck anantlered buck head-on.

While crashes with deer can killdrivers and passengers or seriously in-jure them, repair shop owners say cur-rent cars are designed with improvedsafety features that are better at mini-

mizing crash impact than vehicles ofthe past.

To help prevent a crash with adeer, drivers should slow down inareas with deer, scan both sides of theroad and use extra caution at dawnand dusk, when deer are most active.Drivers also should be aware that deerroutinely travel along the same routesin groups, experts say.

“If you see one coming across theroad, you better be looking for anotherone,” Underwood said.

The best way to react to a deer inthe road is to slow down without jam-ming on the brakes. It’s wiser to hitthe animal than swerve and risk crash-ing into another car or object.

Hitting an animal instead of aguardrail or another vehicle is alsobetter for any insurance claim. ArleneLester, spokeswoman for State FarmInsurance, said deer crashes are con-sidered part of comprehensive insur-ance coverage, which pays fordamages caused by events out of thedriver’s control. Because of that, com-prehensive claims usually don’t in-crease premium rates like a collisionclaim, she said.

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Part of Terry Woodhull’s job is fix-ing cars involved in deer strikes. Re-cently, he became his own customer,according to Patricia Kitchen, writ-ing in Long Island Newsday.

A manager at Starlite Auto BodyInc. in Mattituck, NY, Woodhull, 60,was on his way to work at about 5a.m. when he hit a deer.

“It was so quick,” he said, liken-ing it to a shooting gallery game. “Allof a sudden, there it was in front ofme.”

Woodhull said he wasn’t hurt, andthe deer took off. His Dodge Dakotapickup was damaged—to the tune of$4,500—the longtime Cutchogue res-ident’s first such deer-involved acci-dent, though he reports somenear-misses. It’s just one example ofwhat he and other auto body profes-sionals anticipate at this time of year.October through December are thetop months for deer-vehicle colli-sions nationally, according to StateFarm.

Thanks to migration and matingseason, which can result in pursuitsacross roadways, claims data showmore than 18% of such collisions

occur in November, says State Farm.The problem is especially trou-

blesome in eastern Suffolk wherethere are high-speed roads leading toboth forks, suburban developmentsand “enough woodland to attractdeer,”said Paul Curtis, associate pro-fessor and wildlife specialist at Cor-nell University. Also, deer density inlocations such as Shelter Island andNorth Haven is among the highest inthe state, he said.

The top months for motor vehicleaccidents involving deer investigatedand reported by the Suffolk Countysheriff last year were November, 17;October, 8; and May and December, 5each. Sheriff deputies patrol SunriseHighway from Exit 37, Route 109, toExit 62, Route 111, and the Long Is-land Expressway, from Exit 48, RoundSwamp Road, to Exit 71, Calverton.Comparable data for Nassau are notavailable, but a police spokesman saiddeer hits there are rare.

Since 2008, November and Octo-ber have been the top two months fordeer-hit cleanup on Long Island’s stateroads, according to New York Depart-ment of Transportation figures. Last

year there were 131 cleanups in No-vember and 71 in October. The major-ity of such strikes are in easternSuffolk, said Eileen Peters, DOTspokeswoman on Long Island.

Most accidents involving deer arefront-end collisions, said Ed Kizen-berger, executive director of the LongIsland Auto Body Repairmen’s Asso-ciation (LIABRA). Depending onspeed and auto make, such damagecan run in the $2,500 to $6,500 range,he said.

According to the New York De-partment of Motor Vehicles, “animal’saction” was a contributing factor in8.7% of accidents statewide in 2010,resulting in 14 fatalities and more than$20,000 in property damage.

Joe Milazzo, 26, manager of Vil-lage Auto Body, in Hampton Bays,said they’ve recently done three repairjobs in the $3,000 to $5,000 rangebrought about by deer collisions.While it’s a year-round issue, theuptick starts in early October and gen-erally lasts until the first frost, he said.

Woodhull estimates an averagetwo to three deer-hit vehicles come ina week for repair at this time of year,

but recalls starting one week twoyears ago with eight.

Drivers are advised to be morealert at this time of year for the possi-bility of a deer encounter, especiallyat early morning and dusk, Curtis said.

Here are things for motorists towatch for:● At this time of year especially, bemore aware of deer-crossing signs andspots where you’ve seen deer in thepast, Curtis said, as deer are creaturesof habit.● Turn on the high beams to light upthe sides of the roadway where deermight appear, State Farm advises.● With that in mind, being alert for the“silver-dollar-size reflection” in deers’eyes staring at headlights might givean extra two to three seconds of warn-ing, Curtis said.● Think twice about swerving toavoid hitting a deer, which could leadyou to leave the roadway or cross intooncoming traffic, said Curtis.● Don’t rely on car-mounted deer alertwhistles, State Farm said. Indeed, Mi-lazzo said he has a collection of 12such devices taken from vehicles re-paired after deer run-ins.

Body Shop Manager Hits Deer to Become His Own Customer


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For some months now, people keepasking me why I haven’t recently con-tributed to Autobody News. The answeris simple, I didn’t feel I had anythinginteresting or of value to write about.This changed a few weeks ago.

As a paint manufacturer’s rep,there is not a month that goes by with-out being put in the middle of colli-sion repairers and insurers, expectedto chime in on a dispute about what isnecessary for a proper repair. One ofmy customers called and informed methat an insurance agent declined topay for priming or sealing new e-coated parts. The agent told my cus-tomer that sealing or priming newparts wasn’t a necessary step in aproper repair process. Anybody thatknows me well will not be surprisedto learn that I got very excited aboutthis statement. How can someone inour industry make such an irresponsi-ble statement? And then I leaned backand thought about this for a moment.During the course of a year, I visithundreds of shops and have witnessedthis exact procedure performed moreoften than I cared to admit. By sim-ply looking around our industry, aninsurance agent that likely never hadto repair a vehicle for a living couldeasily get the impression that sealingor priming new parts is an optional,but not necessary, step in a repairprocess. I feel comfortable about thefact that most, if not all major paintmanufacturers will agree with me,painting directly over e-coat is not arecommended repair process. Fur-thermore, paint failure as a result ofthis practice would not be covered bymost manufacturer’s warranties.

There are several problems withpainting directly over e-coated parts.Although OEM e-coat is an excellentcorrosion protection coating (not sureabout some of the aftermarket parts), e-coat contains no UV protection pack-age. E-coat is generally epoxy basedand unless completely shielded fromUV rays, its surface can become unsta-ble. Resulting in paint layer separationand peeling. Some of the newbies inour industry may not remember theearly 90’, but many of us do. Howmany GM and Chrysler factory paintpeelers did you repair in your profes-

sional career? These cars and truckspeeled for the same reason, UV expo-sure to the e-coated surface. If you re-paired one of these vehicles, you likelyremember that the surface of the vehi-cle was powdery after you peeled ofthe paint layer. This powdery subtendsthat easily rubbed off onto your fingerswas the top layer of deteriorated e-coat.

Just put enough paint on it andyou should be fine, right? I wish itwere that easy. The first problem withthis thought process is: how much isenough? Are you thinking 4, 5, or 6coats of paint? 8 to 10 coats on somereds? The truth is that no one knowswhen full coverage is achieved duringthe paint process. Take a piece of glassand paint it with basecoat and clear.After it cured completely, hold it up tothe sun and see if any light penetratesthrough. Attempting this exercise willquickly demonstrate that this ap-proach doesn’t work. It takes muchmore paint than anticipated before100% coverage is achieved throughbasecoat application. Protecting theintegrity of your work through sealingor priming instantly emerges as amore cost effective solution. And ifcost wouldn’t be a factor, the resultinghigh film build of basecoat colorwould present a paint problem of itsown.

The next issue with painting di-rectly over e-coat is stone ship resist-ance. E-coat is a very hard coating.The difference in hardness between e-coat and basecoat is too great for along lasting paint finish. The applica-tion of a primer or sealer to the e-coatwill bridge this cap. Although there isno way of fully preventing rock chipsfrom happening, a sealed or primedsurface will outperform an e-coatedsurface after impact by a large margin.

The last point I like to make is thesurface prep. E-coat is a hard surfaceand sanding it can be a workout. 90%of shops will use a DA sander to prepthe e-coated surface. If you don’t sealor prime the part, how do you know ifyou left enough e-coat behind forproper corrosion protection? Most e-coat layers are only 0.5 to 1 mil tostart with. My observations suggestthat 70% of all sanded e-coat surfacesdisplay some level of transparency or

bare metal surfaces. Unfortunately, Ihave seen people paint right over thattoo.

When asked why, the most fre-quent explanation I receive fromshops that paint directly over e-coat iscycle time. Shops don’t feel that theycan afford to give up the time to sealparts in the booth. While I appreciatethe value of cycle time and boothhours, it is no excuse for painting di-rectly over e-coat. Nobody says youhave to do it as a part of your finalpaint work, in a matter of fact, Istrongly advice against it. I proposesealing parts ahead of time, ideally aspart of the cut-in process. Put onegood coat of sealer on the outside ofthe part, let it flash off to a point thatyou can safely turn them over and cut-in the rest. All the shop has to do afterhanging the part is giving the sealer alight scuff by hand for adhesion, cleanand paint. This process allows theshop to maintain booth KPIs and put

out a quality repair at the same time.As an added bonus, you will also im-prove coverage and color match aswell.


E-Coated Parts Procedure

with Stefan GesterkampPaint Management

Stefan Gesterkamp is a Master Craftsman and BASF representative who has been inthe automotive paint industry for 27 years. He started his career in a custom shopbefore turning to collision repair. Stefan graduated from the University of Coatingsand Colorants in Germany and is the author of “How to Paint Your Show Car.”

VW Beetle Convertible to GetPlatform Shared with Jetta, GolfThe convertible version of the Volk-swagen Beetle will get its debut at theLos Angeles auto show in late No-vember, shortly before the car goes onsale in the United States. The launchof the 2013 VW Beetle convertibletrails the arrival of the redesigned Bee-tle coupe by about a year in the U.S.,where Volkswagen expects to gain amajority of sales. Both Beetles useVW’s PQ35 front-drive platform thatis shared with the current Jetta andGolf. VW says the Beetle convertible’sfolding cloth top can be raised or low-ered in about 10 seconds. Safetyequipment includes rollover bars con-cealed behind the back bench seat. Ifthe car’s safety system senses a crash,the rollover bars are deployed.


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In the early ‘90s, the term “Piggy-back marketing” meant that the trial ofa new product on the market waslinked to another product that alreadyhad wide acceptance in the market-place. The intent was that this weakernew product would be “piggy-backed” on the strength of the “car-rier” product. Soon the practice wasexpanded so that many products were“piggy-backed” on products alreadybeing used. You see this all the timewhen you receive a credit card bill orgasoline credit card bill and find of-fers inside to buy a wide range ofproducts. You know this must be asuccessful strategy because it has con-tinued on so long.

The question is how can a fixedservice like collision repair, use“piggy-backing” to increase sales andbusiness volume? Marketing guru JayAbraham, in his great book GettingEverything You Can Out of All You’veGot, calls this a “host-beneficiary” re-lationship. Greatly simplified, it’s sortof a co-operative marketing planwhereby two (or more) companiesthat are non-competitive but possiblycomplement one another’s products orservices, can either bring customersand sales to one another’s businesses,or bring some other value.

Collision repair facilities engagein this kind of relationship all the time,but probably don’t think of it in thoseterms. DRP relationships are the bestexample. Insurance companies sendcustomers to the shop. The value theyreceive in return mainly consists oflower labor and parts and materialscosts. Dealership relationships andfleet management company relation-ships operate similarly. Some shopsalso have a more direct exchange re-lationship with a towing firm, pin-striping and graphics service, car

rental company, transmission repairshop, personal liability attorney or carwash.

As valuable as these relationshipsmay be, often a few major shops havemost of the best relationships in anarea locked up so that many othershops are out looking for business thehard way. For them, it may be time toengage in some creative thinkingabout other possible “piggy-back” orco-operative arrangements. Eventhough the SEMA Show in Las Vegasis becoming a major gathering placefor collision repair professionals, fewshops have yet to take advantage ofthe vast accessory marketplace. Deal-erships, of course, have entire acces-sory showrooms and enjoy asubstantial profit flow from accessorysales. But few shops can afford to in-vest in a similar showroom, and onlya few push for add-on accessory sales.An obvious “piggy-back” relationshipwould be with one or more accessorystores in the area. But less obvious areother retail establishments that offeraudio-video products or cosmetic ele-ments that car owners should find at-tractive. Some printers now offerwraps for cars. Since vision is impor-tant for safe driving, an optometristmight be interested in a co-op referralarrangement.

A common arrangement is cashfor referrals—especially with a tow-ing company or new and used cardealership. But this is mainly a one-way street and can be very expensive.The ideal co-op arrangement is onewhere the shop also refers business toits co-operative partner. The easiestway to do this is through promotionalprograms. Obviously website linksand other web-based connections areeasy to arrange, but if a shop alsosends out a newsletter or sends sum-

maries of completed work with enclo-sures there is an opportunity to refermany other kinds of businesses, muchas your credit card companies do. If areferring business also has on-lineand/or mail promotions, the arrange-ment would have your shop informa-tion (or even literature) included withtheirs.

Mailing a summary of com-pleted work after a vehicle has beendelivered is a very inexpensive wayto establish a longer-term relation-ship with customers. If a vehicleowner resells or trades-in the vehicle,having a summary of work done onthe vehicle may help keep the pur-chase price higher. Along with send-ing the summary, a promotional offerfor a discounted detail or cosmeticimprovement should be included,plus perhaps a specified discount fora friend, family member or businessassociate in need of vehicle body re-pair. For a shop with deeper pockets,

sending a before and after photoalong with the summary would beappreciated.

A more in-depth approach to theco-op referral partnership can extendto events, educational seminars orworkshops and more. Driving schoolswould be a good candidate for this.New drivers are brought to the shopfor a walk-through to see the damagethat may have been done to vehiclesbecause of careless or reckless driving.And if the driving school has a weeklyor monthly group presentation, theshop should always have someonethere to answer questions. Many shopsnow do exchange events with insur-ance agents and auto dealerships, butthis should only be a beginning. Thepossibilities of piggybacking on thesuccess of other businesses and enter-ing into cooperative promotionalschemes will only be limited by theimagination and ingenuity of a shopowner or manager.


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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

PartsTrader announced that in two ofthe four markets where the system isbeing used, the minimum time a shopcan give vendors to quote prices onparts has been reduced to 30 minutes,rather than the previous one-hourminimum. The change is designed toimprove the efficiency of using thesystem for shops, the company said.

Suppliers can still quote prices in“overtime” but only until the shop be-gins review of submitted quotes. Thesystem also allows the shop to extendthe deadline in 30-minute incrementsif they wish to receive more quotes, orto use “placeholder quotes” for OEMdealers with which they have estab-lished relationships.

PartsTrader Reduces Minimum Quote Time to 30 mins

A NACE panel of three representa-tives from top auto insurers discussedindustry consolidation, technologyand future trends during the CollisionIndustry Forum insurance panel dis-cussion Oct. 12. Speaking on a panelmoderated by Dan Stander of FixAuto Highlands Ranch in Littleton,CO, the insurers responded to the not-icable consolidation trend affectingboth repairers and insurers, specifi-cally the growth of several MSOssuch as The Boyd Group, ABRA,CARSTAR, Service King and CaliberCollision—but also that of smaller re-gional MSOs.

“MSOs that can replicate qualityprocedures are attractive as a group,”George Avery of State Farm said.“Using a score card to rate MSOsacross the board represents an inter-esting opportunity. But just like inde-pendent shops, they must perform tostay on our system.”

Avery said that any MSOs on theirDRPs are measured as individualshops and must compete to perform onthat basis. He recalled State Farms’sexperience with M2, the 27-shop con-solidator in California that closed

abruptly back in 2005, reinforced hiscompany’s interest in finding top-per-forming individual shops, whetherstand-alone or part of an MSO.

“State Farm maintains thatwhether you are an independent or anMSO, you should be able to compete,and so State Farm evaluates evenMSOs as individual repairers,” Averysaid. “I’m not discounting [theMSOs’] ability, but I am saying thatthose with individual repair facilitieshave skin in the game, and that canhave a lot of value on the customerservice side, which we’re all after.”

Rob Knott of Nationwide con-curred. “We think the mom-and-popsstill have a place,” Knott said. “Someof the challenges that the MSOs have

is over-saturation in certain market-places, so you’re not going to put (alltheir shops in a market) on (the directrepair program). And then there’s theconsistency issue, when they expandtoo fast and aren’t able to maintain thesame service levels and quality.”

Randy Hansen of Allstate alsosaid each facility on his company’sDRP, even if part of an MSO, has tostand on its own performance.

But the three acknowledged thatMSOs can offer some appealing serv-ices such as call centers, extendedhours and a single point-of-contact.Hanson said the collision repair in-dustry suffers from a “tremendousamount of inefficiency” that consoli-dation alone cannot cure. Instead,shops should consider expanding theirhours of operation or finding otherways to better utilize their facilitiesand equipment.

Consolidation in the insurance in-dustry is likely to continue as compa-nies seek to grow. “The only otherway to grow is by taking another com-pany’s customers,” Knott said, andthose are costly acquisitions becauseacquiring a new customer is seventimes more costly than retaining theirown customer, he said.

Avery added that MSOs presentan “interesting platform” in which toexperiment with a change on a largebut not national scale.

“You hear people talk about howthe model is broken,” Avery said.“There are components [of change]that could be perhaps introduced intoan MSO that you couldn’t quite intro-duce companywide. So I feel com-pelled to tell you, not to make anyonenervous about MSOs taking over, but Ido have to say that that is a place whereyou could possibly go and say, ‘Look,we’d like to try something different.’”Avery suggested later in the discussionthat attendees think like a young driverusing her mobile device to find outwhat to do after a minor accident.“What can we do together? Can we

work together to offer her a 48-hour re-pair?” Avery asked. “You might say,‘Yeah, if you quit making me take allthese pictures and jump through thesehoops.’ And I might say, ‘Okay, I’llstop that.’ So as we look at the future,I’m leaning toward partnering and say-ing, look, that customer is going toleave us and go somewhere else. She isnot going to tolerate inefficiency.”

Cloud Computing and Data OwnershipKnott said technology changes soquickly that it’s hard for insurers andrepair shops to keep up. “Our cus-tomers are pushing insurance compa-nies to evolve with technology and achallenge is how fast can we adoptnew technology. But if we don’tchange we will be left behind.”

Allstate has consolidated 100legacy systems into one delivery plat-form, Hanson said. “It was tremen-dously complex and we spenthundreds of millions of dollars to im-plement it. We recently adopted cloudcomputing. It is very flexible and of-fers more applications and options."

With cloud computing conven-ience comes the more complex issueof data ownership.

“Cloud computing is great be-cause it allows you to access your dataanywhere,” Knott said. “However,there is great concern over data own-ership and who has access to the data.Hanson said the issue of data owner-ship is clear to Allstate. “We view it asthe customer’s data, not the shop’s orthe insurance company’s. It is our ob-ligation to keep it secure and protectit. State Farm is developing its owncloud and securing the data is one ofthe most important initiatives, accord-ing to Avery.

Advancing OEM technology is atrend that concerns repairers and in-surers. Stander asked: ”If cars won’t becrashing into each other due to acci-dent avoidance technology, what doesthat mean for repairers and insurers?”

Avery said that accident avoid-ance technology won’t be fully imple-mented for 15 to 20 years. “With orwithout that technology, we need tofigure out a way to help our customersin the future. Customers will not tol-erate inefficiency. They will find whatthey want with or without us.”

Hanson said the new OEM tech-nology has the potential to change theway insurers do business, but it’s notclear what those changes will be.


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Insurers Talk MSOs, Consolidation, the Cloud, and Tech Trends

Insurance Representatives on panel (l to r): Moderator Dan Stander, State Farm’s George Avery,Nationwide’s Rob Knott, and Allstate’s Randy Hansen.

As a follow-up to the CCRE legalseminar held in March 2012—whichI attended and wrote about in Auto-body News (search “CCRE” at auto-bodynews.com)—the PennsylvaniaCollision Trade Guild (PCTG) hostedthe Coalition for Collision Repair Ex-cellence for the second event in thisseries of seminars.

CCRE’s 2012 Fall Seminar washeld Friday and Saturday, September21–22 at the Airport Embassy Suites inPhiladelphia, PA. PCTG decided tohost CCRE again due to the over-whelmingly positive responses they re-ceived on the 2012 Spring Seminar. Anaudience of nearly 50 came to Philadel-phia from as far away as Alaska.

Attorneys Erica Eversman andJohn Parese joined the CCRE’s legalseminar as featured speakers to sharetheir legal expertise on the collisionrepair industry.

In his welcome and introductionspeech, Steve Behrendt, president ofPCTG and CCRE Board Member, ad-dressed the importance of understand-ing adhesion, or more specifically, anadhesion contract. [Editor’s note: Anadhesion contract is one which is im-balanced in favor of one party over theother so that there is a strong likeli-hood it was not freely negotiated.

Example: a rich landlord dealingwith a poor tenant who has no otheroptions and must accept all terms of alease, no matter how restrictive or bur-densome, because the tenant cannotafford to move. An adhesion contractcan give a “little guy” the opportunity

to claim in court that the contract withthe “big shot” is invalid. This doctrineshould be used and applied moreoften, but the same big guy-little guyinequity may apply in the ability to af-ford a trial or find and pay a resource-ful lawyer.]

Behrendt explained how a rela-tionship with a third party (i.e., the in-surance company) triggers a legal andbinding contract which exploits ashop’s ability to do business individu-ally. Behrendt said that avoiding ad-hesion will help collision repair shopsoperate independently by providingthem with the freedom to be paidbased on the services performed as ad-hesion can influence a court’s decisionagainst a shop as it regards their rela-tionship with a third party. In contrast,an authorization to repair form pro-tects a shop’s independence, their re-lationship with the customer, and theirneed to make a profit by distancingthem from the insurance company.Through adhesion, third parties try tomake the reserve estimate part of ashop’s repair process by utilizing theirestimate as a method of payment, butthe estimate is only the third party’sguess at the cost of the repair, not ablueprint for the repair.

The insurance company’s estimateis created to verify that there is a legiti-mate claim and to set a claims reservewhich is money earmarked for eventualclaim payment. Shops need to find away to eliminate this estimate in orderto prevent insurance companies fromcontrolling their business. One way todo this is by stamping all third partydocuments as “for informational pur-poses only.” This preserves the shop’sindependence by avoiding adhesion andany type of agreed-price scenario. Italso allows shops to distance their busi-ness from a third party’s control and be-havior. Shops should prepare and workoff of their own repair blueprint andanalysis, and this is what should be usedfor the repair and the final invoice.Shops should properly prepare andclose their final invoice based on theshop’s job costing and gross profit,handing the invoice to the insurancecompany for final payment.

Moving from a collision re-pairer’s point of view to a legal point

of view, attorney Erica Eversman tookthe floor to discuss repair contracts andauthorization to repair which was verysimilar to the presentation she gave in

March of this year. Discussing the dif-ferences between the two contracts ina non-DRP relationship compared tothe three contracts that make up a DRPrelationship, she noted that “insurerslike to think they’re in charge of every-thing. They want all of the control andnone of the responsibility.” In a DRPrelationship, two informed parties

have an agreement about how to sat-isfy the obligations of their individualcontracts to the customer, usually be-fore a collision actually occurs. In thecurrent aberration for individual shops,the insurer acts as if the repairer hasduties to this third party which is whyit is so important for shops to utilize awritten repair contract. A classic ex-ample of a contract of adhesion isfound in insurance policies as oneparty has more power than the othersince consumers are legally required tohave auto insurance. This is the onlyindustry where consumers do not re-ally have the ability to negotiate theircontracts or even see the terms beforethey purchase it, which is why thisbinding contract can be cancelled.

In the relationship between a re-pairer and a consumer, the repairer’sresponsibility is to inform the cus-tomer, acquire authorization and repairthe vehicle, while the consumer shouldreceive information, approve the re-


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with Rick WhiteShop Management


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Steve Behrendt addresses the contract ofadhesion

Attorneys Erica Eversman and John Parese

pairs and pay. Repairers have no rightto expect payment from the insurancecompany as they should expect pay-ment from the consumer, but thoughit’s important to provide customerswith an estimate of the repair cost, con-sumers are more concerned with howtheir car gets fixed since the insurancecompany actually pays the bill. This iswhy Erica recommends getting thecustomer’s informed consent after therepair process has been fully explainedto them so they understand what isgoing on with their vehicle.

A repair contract should definethe customer, the shop’s duties, whattype of parts will be used, the damagesto the vehicle and the repairer’s pro-fessional judgment. A wise inclusion isthe right to expectancy damages whichwill entitle the collision shop to getpaid for costs accrued if the customeropts to take their car to a differentshop. This also includes reimburse-ment for loss of work if the insurancecompany persuades the consumer tohave their vehicle repaired at a DRPshop. Additionally, this encompassesthe preparations that the shop hasmade, such as ordering parts and allo-cating time and personnel. This canalso include opportunity cost, definedas potential business that may havebeen turned away because the shop’sresources had already been dedicated.This will help to establish recoveryfrom tortuous interference. The signedcontract ensures that the shop has theright to sue for expectancy damages.

The repair contact is designed toemphasize that the repairer is the pro-fessional and that repairs are based onthe repairer’s professional judgment.When there is a conflict in the opinionsof the repairer and the insurance com-pany regarding what is right to do, therepairer’s opinion should take prece-dence because they are the profes-sional. Erica believes this is importantfor developing a better public relationsstanding regarding how complicatedcollision work is since there are manyvariables that come into play; unfortu-nately, the collision industry is losingthe public relations war because insur-ance companies spend a lot of moneyadvertising about how they repair ve-hicles, leaving consumers with themisconception that their insurancecompany will fix their car, through theinsurer only pays for the repair.

Emphasizing that shops “must re-member that the insurance company isnot their customer,” Erica reiteratedher lesson from March about the three

options that insurers have when han-dling a claim and how a DRP relation-ship allows them to control the repairwithout accepting liability. She dis-cussed the usefulness of addressing re-plevin in the repair contract. Replevin,sometimes known as “claim and de-

livery,” is a legal remedy which allowsthe recovery of goods unlawfully with-held from possession via a legalprocess in which a court may require adefendant to return specific goods tothe plaintiff at the outset of the action(i.e. before judgment). Replevin grantsthe shop the right to a possessory lien,allowing them to retain the vehicleuntil payment is received. Erica ex-plained the benefits of an Assignmentof Proceeds and other documents.

Another useful document is the Ac-knowledgement Terminating RepairContract and Releasing of Motor Vehi-cle which is designed to protect collisionshops by giving them the chance to re-tain business by informing the customerof what is going on and by improving ashop’s chances should they decide totake the case to court. A Customer No-tice of Insurance Deficiency informs thecustomer of their insurance company’srefusal to fully pay to properly andsafely repair the vehicle. This helps inthe public relations battle as it shows theshop’s refusal to breach their repair con-tract by adhering to the insurer’s pres-sure to provide an unsafe repair.

A Customer Notice of InsurerDelay keeps the customer informedregarding their repair by alerting themto delays caused by their insurancecompany. Shops can also provide theircustomers with the Vehicle DamageInsurance Election form which theycan send to their insurer demanding toknow how they plan to pay for the re-pair. Though it is highly unlikely thatany insurance company will sign thisdocument, the insured has the right todemand a response from their insur-ance provider. A Notice of AdditionalCost can also be sent to the insurancecompany to inform them of additionalcosts incurred during the repair. This

document helps independent collisionshops avoid third party interference byrefusing to permit the insurer to causeinefficiency and by giving the impres-sion that the insurer must respond tothe shop, reiterating the point that therepairer is in control of the repair.

Erica Eversman also recom-mended providing consumers with aParts Notice and Authorization docu-ment, which she plans to publish onautoepi.org for distribution, in order tohelp consumers understand the vari-ous types of parts that may be used torepair their vehicle. She ended thispresentation by repeating her opinionof the dangers of aftermarket and sal-vage parts and discussing what shopsshould and should not warrant, em-phasizing that shops should not offer a

warranty on anything other than theirworkmanship.

Next, John Parese, Esq., dis-cussed the definition and uses of an as-signment. An assignment is a transferof property or another right from oneperson to another which confers a com-plete and present right in the subjectmatter. As a contract between these twoparties, an assignment is subject to con-tract law and interpretation. Causes ofaction issuing from a wrong whichcauses injury to the property or fromtort by which the property is dimin-ished or damaged are generally assign-able, and a party may assign their rightto recover damages to the propertywithout conveying title to the property.A valid assignment requires clear evi-dence of the intent to transfer rights anda description of the subject matter ofthe assignment; it must be clear and un-equivocal, and it must be noticed to theobligor. While there are no formal re-quirements for an assignment, the lan-guage used must indicate the owner’sintention to transfer the claim.

Valuable consideration is essentialto support an assignment, and thoughthe word “consideration” does not nec-essarily have to appear on the assign-


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For many collision shops, spray paint-ing with compressed air means deal-ing with uncontrollable or difficult tocontrol variables, including tempera-ture, humidity and pressure.

“Compressed air is a problem be-cause air changes based on tempera-ture, altitude, and other variables thatcannot be readily controlled,” saysMichael Haydell, president of Hay-dell Industries. As a result, the viscos-ity of painting material also changeswith each use due to moisture andtemperature, as well as the build-up ofstatic electricity. Static makes the ma-terial do what it wants to do, not whatthe painter wants it to do.

Haydell Industries offers a solu-tion to this dilemma in the form oftheir NitroTech Spray Generator.Their vision is to “be the premierprovider of Innovative solutions andsystems for customers’ productivity,”and they achieve this through theirvalues of integrity, excellence, com-

munication and accountability.Haydell Industries was founded in

1986 by Michael Haydell as a manu-facturing representative company. Buttheir focus changed to the productionand distribution of nitrogen-based spraysystems in 2005. They also now sell avariety of shop equipment, includingindustrial paint booths and filters.

The use of inert nitrogen offerspainters a gas to spray with, providinga more consistent finish. This leads toa reduction in the use of wet materi-als, an increase in booth throughput,and a decrease in the cost of booth ex-haust filters. As an added bonus, theNitroTech Spray Generator is also en-vironmentally-friendly as it signifi-cantly reduces the VOCs and HAPsreleased into the air.

Haydell Industries separates theimpurities at a gas level to redirect theair’s properties, and by controlling thetemperature through their hose, theyare also able to control viscosity, while

using ionization processes to eliminatestatic electricity. This uses less paint asthe nitrogen allows the substrate to befully covered in fewer coats than canbe accomplished using compressed air.

Though an air compressor is stillnecessary to supply the NitroTechSpray Generator with compressed air,the compressed air is replaced by a per-fect fluid carrier of Nitrogen, Argonand/or Carbon Dioxide. The system caneasily be integrated into a shop’s exist-ing system without changing sprayequipment, processes or the preferredcoating. The only maintenance requiredfor Haydell’s Nitrogen system is achange of inlet air filters once a year.

Since Haydell Industries’ Ni-troTech Spray Generators reduce the useof materials by 30–50%, collision shopscan save up to 20–30% in material costsby integrating this technology into theirrepairs. Nitrogen spray also reduces ap-plication time by 30–50%, providingeven more savings in man hours.

Haydell Industries received theirpatent for the third generation of theirNitrogen Technology in May 2012.Michael Haydell proudly states, “Ournewest generation uses 250% lesscompressed air than the first genera-tion, making it 250% more efficient.”

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Mainstream Media


Mainstream Media













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].

ment, Parese recommends it. An as-signment requires an exchange, such asallowing a customer to take their vehi-cle without the shop receiving paymentif they sign the assignment. An Assign-ment for Money Due should identifythe customer, facility, vehicle and loss.The document does not need to be no-tarized and should be enforceable with-out defects. Parese also advises shopsto have all customers sign a repair con-tract. Parese ended his presentation byusing clips from “Hot Coffee” and sev-eral insurance commercials to reiteratehis message about public relationsfrom the March seminar.

Tony Lombardozzi, President ofCCRE, followed with a brief talk onthe need to change the mindset of col-lision repairers and to send a messageof whose business the insurer is visit-ing. In the collision industry, “we op-erate every day on fear”, Lombardozziclaimed, continuing to elaborate thatshops fear losing business and beingsubjected to steering.

On Saturday, John Parese beganthe seminar with a presentation entitledTen Steps to Consider When Filing aLawsuit. The first step is to provideproper documentation, including asigned repair contract and the final in-voice. Noting that “the insurance com-pany doesn’t like being sued,” Paresereminded attendees that the insurer’sestimate is just a guess on the likelydamages and is not reliable. The sec-ond step is to verify that all work wascompleted and billed correctly. Be-cause lawsuits result in hyper scrutinyon both ends, it is imperative that therepairer did everything they claim theydid during the vehicle’s repair.

Step 3 requires the use of a properAssignment of Claim which will allowthe shop to stand in the customer’sshoes to acquire payment. The fourthstep involves choosing a reasonablecustomer, and it is important to lay theproper foundation of information assurprises in the courtroom are a badidea. The case a shop chooses to fightin court should involve a cooperativeand informed consumer.

Step 5 is to establish liability withthe information to prove the basis of theclaim. Parese notes that “you have toestablish negligence in order to proveliability”, but on short pay cases, it canbe argued that the insurance companyaccepted liability by paying on the dam-

ages, even if they did not pay in full.Step 6 requires securing all nec-

essary documents, including the policereport, proof of liability and all infor-mation about the parties involved. Pro-viding all of this will make the processas easy as possible on the lawyer.While shops may not win every singlecase, each small victory affects busi-ness since it will dissuade insuranceadjusters from harassing the shop. Theseventh step involves finding an attor-ney to take the case, and Parese notesthat small cases are often combinedinto one larger case. Step 8 is to createa labor rate survey by surveying 12–20local shops to disprove the insurancecompany’s common claim that a shophas the highest labor rates in the area.This survey can help justify the claimthat your rates are reasonable, and thegoal is for your posted rates to fallsomewhere in the middle of the shopsincluded in the survey; however, it isimportant not to share this informationto avoid accusations of conspiring withothers to increase labor rates.

Step 9 is to provide several exam-ples of being paid your labor rate, prov-ing your posted rate is reasonable andfair. This is critical as the insurer shouldbe paying the same rate as a customeroff the street. The tenth step is to stampall documents with “accepted underprotest as partial payment only for prop-erty damage.” Repairers should appearat court dressed professionally and witha business-like approach in order toshow the judge that they are taking thecase seriously, and this will help over-turn preconceived misconceptions andstereotypes about the industry as well asto show that the repairer is not trying totake advantage of anyone but is tryingto stop getting taken advantage of.

Parese ended his presentation bydiscussing tortuous interference withthe repair contract and how to prove theinsurance company intentionally soughtto interfere with the contract betweenthe repairer and the customer. In orderto show that the defendant’s conduct istortuous, the plaintiff must prove im-proper motive and willful malice. Thissends the message that the insurer is notabove the law and that they can and willbe sued for refusal to comply with theCode of Ethics and other laws.

Once Parese concluded, KurtLundgren, an attorney in the medicalinsurance industry, presented about thesimilarities between the automotiveand medical insurance industries andtheir issues. He noted that it is naive forcollision repairers to believe they are

immune to the insurance companies,but repairers are in the business of fix-ing vehicles and providing customerservice to make money, so they shouldget to the bill when dealing with insur-ers. He pointed out that “this is all agame for the insurance company, butthis isn’t a game for you guys.”

Lundgren noted that in both theauto and medical insurance industries,proof is required to prosecute, but heurged repairers to recognize and em-phasize that they are doing this to helpthe consumer. He also praised atten-dees for being on the right track abouthow they deal with insurers, agreeingthat shops should not negotiate withinsurance companies.

Tony Lombardozzi led a discus-sion about the audience’s experiences.He urged attendees not to put anythingon paper or online that they are not pre-pared to defend in court. Though he ad-mits that the industry can be depressingat times, he insists that repairers canhave fun with fighting the insurers, aswell as making money, because it is ex-citing to make the insurance companiesjustify their actions. He believes thatshops “need to see that the processworks and they can have fun with it.”

Discussing how insurers have their

own versions of estimating software thatprovides a lower estimate than the shop’sversion, Tony noted that everything in-surers do is based on this estimate, so re-pairers need to take that tool out of theirhands by removing the insurance com-pany’s estimate from the equation. Tonyadded that the insurers “constantly havetheir hand in our pocket… and come atus in so many ways that it’s hard to keepup with them.”

Tony noted that the insurancecompanies have spent 30 years brain-washing repairers to believe they arethe insurer’s servants, but in reality,collision shops only need to allow ad-justers to look at the vehicle, completetheir paperwork and go home. Ericachimed in, encouraging attendees to“make it painful for [the insurancecompanies] by doing it your way, theright way... make it clear to them thatyou’re not going to be the one whochanges.” She went on to state that in-surance companies have no right toexpect collision repairers to stop theirprocess just because the insurer hasadopted another bizarre practice. In-surance companies are great at propa-ganda and brainwashing, but whenthey try to dictate what a shop can and


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The Long Island Auto Body Repair-man’s Association held its 11th annualgolf outing at the Port Jefferson Coun-

try Club on Sept. 24. More than 100golfers attended the event, which in-cluded dinner and a raffle of fantasticprizes donated by several sponsors.The grand raffle prize, a four-day golftrip to Myrtle Beach, SC, for four peo-ple, was won by Gary Padovant ofGary’s Autobody in Westchester, andwas donated by Donaldson’s Subaru.

The challenging course, designedand built in 1908, is very sloped andhilly, and beautifully landscaped andmaintained.

The players teed off at 1 p.m.using a shotgun style start. The formatfor this year’s round was a full scram-ble. In scramble, players select the

best of each shot, then drop their ownball at that point and play that wayuntil the ball is holed. This style of

play allowed the round to move ata good pace and helped all thegolfers get through their round andinto the clubhouse for an hour ofcocktails and appetizers followedby a delicious buffet dinner.

After dinner over 300 prizeswere raffled off. One of the manywinners, Peter Gutteri of Na-tional Insurance, won a car DVDand entertainment system courtesyof Advantage Nissan.

LIABRA would like to espe-cially thank Golf Committee

Chairman Paul O’Connell for all hishard work and dedication, as well as

all the volunteers and sponsors whohelped put this event together.

In other LIABRA news, the asso-ciation held a New York State LaborDepartment educational meeting onOct. 16 in Hicksville, NY. The laborlaw mini seminar was presented byone of the premier labor law experts inNew York State. Members were en-couraged to attend to “come learn theproper way to run your business toavoid costly problems” because “theLabor Department has targeted our in-dustry for audits,” the association said.

Guest speaker was Robert ArnoldofArnold Standard in Rockville Centre, NY.

100 Golfers Attend LIABRA’s 11th Annual Golf Tournament; and Meet on Labor Laws

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Super raffle winner Gary of Gary’s Autobodyin Westchester

Velocity is rebuilding the popular carfranchise OVERHAULIN’ andbringing it back to viewers this Oc-tober. Featuring Chip Foose, the all-new OVERHAULIN’ is set to unveilone-of-a-kind automotive transfor-mations to several lucky and well-de-serving car owners. The new andimproved OVERHAULIN’ pre-mieres October 2 at 9PM ET/PT onVelocity. Foose is known for com-bining creativity, technology and in-genuity, when restoring classic carsresulting in some of the most uniqueand breathtaking vehicles anywhere.However, OVERHAULIN’ goes be-yond the garage, exploring engaginghuman stories and the strong emo-tional connection between man andmachine. In each episode of OVER-HAULIN’ viewers will watch Chipand his build team as they makeoverworn-out automobiles into works ofart. The restoration projects featuredeserving individuals ranging fromreturning veterans to those nega-tively impacted by the tough econ-omy. Each altered auto becomes alife-changing surprise for its un-knowing owner. Co-host Chris Ja-cobs returns, as well as fabricationand restoration expert Jessi Combs.

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While thinking through some socialmedia topics recently I realized thatthe original and still current championof real social media is the simplephone call.

In the past several years, I’vecalled literally hundreds of bodyshops, vendors and collision-relatedbusinesses over the phone to interviewthem for articles I write for AutobodyNews. And every time I encounter astrange phone experience when call-ing a body shop I’m surprised. In anybusiness, the phone is usually the firstcontact you’re going to be makingwith the public, and that’s why it’s soimportant. And in the collision indus-try it’s even more crucial.

Think about it. Your potential cus-tomer gets in an accident. They getthree or four names of body shops intheir area from their insurer and theystart calling them. If they’re left onhold or the person answering thephone is rude or inattentive, manypeople will simply hang up and callthe next shop on their list. So the bigquestion is—do you give good phoneor are you currently losing business byfalling short in this important area ofcustomer service?

Although e-mail and text messag-ing have become more popular waysof communication, we still use ourtelephones almost constantly for bothpersonal and business reasons. Itseems that good telephone mannersare common sense, but my recent ex-periences have led me to believe thatthere are many lessons to be learnedby body shops in the arena of tele-phone etiquette.

The topic of phone protocol andhow some body shops don’t seem tovalue the importance of it becamemore apparent recently when I wascalling a body shop to interview theowner for an upcoming ABN article.First, the phone rang at least 12 timesbefore someone picked up. Okay, I’mthinking, they’re a busy shop, noproblem. It happens.

Then, I heard a voice, but for justa millisecond. “Hold.” It made me feellike I was ordering a pizza for deliv-ery. Without a simple “hello” or “I’mreally busy, can I get back to you injust a minute?” I sat on hold for at

least five minutes, and then the callwent directly to voicemail (or in thiscase, I call it “voice jail’) without anyexplanation. No greeting, just a beep.

So, I hung up and called back sothat the painful process could resumeall over again. This second time, thewoman answering the phone shoutedout “Bill’s.” Not “Bill’s Collision,”which is the actual name of the busi-ness.

But at least this time around wehad a brief conversation. I could hearher chewing gum and her indifferenceto my inquiry was immediately evi-dent. “Is Bill there?” I asked. “No,”she replied. “Do you know when he’llbe returning?” After a long sigh, shesaid, “No idea. Do you want his voice-mail?” Been there, done that, Ithought. “We’re really busy rightnow,” she added. And without any fur-ther warning—boom, I was back onhold.

At that point, I hung up oncemore and decided to try again later.But each time I called, I got the sameperson and each time she seemed evenmore bored than the time before. Icould almost hear her eyes rolling!

The other call I hate is the onewhere the receptionist grills you andafter a series of questions you mightbe allowed talk to the boss. I can un-derstand, because most body shops re-ceive 10-15 sales calls every day, soscreening out the wannabes is crucialand a good phone person is adept at it.But, when you feel like they’re inter-rogating you in the process, that’s badphone protocol. Hey, I’m not trying toreach Obama, it’s a body shopowner—so why are you making mefeel like I’m the paparazzi chasingyour boss down? It’s all about the waythings are said and when a reception-ist gets too protective of his/her boss,it’s a real turn-off.

So, how should body shop em-ployees act on the phone? I asked anexpert on the subject. Her name isCynthia Grosso, a business consult-ant, etiquette coach and author of theowner of the Charleston School ofProtocol and Etiquette in Charleston,SC. She gave me a very simple list ofdo’s and don’ts about phone manners:● Never call someone “Honey,

sweetie, or darling” on the phone, es-pecially if you don’t know them. It’stoo personal and unprofessional.● Be conscious of the tone of yourvoice, especially when you answer thephone. (If you’re having a bad day,please keep it to yourself.)● Be sure to identify yourself imme-diately when the person you are call-ing answers. Dead air will kill a callevery time.● If you happen to be screening calls,do it gracefully without acting like abodyguard and offending the personwho is calling.● Do not eat while talking on thephone. That’s why lunch breaks wereinvented.● Always return phone calls. Make apoint to find the time. It only takes afew seconds to call someone back orto send an email explaining that youwill call them back when you areavailable. Not returning a phone callis the worst offense and inexcusable.

The rule on returning phone calls iswithin 24 hours and the standard foremails is 48 hours for a return re-sponse.

“Phone communication is allabout finding a common language,”Rosso explained. “Everyone wants tofeel important, and keeping that inmind is key to any successful phoneinteraction from a customer perspec-tive. Don’t leave people on hold formore than 30 seconds without check-ing in. And remember this—the tele-phone is your front other door and anextremely valuable component of howto run your business.”


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A 27-year-old man who is the co-founder of a youth mentoring programwas the happy recipient of a new car,thanks to the Recycled Rides program,an auto repair shop and an insurancecompany and agency.

Ryedell Davis of Syracuse, NY,is the proud new owner of a 2005Suzuki Forenza, reported The Post-Standard.

Davis is the co-founder of TeamA.N.G.E.L. Inc., a youth mentoringprogram that operates out of theSouthwest Community Center. Hismom’s car had been his ride to hisnew job at the Hillbrook Juvenile De-tention Center or his work with TeamA.N.G.E.L.

About 10 people from Sam’sAuto Body & Service Center in Syra-cuse replaced the car’s bumpers anddoors, banged out dings and repaintedthe Forenza to restore it to its show-room shine, said Sam Vigliotti, pres-ident of the Syracuse company. Theshop’s vendors donated parts andpaint for the project, he said.

“It’s a blessing. That’s all I cansay,” Davis said.

“Drive it with great safety andpleasure,” said Steve Cibelli, assis-tant regional vice president of TheHanover Insurance Group, as Davisgot into the car for a test drive around

the parking lot.Davis co-founded Team ANGEL,

which stands for Avoid NegativeGarbage, Enjoy Life, with his friendEd Mitchell. The organization offersa mentoring program for teens to en-courage them to stay off drugs andavoid violence.

“All we’re trying to do is changethe way kids in this city think,” Davissaid.

The car will allow him to get towork, travel to speaking engagements,and take the teens on outings, he said.

It was one of four the insurancecompany was giving away this fallthrough Recycled Rides, Cibelli said.

Recycled Rides is a nationwideprogram created by the National Auto

Body Council.Cibelli explained how the pro-

gram works. An insurance companytakes title to a wrecked car that it hasdetermined would cost more to repairthan the vehicle is worth.

It’s then turned over to an autorepair shop, which donates the parts,the paint and the time to repair the ve-hicle. The car is then given to a per-son or organization in need, Cibellisaid.

This is the first time Hanover’sSalina office has participated, he said.The insurance company worked withthe United Way of Central New Yorkto choose a worthy recipient. Bailey,Haskell & Lalonde, an agency thatworks with Hanover, did a back-ground check on him, Cibelli said.

Davis has ties to the United Way,said Frank Lazarski, the organiza-tion’s president. As a high school andcollege student, Davis worked withOnpoint for College, and later withOnpoint for Work. Both are United

Way agencies, he said.Davis is a graduate of Syracuse

University with a degree in humanservices and health.

Team A.N.G.E.L. currently has anon-profit status under Onpoint, but israising money to become its own non-profit.

Syracuse Body Shop Restores Ride for Co-Founder of Youth Mentoring Program

Ryedell Davis of Sycracuse, NY, received a 2005Suzuki Forenza from Recycled Rides.

A body shop in Queens, NY, will paytribute to six firefighters who lost theirlives at the location in 1962. MarkEberle, general manager at VIP AutoBody in Maspeth, said it became realto him when they started doing reno-vations. “They found charred lumberand an elevator shaft,” he said.

The 50-year-old tragedy, previ-ously unknown to the owners, wasunearthed in the local newspaperarchives. The building had been asoap and fat rendering factory whenthe fire broke out on October 26,1962. A brick wall fell and six fire-fighters were trapped and killed.

“I never got over it,” said JoyceEagans, whose husband, Francis, wasone of the six. They had just movedinto their first home three weeks ear-lier. “My son was only two when hisfather died. He really didn’t remem-ber.”

When she heard Eberle and theowner of this shop, Peter Keane, haddecided to put up a plaque and havea ceremony, she was moved.

“I told him that I was veryhappy,” she said. “I was in shock.” Onthe 50th anniversary in late October,the place will be packed with familiesand firefighters.

Queens Body Shop Uncovers 50 Yr-Old Fire

Honda has developed some new tech-nology for vehicle construction, andthey have applied it for the first timein the world to a mass-production ve-hicle; and not just any mass-produc-tion vehicle, the Honda Accord, one ofthe top-five selling vehicles in theUnited States.

The newly redesigned 2013Honda Accord went on sale in theUnited States on September 19, and itsconstruction is the result of Honda’snext-generation Advanced Compati-bility Engineering (ACE) body struc-ture which utilizes the new weldingtechnique as well as hot-stamped andother ultra-high strength steels to buildits cabin structure.

The Accord’s subframe is madewith a combination of steel and alu-minum joined together with a processcalled Friction Stir Welding (FSW).The continuous weld technology gen-erates a stable metallic bond betweensteel and aluminum by moving a ro-

tating tool on the top of the aluminumwhich is lapped over the steel withhigh pressure. Honda says the result-ing weld strength is equal to or greaterthan conventional MIG welding.

Honda also developed a non-de-structive inspection system for qualitycontrol that uses a highly-sensitive in-frared camera and laser beam to in-spect every unit. The carmaker saysthe Friction Stir Welding system it de-veloped for this process can be also beused for aluminum-to-aluminumwelding and could be used for pro-duction of a full-aluminum subframe.

The subframe however, shouldnot cause many repairability issues ac-cording to I-CAR Technical Director

Jason Bartanen, asHonda provides no re-pair procedures at all forthe part, and specifiescomplete replacementonly.

“What will cause someissues is the high strengthsteel used in this car’sbody structure,” saidBartanen speaking fromthe I-CAR Tech Centre inAppleton, Wisconsin.

The newly redesigned2013 Accord body uses

55.8% high-tensile steel, more than inany previous Accord. And 17.2-per-cent of the steel is grade 780, 980 and1,500 MPa, extremely high gradesthat have never before been used inany Accord, and in fact, very fewother cars, according to Bartanen.

“This is one of the first cars touse such high strength steel (1500MPa) in its body structure,” says Bar-tanen. “Most applications only use itonly for bumper beams. But the new

Accord uses ultra-high strength steelin its A pillar and B pillar reinforce-ments as well as its rocker reinforce-ments. Honda is requiring MIGbrazing only in these areas.

While Honda is not the very firstto build such a body structure, none ofthe previous vehicles even come closeto the sales volume of the Accord.“The Volvo XC60 is also using similarultra-high strength steel (1,500 MPa)in the structure,” Bartanen noted.

The Accord has historically soldbetween 250,000 and 400,000 units ayear compared to XC60 sales of ap-proximately 25,000.

Bartanen said I-CAR is currentlyupdating its Honda andAcura training avail-able online. The newAccord will be coveredin I-CAR’s CollisionRepair Overview forHonda and Acura Vehi-cles (HON01) andshould be availablewithin the next fewmonths.

“We have an Ac-cord body in white on

its way here right now,” Bartanennoted. “We are going to paint it toshow the various steels used in this carand prepare it for display at the SEMAshow.”

The ninth generation Accord,which also contains Forward CollisionWarning and Lane Departure Warningtechnologies, officially debuted atdealerships across the U.S. on Sep-tember 19 at a base price of $21,680plus destination charge.


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Honda Develops New Welding Technology, UHSS Structure for 2013 Accord

Matrix Electronic Measuring, Inc. Awarded Two PatentsMatrix Electronic Measuring Inc., adeveloper of advanced measuring de-vices for the automotive collision re-pair industry, has obtained two patentsfor its new vehicle measurement sys-tem called the Matrix Wand.

Rob Bailey, director of sales en-gineering and business developmentfor Matrix Electronic Measuring Inc.,details how the Matrix Wand adds ef-ficiency and quality to shop estimat-ing procedures. Watch now »

The Matrix Wand is a handheldvehicle measurement device used forestimating structural collision damage.The tool, which was publicly launchedin April, uses two cameras that capturethree-dimensional images of vehicledamage. Estimators can use the imagesto measure all damage on a vehicle’sbody and engine components, revealhidden damage, verify repair qualityand enable predictive wheel alignment.

Matrix has been awarded twopatents for the measurement systemand method, which was developed byGuidelight Business Solutions, aglobal business and enterprise appli-cation development company basedin Austin, Texas. Matrix has twomore patents pending on the tool,which the company expects to beawarded soon.

With ownership of the patents,Guidelight said Matrix will be able toreduce the number of competitors inthe market and obtain revenue from li-censing.

“The patented innovations Guide-light has developed for Matrix pushesthe Matrix Wand to the forefront of theburgeoning marketing of vision sys-tems and augmented reality,” saidGeorge Stevens, CEO of Guidelight.

For more information about theMatrix Wand, visit thematrixwand.com.

cannot do, it is necessary to ask whyor who says so. Erica stressed, “theycan’t make you do anything becauseyou don’t work for them.”

For the final segment, Tony intro-duced the Stump the Layers panelwhich consisted of Erica Eversman,John Parese and Kurt Lundgren. Re-sponding to questions from the audi-ence, the three attorneys and theseminar attendees discussed topicssuch as liens, total loss, consumerfraud, repair contracts, unfair claims,how to handle estimates, supplemen-tals, court cases, invoices, short pay,explaining things to customers, codesof ethics and bringing claims. As hewrapped the event up, Tony explainedthat he wants everyone to understandthat collision shops do not need to keepoperating the way the insurance com-panies want them to. His goal is toshow independent collision shops howto successfully operate their shopswithout outside influence by focusingon the legal aspects of running theirbusiness without insurer interference.

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American Honda Motor Co, Inc. an-nounced the launch of the ProFirstbody shop recognition program onOct. 15. Open to both dealer-ownedand independent collision repair shops,the program is designed to promote thecorrect, complete, and safe repair ofHonda and Acura vehicles and providesupport to shops that have demon-strated a commitment to a high level ofcustomer care and satisfaction.

To qualify, shops must conduct aminimum number of transactionsusing OEConnection’s Collision-Link software, be a designated I-CAR Gold Class Professionals®

business, and have at least one per-son presently employed by the shopwho has completed the I-CAR course,Collision Repair for Honda and AcuraVehicles (HON01).

“CollisionLink is a component ofthe ProFirst program because of thenumerous benefits it provides to bothshops and dealers, said Bill Lopez, Di-rector of OEM Program Developmentat OEConnection. “Through Colli-sionLink, shops can take advantage ofHonda’s Collision Select parts pro-gram, which enables them to use moregenuine Honda and Acura parts whilemanaging their overall repair costs.”Lopez added, “CollisionLink alsohelps to increase efficiencies and parts

ordering accuracy, which means fewerreturns, faster cycle times and, ulti-mately, more satisfied customers”

John Van Alstyne, I-CAR CEO& President stated, “The ProFirst bodyshop recognition program, in conjunc-tion with the I-CAR Gold Class Pro-fessionals designation, will alignparticipating shops with a training pro-gram that is meant to elevate the cus-tomer experience and enable shopemployees to work up to their full po-

tential.” Van Alstyne added, “Trainingand knowledge provide a platform forbusiness and personal excellence, gen-erating benefits for both the organiza-tion and the customer, includingincreased operational efficiencies, re-duced cycle times, minimized repairmistakes, and most importantly, com-plete and safe repairs.”

Qualifying shops will receive ahandsome plaque, a place on the shop-locator tool on the recently-launchedAmerican Honda consumer web site,free access to the Honda and Acuraparts catalog, parts bulletins, serviceand repair information, and more.

Shops will benefit through in-creased recognition of the shop’s pro-fessionalism, increased opportunity toreach more customers and the promo-tion of customer confidence and loy-alty.

To see full program details, go toprofirst.honda.com or profirst.acura.com.

Each shop must enroll as a sepa-rate entity at its place of business asthe ProFirst web site will manage the

shop’s access to the parts catalogsand service information.

Jim Roach, Senior Vice Presi-dent for American Honda’s Parts &Service Division noted, “We arepleased to be working with OECon-

nection and I-CAR for the ProFirstprogram. As the industry changes andautomotive technology changes, wemust make changes in our programs tokeep pace. ProFirst, and our associa-tion with both OEConnection and I-CAR, is a step in the right direction.ProFirst is a win / win for all involved,especially for Honda and Acura own-ers.”

For more information on the I-CARGold Class Professionals® program, visitthe I-CAR website (www.i-car.com) andclick on “Collision Repair Gold ClassProfessionals® “ under the “Training andRecognition” tab.

American Honda Launches ProFirst Shop Recognition ProgramContinued from Page 42

CCRE Seminar

it does.”North State sued Progressive

under New York’s deceptive acts andpractices statute, General Business Lawsection 349, for misleading consumersinto taking their damaged vehiclesaway from North State to competingbody shops within Progressive’s “net-work.” North State’s suit alleges thatthe insurance company coaxed cus-tomers away by maligning the shop’swork and pricing.

In North State Autobahn v. Pro-gressive Insurance, the Second Depart-ment’s ruling, denying Progressive’smotion for summary judgment and al-lowing North State’s suit to go forward,confirmed a business’ standing to re-cover for direct harm caused to it byanother business’ deceptive acts andpractices—even if that business is acompetitor.

Justice Robert Miller, writing for aunanimous panel, held that North State’sallegations concerning Progressive’s actsdepriving consumers of their choice ofbody shop satisfied the statute’s require-ment that the deceptive acts at issue havean impact on consumers at large. The

court further held that the law does notrequire that North State identify specificconsumers who were harmed.

The court also rejected Progres-sive’s argument that North State’s in-jury was merely derivative of that of theinjured consumers, finding that NorthState adequately alleged direct harm theinstant customers were misled into tak-ing their vehicles to a network shop, re-gardless of whether such customersultimately suffered pecuniary injury.The fact that North State was a businesscompetitor and not the consumer in thetransaction was held to be irrelevant forpurposes of standing under the statute,under which punitive damages and at-torneys’ fees are recoverable.

“This is a significant decision thatenables businesses to pursue ‘deceptiveacts and practices’ claims in business-to-business disputes—even betweencompetitors—that have an impact onconsumers at large,” said DennisArtese, a shareholder at Anderson Kill& Olick who represented North State.“That’s critically important because itallows well-funded businesses to policedeceptive practices where the state at-torney general does not, and where in-dividual consumers cannot, becausethey just do not have the financial

means to fight an insurance goliath likeProgressive in the legal system.”

Along with Artese, North Statewas represented by Finley Harckhamof Anderson, Kill & Olick and solopractitioners Anthony J. Mamo, Jr.and Richard P. Stone.

The Progressive Group was repre-sented by Nelson Levine de Luca &Horst, LLC, New York, N.Y. (MichaelR. Nelson, Kymberly Kochis, and Fran-cis X. Nolan IV of counsel), for appel-lants.

BackgroundIn 2007, North State Autobahn, Inc.commenced this action against the Pro-gressive defendants and a number ofProgressive employees, including thedefendant Nicholas Stanton. Assertedin the complaint, was that the Progres-sive defendants had violated GeneralBusiness Law §349. Specifically, thecomplaint alleged that the Progressivedefendants deceived claimants whosought to have their vehicles repaired atthe plaintiffs’ and other repair shops thatdid not participate in their DRP by mak-ing misrepresentations as to [Coccaro’sshop’s] workmanship, price, timelinessof service, and character. North Statealso alleged that the Progressive defen-

dants issued damage repair appraisalswell below fair-market value at aboutone-half the estimate of the plaintiffs’estimate, and that the Progressive de-fendants represented to claimants thatthe plaintiffs would make only partialpayments for repairs which would nec-essarily require claimants who had theirvehicles repaired by the plaintiffs orother independent shops to incur out-of-pocket expenses.

The plaintiffs further alleged thatthe Progressive defendants engaged insuch deceptive practices in order tomislead customers of the plaintiffs andother independent shops to believe thatthey must have their vehicles repairedat repair shops that were members ofthe DRP. The Progressive defendantsallegedly failed to inform theseclaimants that the repair shops that par-ticipated in the DRP used inferior after-market parts, or were not registered orqualified to work on specific vehiclemodels. As a result of the Progressivedefendants’ actions, the plaintiffs al-leged that they sustained direct eco-nomic loss in the form of more than $5million in lost business sales, and thatthe public at large sustained other dam-ages. For more on the case, search on“Coccaro” at www.autobodynews.com.


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Continued from Cover

Greg Coccaro


by Melanie Anderson

John Shoemaker of Virginia is an AirForce veteran with 23 years service inthe automotive field as a technician,trainer and formal instructor, and withseveral additional years as a collisioncenter director for a major dealershipgroup, overseeing three collision cen-ters in Virginia. Shoemaker is now aconsultant with JSE, a company he cre-ated to share 35 years’ worth of auto-motive management experience toassist collision centers in improvingoperations.

During the 30th anniversary ofNACE in New Orleans, LA, Shoe-maker presented Negotiating for Suc-cess — a Look at the NegotiationsNecessary to Keep Your Collision Cen-ter on Top.

Negotiations, Shoemaker says, notonly affect profits, but is important inpreparing a contract or business deal. Tonegotiate successfully, several elementsmust be in place during the preliminarystage of a business deal. Those elementsinclude establishing a set of core values,being honest and ethical, maintaining astandard that meets industry and cus-tomer expectations, delivering asagreed and responding to the cus-tomer’s needs. What is non-negotiableis making a profit.

Are you a negotiator? You can beif you are confident, focused, able tostay on track and be unemotional. Asuccessful negotiator will know the ob-jective before he or she begins, be ableto define the main issues and can focuson them one at a time. Negotiationswill go much smoother if a win-win isdetermined. Always have supportingdocumentation as back-up, which caninclude manufacturers specifications, acomplete damage appraisal and struc-ture measurements. The person withthe most information usually wins, saysShoemaker.

One of the first steps to take whenentering negotiations is identifying theappropriate person with whom to ne-gotiate with. Develop a rapport withthat person and determine their focus.Finding a common ground will helpyou to capitalize on similarities andkeep the conversation from gettingconfrontational. Verbal tone and bodylanguage is important. Keep your emo-tions in check.

It is important that you establishyour repair standards up front. Have acomplete damage appraisal prepared

and itemize each repair step required.Document only the repairs required andisolate prior damage. List customerconcerns.

Negotiating with InsurersWhen dealing with insurers, review theentire appraisal and make a note of the‘no’s’ but keep moving. Go back to the‘no’s’ after reviewing the complete ap-praisal. Negotiate the repair first, then

the labor, but do not negotiate your re-pair standard. Realize that you will notsee eye-to-eye with an insurer. Theirjob is to negotiate the cost down be-cause they have specific numbers tomeet and they are protective of theirbonuses.

Negotiating with Insurer DRPsOne of the best things you can do whennegotiating with a DRP insurer is to de-velop a friendship and a rapport withthe insurance adjuster and get to knowthe insurer’s agents. You want to createa good reference by ensuring the ad-juster’s experience is always good.Promote your efficiencies and yourcustomer service. But also make surethe adjuster knows what you want ontheir program. Agents are required tomaintain training and this can be an op-portunity for your shop to sponsorevents. Having a manufacturer certifi-cation makes your facility more attrac-tive to an insurer and helps establishcredibility. Have space available forthem to work. Use existing work to es-tablish opportunity with the insurer.Look at the number of non-DRP re-pairs performed for the insurer and pro-vide insurer performance reports forthose repairs. This cements your abili-ties and proves a need.

Negotiating with VendorsWhen negotiating with vendors, deter-mine a retail rate for services, such astowing, alignments, and glass work.With parts suppliers, explain yourneeds and cycle time mandates. Findout what they need to get the correct

part and incorporate electronic parts or-dering. Give vendor complete order in-formation to reduces parts errors.

Negotiate inventory levels bydefining guidelines for out-of-stockparts and require them to search otherdealers. Establish a process for parts re-turns and coordinate order cut-offtimes. Set a different time for each ven-dor. In addition, define the deliveryprocess and specify that only complete

orders are delivered. Identify in-spection requirements and negoti-ate parts price differences. Partsprice differences are the #1 causeof supplements, Shoemaker says,while insurance companies strivefor zero supplements. Set a rea-sonable dollar amount for a pricematching estimating system andestablish guidelines for higheramounts. Set a performance meas-

urement tool in place to manage sys-tem reporting; to track parts returns anddelivery delays, to identify damaged orwrong parts and the frequency.

Negotiating with Paint SuppliersExplain your needs to the paint sup-plier. Define the paint level required

and the flexibility you need in yourpaint line. Understand their distributioncapabilities and specify your deliveryexpectations.

Negotiating with the Vehicle OwnerDetermine your customer’s need, iden-tify their concerns and communicate tothe customer so they know you under-stand them. Work to resolve the situa-tion, not to sell. Provide a solution, butmake sure you understand the com-plete situation before answering tooquickly. Be flexible. Educate the cus-tomer on repairs required and write acomplete damage appraisal. Is a com-plete repair needed and will aftermar-ket parts fit their need? It is easier toremove items than to add items later.Discuss a specific time for the repairand determine their transportationneeds. In regards to payment, who ispaying for the repair? Is it beingprocessed through a third party? Is thecustomer aware of the deductible? As-sist with claims processing and re-member that vehicle owners don’t dealwith this everyday. Help them to un-derstand the process and be their advo-cate if necessary.

John Shoemaker Coaches Shops to ‘Negotiate for Success’

Dykstra Automotive Institute Survey Identifies BroadIndustry Concerns in 2013: Esp. Financing and SuppliersAccording to the 2012 Dykema Auto-motive Institute Survey, which was re-leased on October 17th, automakerswill have to contend with limited fi-nancial bank lending and raw materialcosts in the following year.

“Every major company has gonethrough tremendous upheaval and dealtwith changes to every step of its supplychain,” said Aleks Miziolek, directorof Dykema’s Automotive IndustryGroup. “There are many challenges stillon the horizon for automotive execu-tives that may impact the long termsuccess of the industry’s future.”

From the total of 100 auto indus-try advisers and senior executives thattook part in the survey, 40% of themsaid that raw materials increasing costsis the main concern of the auto indus-try, while 21% of them said that it isthe financial bank lending that will af-fect the automakers in 2013. Besidesthese two challenges, the survey alsoincludes labor issues, financially trou-bled suppliers and even the potentialliabilities of self-driving vehicles andother new technologies.

A respectable 43.4% said thatthey were working on vehicle-to-vehi-cle technology, but even more—55.3%—said that their companies

were working on vehicle-to-infrastruc-ture or systems, which would allowcars to “talk” to traffic lights and otherelements on the grid.

Over 92% said that they’d seen anincrease in demand for their company’sproducts/services over the past year.Most, 76.8%, have had to make internalchanges to meet that growing demand.

Given that vehicles are becomingincreasingly connected to the web,Dykema asked respondents about theirbiggest concerns on that front. Justover 35% said that they were worriedabout the distractions that accompanyconnected cars. However, more than28% said they had no real concerns.

When asked about investments intechnology, 60.5% said that the weredeveloping “sensor-based safety sys-tems that either warn or assist driversin potential collision situations.”

On the legislative front, the biggestissue of concern was “energy and envi-ronmental legislation.” Part of the sur-vey also discussed potential liabilities ofself-driving vehicles and other emerg-ing automotive technologies; about 1 in3 respondents said driver distractionwas their chief concern. Approximately1 in 4 had concerns about data owner-ship of technologies.

by Melanie Anderson

Steve Trapp, Program Manager atDuPont Performance Services andDuPont Performance Alliance, pre-sented Strategies for ImplementingBest Practices for SOPs in CollisionRepair at NACE on Oct. 13. Trapp,who runs a value-added program forDuPont, helped build standard operat-ing procedures for his company.

Trapp opened the session with thequestion, Where should you focusSOPs? And quickly answered it, “On

the area where youare having prob-lems in the busi-ness. It could besales or reducingcosts or in anotherarea.” He cau-tioned againstwriting standard

operating procedures for the entirebusiness if other areas are workingjust fine.

In a nutshell, standard operatingprocedures (SOPs) is a way of saying“this is how we want to do this, everytime.”

Trapp says the best way to writeSOPs is to use a flipchart and let thewhole team get involved, so you havetheir buy in when it comes time to fol-low the SOPs.

The benefits of SOPs means min-imizing waste: such as work not beingdone right the first time, being over

productive, waiting on people or hav-ing vehicles sit idle, not consultingothers, not having enough or properinventory.

Because changes occur daily,your SOPs also may change.

“Can you think of an example ofa recent change our largest customershave asked us to embrace with limitedpreparation?” Trapp asked. “Thebiggest change affecting the industryis the insurer scorecard.”

The challenge of SOPs, Trappcontinued, is that they will changeevery couple of months. “We are lit-erally learning things at a pace we’ve

never had to learn at before. Thingsare changing all the time. If we don’tchange, we will perish.”

The benefits of standard operatingprocedures include consistency ofquality, improved and leveled dailythroughput, improved productivityand efficiency, and cost and expense

control. It also means being able toproperly train new hires and cross-train the entire staff with less re-workneeded and better morale. New em-ployees come in expecting to betrained in the shop’s process. If theyaren’t trained, they will revert to doingthings the way they did at their lastplace of employment.

“We like order, we prefer it,”Trapp said. “People like a standard.The key is that staff need to be a partof the process. if they are a victim ofit, they feel trapped.”

Trapp suggests that SOPs be usedas labels, stickers on the floor or in

posters because many people are vi-sual learners.

Brainstorming meetings shouldbe one to two hours with a flip chartor white board available. And al-ways, keep the meeting positive.“Attack the process, not the person!”Trapp said. Ask staff to honestly as-sess the process for waste and definequality standards in the eyes of acustomer.

Trapp suggests the following for-mula for improving the brainstormingsession. Called ‘3-5-1’ the processasks for participants to write downthree ideas in five minutes, and thenas a group, focusing on the one ideathat comes out on top.


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“I wish I had a nickel for every timethat happened.”

Yes, that’s an overly-used ex-pression, but it applies to so manythings. How rich would you be, forexample, if you could charge a nickeltoll for every worthless adjuster thatwalked through your door? I’m guess-ing that you are now imagining your-self as Bill Gates or Warren Buffett.

Well, if you’ve read any of myprevious columns, you know that I amnow going to give you the other sideof that tollway coin. Yes, the one youjust collected from one of my knowl-edgeable adjusters.

I personally believe adjusters arean underappreciated segment in thisindustry, especially as it relates to theperception of the body shop. Moreoften than not, the lowly adjuster isviewed solely as a gate-keeper, stand-ing between you and the pot of goldthat insurance companies report mak-ing each year.

Truthfully speaking, we realizeour house isn’t always in order interms of adjusters, which is the reason

we spend so much time, money andeffort to train, develop and retain staff.Although you may view our efforts aspathetic or perhaps only “windowdressing,” we view your industry’s

corresponding efforts as non-existent.Think about it: While we may not

always do an exceptional job, the per-son most impactedby our lack of expe-rienced adjusters isour own company.The cost of an inac-curate insurance es-timate theoreticallydoesn’t cost yourbusiness money,provided you don’tassume the insur-ance estimate is 100percent accurate.Most shops will usethe insurance esti-mate as a baselineand make adjust-

ments. Other more independent think-ing shops will refuse to use it at all andwrite their own instead. So the biggestcost to a shop from an inexperiencedinsurance adjuster is probably theprice of perception: If the adjusterdoesn’t prepare a thorough estimateand there is a large supplement, theconsumer may question the shop’s in-tegrity.

I don’t want to undermine theprice you have to pay for our inexpe-rienced adjusters, but the price we payfor YOUR inexperienced “adjusters”can’t be measured. There’s a financialcost as well as the tremendous nega-tive impact it has to CSI results.

We realize our house isn’t inorder, but have you seen the mess inyours? Adjusters may seem like easytargets as shops lash out against insur-ers. I guess to some extent it’s under-standable. I would be frustrated too ifI was continually arguing why Ineeded time to do a specific labor op-eration. But before you throw a stoneat the window of our house, take alook inside yours. I can see inside andyou are in dire need of Martha Stew-art, Better Homes and Gardens and aBob Villa make-over.

The topic of inexperience orpoorly-trained shop “adjusters” is oneI’ve never seen discussed in any trademagazine or at any industry even. I’mnot sure why. Maybe because writinga proper estimate, speaking profes-sionally to a customer, and handling a

claim from start-to-finish is consid-ered Body Shop Estimating 101. Toput it in school terms, it’s a prerequi-site to do the job. If you classify your-self as a shop estimator, you can do allof those things. right?

Wrong. Similar to our adjusters,shop “adjusters” come in all shapesand sizes. Finding someone that hasthat trifecta of shop estimating skillsis as rare as a Buffalo Nickel. If youhave one, consider yourself lucky. Iknow how difficult it is. That’s whywe insurers invest so heavily in train-ing. (Please hold your laughter. Yes,we do invest a lot.)

I apologize for being cynical, butI wonder why shops spend so littletime training their adjusters. Is it ad-vantageous to have an inexperiencedperson writing estimates? Assumingthat there is no financial gain, the lackof attention to the details of customerservice is reprehensible in a day andage where customer service is a hugepriority in any business. Your inexpe-rienced adjusters hurt our businessand the performance of your shop.

I can assure you that a shop withoutstanding KPIs (key performanceindicators) is usually the direct resultof a high-quality shop “adjuster.” Poorperforming shops are usually rife withinexperienced adjusters, high turnoverand a lack of employee ownership ofthe customer experience and opera-tional results.

Insurers are inherently processoriented. We can’t understand whyshops have no problem seeing ourdirty laundry but can’t see the clotheson the floor of their house that theyjust tripped over.

Please train your people and audityour staff like we do. If you do, allthree of us win.

Got a comment or question you’dlike to see the Insider address in a fu-ture column? Email him at [email protected].


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



by Melanie Anderson

Two strong women presented “Coura-geous Leadership” at NACE in NewOrleans on Oct. 12. Sponsored byWIN, Women’s Industry Network,Denise Caspersen, ASA Collision Di-vision Manager, and Melissa Miller,CARSTAR Sr. Operational Manager,talked with a group of women aboutwhat it takes to be brave in the work-place and in their lives.

Having courage is not the same asbeing fearless. Courage is the abilityto do the right thing, despite feelingsof fear or discomfort when facing sit-uations of pain, risk, opportunity, un-certainty, hardship or intimidation.

Caspersen and Miller describedthree different types of courage anddiscussed the impact fear has on per-sonal and organizational performance,and how by tapping into your own‘courage history’ you can use yourpast to strengthen your future.

“We’re not all born with courage,but we’re born with the capacity to becourageous,” Caspersen said.

However, acting with courage isoften avoided because of fear, because

it’s easier, people are afraid of embar-rassing themselves or they don’t wanta confrontation. But the benefits couldresult in growth, better communica-tion, advancement, innovation andhappier employees.

The cost of fear is high. Accord-ing to Human Resource ExecutiveMagazine (2008), a third of U.S. em-ployees waste at least 20 hours ofwork time each month complainingabout their bosses. Stress-related ill-nesses account for 1/3 of worker ab-senteeism, and 37% of Americanworkers report being bullied on thejob. Fearful workers are twice aslikely to be depressed and 33% aremore likely to report exhaustion andsleep disorders.

Ways that employees display fearin the workplace could include hostil-ity, hiding mistakes, being distracted,and playing it safe versus taking a cre-ative approach.

Ways to combat fear includelooking for ways to build your confi-dence, not obsessing about things thatfrighten you, gathering facts, seekingmentoring and developing new skills.

“If we can address fear, little by

little, every day, it becomes a habit,”said Caspersen.

Caspersen and Miller asked thegroup of women what they thoughtcourage was and the answers werevaried: willing to take a risk, standingup for yourself, standing up for yourbeliefs, finishing what you started, notgiving up, speaking your truth, andbeing true to yourself.

Caspersen pointed out that weoften make mistakes to learn by.Something her parents told her stillrings loud today: “You always have achoice, but you have to live with theoutcome.”

When considering taking a risk,consider these factors: passion, pur-pose, principle, prerogative, andprofit. These are the right reasons totake a risk. Can you suffer through theanguishing moments that accompany ‘right risks’ while caring intensely?Can you harness that passion and stayfocused and headed in the right direc-tion? Do you have the right set of val-ues? Do you have the power tochoose? And, profit, is only to be con-sidered lastly.

Three different types of courage

were described as: ‘try,’ ‘trust’ and‘tell.’ Those who ‘try’ step up andmake the first attempts to take action.Those who ‘trust’ follow the lead ofothers and let go of control. Thosewho ‘tell’ are those who speak out, as-sert one’s voice, and tell the truth. Andthere are always risks. Your actionsmay harm others. Other people’s ac-tions may harm you. Or, you could becast out of the group for truth telling.

“The ‘tell’ type of courage can bethe most difficult as you may saythings the other person doesn’t wantto hear,” said Miller. “There is alwaysa difference between being respectfuland being offensive. Always make itabout the process, not the person.”

Caspersen and Miller also de-scribed two leadership styles. The firstis called ‘spillers’ — those who relyon fear as a motivator, are negativeduring times of challenge, or who dis-courage others who try to grow.

The other leadership style is‘fillers’ — those who build other peo-ple’s confidence, provide support dur-ing challenges, and encourage othersto grow.

Which kind of leader are you?


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BASF Showcases Newest Additionsto VisionPlus Online Tools at NACEDuring the 2012 International Auto-body Congress and Exposition at theMorial Convention Center in New Or-leans, LA, Oct. 10-13, BASF Auto-motive Refinish Solutions showcasedtheir latest software tools to improvecollision center productivity.

The Business Analyzer Tool, partof the VisionPLUS online suite ofelectronic tools and systems, gives

body shops the ability to measurethemselves against industry standardsby tracking their costs, sales, and per-formance. Used as a sales marketingtool, the Business Analyzer Toolbreaks down the numbers of a shop’scosts, sales and profit based on sev-eral key indicators, such as paint andmaterial costs, said Vitor Margaro-

nis, Marketing Director of BASFCoatings Solutions.

“We use the tool to help cus-tomers grow their businesses in theareas of improvement they want tofocus on,” said Margaronis. “From abusiness standpoint, we go above andbeyond a paint company. It’s not justabout paint. It's about profits, growth,cost control, and overall better man-

agement of their business.”The Business Analyzer Tool

is available as a mobile app.According to BASF, Vision-

PLUS Online allows collisionrepair centers to track, analyzeand improve their business inreal time so repair facilities candiscover and act on improve-ment immediately, withouthaving to wait for the usualend-of-month reports.

BASF produces coatingsfor the automotive, commercialfleet and collision repair markets.Some of the refinish solutions fromBASF are Limco, R-M and Glasuritpaint products. The offering is sup-ported by advanced color informa-tion systems, technical trainingprograms and business managementseminars.


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The Washington Metropolitan AutoBody Association (WMABA) heldmeetings in Springfield, VA, andBaltimore, MD, on September 19 todiscuss issues related to parts pro-curement and the PartsTrader pilot.The WMABA said that both meet-ings were well attended by regionalrepairers and parts vendors.

Society of Collision Repair Spe-cialists (SCRS) Executive DirectorAaron Schulenburg gave an in-depth presentation about the pilot,historical data relating to PartsTraderin other markets, and the potentialramifications for the U.S. collision re-pair industry. He also informed thegroup about the upcoming RepairerDriven Education (RDE) sessionsbeing held at SEMA Oct. 30–Nov. 2in Las Vegas.

“The potential problems it couldcreate in the market for both repairersand parts vendors could change thelandscape of our industry drastically. Ithink it was heard loud and clear,” saidWMABA Executive Director JordanHendler. “The association will use in-formation from this presentation andother sources to create a fact-based in-formative piece that can be shared inthe industry,” she said.

WMABA Sees Good Turnoutat PartsTrader Meetings

At NACE on Oct. 10, ALLDATALLC introduced a product that auto-matically verifies estimates againstregulations applicable to repairs, di-rect repair provider (DRP) guidelinesand shop business rules.

“The number of complex rulesan estimate must comply with keepsgrowing,” said ALLDATA president,Jeff Lagges in a company release.“That complexity requires skilled, ex-perienced estimators who must stillspend time looking up specifics forvarious DRPs, new regulations and soon. ALLDATA Compliance operatesbehind the scenes to verify each lineitem, helping to eliminate guesswork,reduce lookup times, and lessen theneed to hire and retain only the mostexperienced estimators. The combi-nation means ALLDATA Compliancecan help save shop owners a greatdeal of time and money.”

Equally important is the accu-racy ALLDATA Compliance adds toeach estimate that, over time, the in-creased accuracy can help strengtheninsurer relationships and potentiallyraise DRP scores, which may resultin increased referrals and revenue.

For more information go to all-data.com/estimate-compliance.

ALLDATA Shows Off NewCompliance Tool at NACE

Copart Says It is Posting Balanced Volume GainsCopart says that not only is it postingsalvage volume gains— thanks in partto an exclusive contract with a majorcar insurance carrier—but the com-pany is also maintaining a targetedratio in relation to its non-salvagebusiness, too. When discussing its2012 fiscal year, CFO Will Franklinconfirmed Copart began to see the in-cremental volume associated with itsexclusive contract with NationwideInsurance, which the auction com-pany entered into in its previous fis-cal quarter.

“We expect incremental volumefor this contract to reach full run-rateby the end of the first quarter of fis-cal 2013 and to be fully reflected inour second-quarter results,” Franklinsaid.

Meanwhile, Copart noted thatvolume from non-insurance unitsgrew by almost 5% and represented21% of all units the company movedin the quarter that closed on July 31.

“We go after all facets of thenon-insurance market, whether it’scharity or dealer business,” Copartchief executive officer Jay Adair toldinvestment analysts during a confer-ence call. “We’re going to continue togo after that. We’ve been successful,and I really think the limit is quitehigh. It’s an enormous market com-

pared to the size of total-loss vehiclesin the U.S., the U.K. or any other mar-ket.

“What excites me about it is it’sone of those books of business wherewe’ve some really great growth inthe last year on the insurance sideand yet we’re maintaining a 79-21split. They’ve been able to keep thegrowth going on even though the in-surance side has been growing rap-idly. That’s good stuff,” Adair wenton to say.

An analyst wondered if morevolume could be coming from anothermajor insurance provider since Coparthas landed contract work from Na-tionwide and Allstate during the pasttwo years.

“Buddy, if I had a crystal ball I’dshare it with you,” Adair quipped.“Those are things you just don’tknow. We’re working really hard onthis end. We fully believe in our teamand our technology and our people’sability. We’re passionate about whatwe do. I think when people meet us,they figure that out pretty quickly.We’re a company that is going to bearound for a long time. We’re not in-terested in doing something differ-ently. This is what we do and what welove. Hopefully, over time that willgenerate additional business.”

by Melanie Anderson

The National Auto Body Councilgifted six vehicles to needy familiesthrough its Recycled Rides program atNACE on Oct. 11.

Four local shops in the New Or-leans area donated their time to refur-bish the vehicles:• Car Craft Collision Centers (2 cars)• Champ’s Collision Centers (2 cars)• Collision Xperts• Fradella’s Collision Center

Seven years ago, in the wake ofHurricane Katrina, these shops re-ceived assistance from NABC withbasic necessities, such as householdgoods, clothing and technician tools.Now, these shops paid it forward toothers in need.

Recycled Rides is a national ini-tiative through which National AutoBody Council members refurbish do-nated vehicles and gift them to fami-lies in need. In addition to body shopsdonating their labor, insurers, paintsuppliers, parts vendors and rental carcompanies contribute as well.

At the NACE event, five insur-ance companies donated vehicles forrefurbishing: Allstate, Esurance,GEICO, Progressive and State Farm.Enterprise Rent-A-Car donated a ve-hicle as well.

The Maltese family received aFord Escape refurbished by Car CraftCollision Center and donated by En-terprise.

The Jiles family lost their vehi-cles in Hurricane Isaac and received aHonda CRV, refurbished by Champ’sCollision Center and donated byGEICO.

The Easley family received aDodge pickup truck, refurbished byCollision Xperts and donated by Pro-gressive.

Brenda Kenna was overjoyed toreceive a Toyota Camry that was re-furbished by Car Craft Collision Cen-ter and donated by Esurance.

Carolyn Gagliano, a retiredteacher, is thankful for her newChevrolet Impala refurbished byFradella’s Collision Center and do-nated by State Farm.

David Marlowe is retired and hasmajor health issues. He will benefitfrom the Ford Explorer that was re-furbished by Champ’s Collision Cen-ter and donated by Allstate.

“This car is giving me my lifeback,” said Marlowe. “You lose your

last vestige of independence when youlose your transportation.”

For Calvin Schenck, owner ofCar Craft Collision Centers, partici-pating in the Recycled Rides Programmeans paying it forward.

“This journey started seven yearsago as a result of the largest nationaldisaster that the United States had everexperienced. That disaster was namedHurricane Katrina,” Schenck said.“No one could have expected theamount of physical, financial andemotional damage that one eventcould cause. Thousands of peoplewere left jobless, homeless and direc-tionless. We were part of that group.

“As we struggled to get our livesand businesses back together, we werecontacted by people in our industry,who told us that they were ready toroll up their sleeves and help, and thatthey did. We were given hope thatthere were people out there who cared.Help arrived in the form of tool re-placements and emotional support,”Schenck said.

“Before we knew it, we were be-ginning to heal. Had it not been forthe help of these people, we don’tknow if we could have made it. Be-cause of this, we have decided to payit forward. The cars given away arepart of a project that has required usto complete all necessary repairs tothese vehicles, some of which wehave equipped with new tires andpaint jobs. We would also like tothank Mike n’ Jerry’s Paint and Sup-ply, Lamarque Ford and Gulf StatesGlass for the supplies they donated.”

Car Craft Collision Centers do-nated body and paint work to a 2007Toyota Camry. “We put four new

tires on this vehicle and an align-ment, as well as completing an oilchange and a complete analysis ofthe proper function of the vehicleand servicing the A/C system,” saidSchenck.

Champ’s Collision Centers, ownedby Tim and Danny Kingston, workedon two cars, a 2002 Ford Explorer anda 2004 Honda CRV. The cars were do-nated by Allstate and GEICO.

“Both cars have under 100,000miles and should provide safe and re-liable transportation for years,” saidTim Kingston. “Champ’s is proud tohave had the opportunity to contributeto such a great cause benefitting ourcommunity.”

Fradella’s Collision Centers re-furbished a 2007 Impala donated byState Farm. According to Fradella’sVice President Al Waller, the shop re-paired small dents and scratches, re-placed the front bearing, brought itsmaintenance up to date and detailedthe vehicle inside and out.

“The goal is to help people helpthemselves,” said Chuck Sulkala, theexecutive director of the NABC. “Andall of the industry segments commit toplaying a part in seeing that happens.Most that participate find it a life-changing experience.”

The Recycled Rides program wasborn in 2007. Since then, 150 cars aregiven away every year throughout thecountry, said Liz Stein, VP of Indus-try Relations, Assured PerformanceNetwork and VP of NABC. “Imaginethe impact this would be in your com-munity if more people did this.”


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Collision damage experts Larry Mon-tanez and Arthur Harris presented “TheKeys to Successful Estimating!” duringNACE in New Orleans, LA, on Oct. 12.

The focus of their presentation cen-tered on DEG, Database EnhancementGateway, a free service funded by theSociety of Collision Repair Specialists,the Automotive Service Association andthe Alliance of Automotive ServiceProviders. The DEG is an advocate foraccurate collision data and acts as a go-between for shops and informationproviders—CCC, Mitchell and Audatex.The DEG was developed to improve thequality and accuracy of collision repairestimates by those who use collision re-pair estimating databases to providefeedback to information providers.

“The DEG was created becausethere was a disconnect with infor-mation providers and DEG was cre-ated to bridge that gap,” said Harris,

DEG Administrator.The DEG public database has

been around for five years, said Harris,who has been with the company for

two years. He describes his job as “fa-cilitating the gap between informationproviders and the estimate user.”

Collision repairers and insurersmay submit questions and inquiries or

ask for assistance with a particularproblem and DEG will work with theinformation provider to reach a resolu-tion. Often, this can result in changes tothe database or P-Pages. Shops are alsoencouraged to submit pictures or shortvideos with technicians performing atask in regards to a question or problemthat arises, said Montanez, a collisiondamage analyst with P&L Consultants.

To submit an inquiry, log on towww.degweb.org and fill out an onlineworksheet.

“The DEG is free and people shouldsend in their inquiries. It helps everyoneget questions answered,” said Montanez.

The DEG database is a valuabletool for the collision repair industry asit provides valuable feedback on miss-ing, unclear or potentially inaccuratedata within the estimate systems, Har-ris said. He adds that the DEG providestimely responses on both the status on

an inquiry and the response from the in-formation provider in question. Userscan also read all other inquiries madeby other repairers and see how the issuewas resolved.

Through feedback by repairers, theDEG can help fix footnotes, inaccuratelabor times, missing parts, incorrect partnumbers, and substrate identification.

In addition, Harris advised thosein attendance at the NACE presenta-tion not to print out the P-Pages, or es-timating guides as he called them,because they could be outdated. Mon-tanez says he downloads the P-Pagesonce a month to replace the older ver-sion from the previous month.

“The P-Pages aren’t guides. Theestimates aren’t suggested. It is themanual,” said Montanez. “The P-Pagesare not open to interpretation.”

For more information on theDEG, go to www.degweb.org.

DEG & the Keys to Successful Estimating Presented in New Orleans

Larry Montanez (l) and Arthur Harris (r) talkedabout the DEG at NACE on Oct. 12

DEG DATABASE INQUIRY 10/15/2012

Track_# EstimatingPlatform

InquiryCategory

Year MakeModel

ResolutionStatus

OriginationDate

SubmissionDate

ResolutionDate

Total Timeto Resolve

4889 Audatex - RefinishOperations

2012Lincoln MKS Resolved 9/11/2012

6:15:07 PM9/14/20129:02:00 AM

9/14/201212:38:00 PM 00 Days

Inquiry Description Resolution DescriptionPaint CodeSection6_IssueSummaryCRYSTAL CHAMPAGNE PRL Paint codeJZ decoded as a two stage but it is a three stage

Estimated Fix September 2012The paint code JZ has been updated to display as a threestage application in the paint table. The change will appearon the September 2012 release.

Esurance recently honored threeCARSTAR facilities with Auto BodyRepair Expert of the Year awards dur-ing CARSTAR’s annual conference inSan Antonio. CARSTAR said Es-urance presents the CARSTAR AutoBody Repair Expert of the Year awardto the top performing stores in threeU.S. regions. The award is based onseveral key performance indicators,such as estimate cycle time, compli-ance with Esurance’s direct repair pro-gram, re-inspection variance, I-CARGold status and customer service. Theaward was created to recognize the topshops and technicians in the industryfor customer service excellence andcontinuation of technological educa-tion, CARSTAR said. The award-win-ning facilities include the following:● Ace Sullins CARSTAR in Miramar,FL, owned by Kyle Wharff.● Hunter’s CARSTAR in Norwood,PA, owned by Gary Hunter.● Jungerman CARSTAR in St. Peters,MO, owned by Kerry and BobbieWoodson.

“I congratulate them for earningthe titles, and I thank Esurance for itscontinued campaign to educate tech-nicians in this industry,” said DavidByers, CEO of CARSTAR.

Esurance recognizes ThreeCARSTAR shops with awards

Martin Senour Kicks Off 4QTraining Program The Martin Senour Company kickedoff its fourth quarter training sessionin October, offering courses to colli-sion center professionals on techni-cal skills, estimating solutions, newtechnologies, and updated applica-tion techniques required for collisioncenter profitability. The Fall 2012course lineup, which is held at vari-ous Martin Senour training locationsnationwide, includes an emphasis onsustainable operations from both abusiness and technical standpoint.

“We seek to help collision repairowners, managers and technicians bet-ter practice profitable and more pro-ductive thinking and hands-on doing,”says Jeff Green, Martin Senour Di-rector of Sales. “We also have seensignificant interest for classes regard-ing waterborne technologies, applica-tion certification, and lean practices, sowe’ve provided additional coursesspecific to those practices.” MartinSenour professionals will be providinginstruction on a number of class topicsincluding its VORTEX® waterborne,Tec/Base® and Pro//Base™ refinishsystems, painter certification, andcolor adjustment and blending. Visitmartinsenour-autopaint.com or call 1-800-526-6704 for schedule.

november 2012 northeast edition

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record business

business sales

partstradersee steve

business entity north

autobody news staff

new orleansattendance

forstate farm

aformer state farm claims