october 2012 western edition

State Farm Insurance has sent a letter toall of its Select Service shops to offerthe latest updates and answers to com-mon questions surrounding the com-pany’s parts procurement pilot throughPartsTrader.

In the letter, State Farm said it be-lieves customers will benefit from com-petitive pricing, high quality parts and astrong parts supply chain for auto re-pairs. The company said the Part-sTrader platform will ensure that StateFarm can work with repairers to fixmore cars rather than total them.

“State Farm believes technology ischanging the driving experience andcustomer expectations. While we don’t

know what the future holds, trends sug-gest changes are ahead for insurers andrepairers,” State Farm said.

“We understand that the ideal or-dering solution for repairers will lever-age the benefits of technology toprovide the opportunity to locate thehighest quality parts, at the most com-petitive prices, as quickly as possible.”

State Farm offered the followinginformation to its Select Service shopsin attempt to address “misunderstand-ings and misgivings” that many peoplehave developed regarding the program:

● Pricing information: State Farmsaid it cannot see repairer costs or part

President Barack Obama confrontedChina’s alleged auto parts subsidies onSept. 17, accusing that country of un-fair trade practices that “harm workingmen and women [in the US].”

Beijing has acknowledged strate-gies to support industries targeted fordevelopment, ranging from clean en-ergy to mobile phones to autos. Com-panies can receive tax breaks andlow-cost bank loans, energy and land.

Exports accounted for about one-sixth of the $300 billion in sales byChinese auto parts makers last year, ac-cording to research firm AlixPartnersAsia. The United States was by far the

biggest destination for Chinese autoparts last year, with sales rising 26 per-cent to $12.9 billion. Exports to the No.2 region, Western Europe, rose by asimilar margin to $7.8 billion, said Al-ixpartners.

“Today, my administration islaunching new action against China—this one against illegal subsidies thatencourage companies to ship auto partsmanufacturing jobs overseas,” Obamasaid in a campaign speech in Ohio, theheart of auto parts manufacturing in theUnited States.

“Those subsidies directly harm

See PartsTrader Update, Page 24

See Chinese Auto Parts, 9

CAA Sends Legislative Alert and Call to ActionThe California Autobody Associationissued this Legislative Alert-Call toAction:

The CAA has been opposing in-surer-sponsored legislation that wouldweaken long-standing law that pro-vides for fair and reasonable autobody repair practices. CAA has alsoopposed legislation that would pro-vide legal presumptions that after-market crash parts are equal to OEMcrash parts in all instances.

Insurer sponsored bills this yearinclude SB 1460 (Yee) and AB 1098(Hagman). Both failed.

However, CAA has learned thatinsurers are now trying to usurp thedemocratic process by “gutting andamending” a bill during the final daysof the legislative session. “Gut andamend” is a last-minute move whichstrips a bills original contents and in-serts new unrelated language to theoriginal bill, thus by-passing open hear-ings, negotiations and amendments.

We are asking all our CAA mem-bers to call their Assembly membersand Senators today and tell them tosay ‘No’ to last minute “gut andamend” bills which significantlyweakens consumer law pertaining toaftermarket crash parts and fair autobody repair practices.

Any such legislation should beproperly vetted through the normalprocess, fairly negotiated with allstakeholders and not rushed in the‘middle of the night’ with no public orindustry input. These types of prac-tices undermine public trust.

We suspect this ‘gut and amend’will drastically change current law re-garding aftermarket crash parts. Leg-islators may be led to believe byinsurers that aftermarket crash partsare equivalent to OEM parts in all in-stances, and that they should belegally considered as such. CAAneeds our members to educate theirlegislators.

When you call your legislator,please offer them information to sup-port the facts, as you know them. Hereare some ideas for discussion:

Although quality of aftermarketcrash parts has improved over the last10 years, they are still inconsistent.Sometimes they fit and perform andsometimes they don’t.

Protect your business and stopthese types of underhanded legislativepractices. Please call your senator andassembly member today. Call both dis-trict offices and Sacramento offices. Tolocate your legislator please goto:http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/yourleg.html.

President Obama Takes on Chinese Auto Parts,Alleging Illegal Subsidies, and Gov. Romney Plan

According to the Oak Ridge NationalLaboratory, a 10% reduction in vehi-cle mass increases fuel efficiency by7% on average, so it’s clear what ad-vantages lighter weight and strongermaterials can bring to future vehicles.

As the automotive industry ab-sorbs CAFE regulations and consumerdesire for fuel efficient cars, the goalof mass reduction has enabled somestartling improvements in productiontime and costs for carbon fiber.

Carbon fiber is emerging as apractical and cost-competitive alterna-tive for mid-volume production cars.Previously used only in exclusive low-volume vehicles like the Corvette ZR1pictured, Plasan Carbon Compositesbased in VT and owned by Plasan

Sasa, an Israeli defense contractor, willbe producing carbon panels for a mid-volume production vehicle as early asJanuary 2013 from its locations in

Western Michigan. This means that byearly 2013 body shops could be taskedwith carbon fiber repairs.

“It will be the first time that car-See Carbon Fiber, Page 58

Carbon Fiber Advances Enable Mid-VolumeProduction Vehicles from MI Factory by 2013

State Farm Releases PartsTrader Update,Adds Chicago to Test Market

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REGIONALAre Driverless Cars Coming to California?. . . . 8Arizona Rates 6th Highest for LaborUnderutilization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Ben Clymer’s Body Shop Helps FamilyIn Need of Car . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

CAA Sends Legislative Alert and Call to Action . 1Caliber Collision Continues Arizona Expansion with Grand Opening in Tempe . . . . . . . . . . . 9

California Senate Approves First ofTwo BHPH Bills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Cooks Collision Centers Adds Fremont Location. 6Environmental Study Favorable for PowayBody Shop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Fewer Illegal Immigrants Now Living in Arizona. 4Glendale/Foothill CAA Previews New Equipment . 4Go Where Your Customers Are—You’ll Find Them Online. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Haddick’s Towing & Auto Body Adds U-Hauls. 4Jay Leno Examines 1910 Brooke Swan Car . 12North Hollywood ‘Body Shop’ Busted inFederal Drug Investigation . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

San Diego Body Shop Makes House Calls . . . 4Toyota Celebrates 40th Anniversary inLong Beach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

COLUMNSAttanasio: What You Don’t Know aboutSEO Can Cost You . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Evans: Building Body Molds from Plugsis No Easy Task . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66

Franklin: Information Mining for Profit . . . . . . 30Sisk: DuPont Performance Coatings, A Big Change but Much Stays in Place . . . . . . . 34

Sisk: What Other Associations Are Doingand Have Done Recently. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

Yoswick: Shops Can Put News, TrendsRelated to Insurers to Good Use . . . . . . . . 28

NATIONAL2012 Memorial Scholarship Recipient Named. 512012 SEMA Show Provides ExpansiveActivities for Collision Repair Professionals. 32

8th Company Pleads Guilty in Auto Industry Price Fixing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

A Little Piece of ‘57 Chevy Blue Heavento Debut at SEMA. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

AAIA Releases 2012 Digital RepairTrends Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

AAPEX Invites Auto Instructors . . . . . . . . . . 70AASA Briefing at AAPEX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62AASP-MA and CCRE to Host EducationalSeminars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

AASP-MA Talked Parts Procurementat State Meeting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

ALLDATA Europe Showcases New Product . . 61ASA Issues Timeline for State Farm toProve PartsTrader Benefit . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

ASA Speaks with NWLCRA RegardingPartsTrader Pilot. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

ASRW Adds Auto Body Repairers AssemblyOct. 10. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

ASRW Announces Content, Speakers forIndustry Forum, Oct. 12 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

ASRW Hosts 2nd Annual MSO SymposiumOct. 12 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

ASRW Parties at the Mardi Gras Worldin New Orleans. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

Attract Customers with a Clean Shop:

10 Tips to a Pristine Look . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56Auto Painter Uses His Skills to TransformGuitars into Artwork . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

Automaker, OEM and Recall News . . . . . . . . 38Body Shop Move Enforced by Judge forPA Route 29 Expansion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Carbon Fiber Advances Enable Mid-VolumeProduction Vehicles from MI Factoryby 2013 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Carlyle to Buy DuPont’s Auto Paint Businessfor Nearly $5 Billion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

Connecticut Association Voices AlarmAbout PartsTrader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

Copart Gives $15,000 to CREF forscholarships, grants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

CREF Offers Free Industry Classes forStudents at NACE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

CREF Reception at SEMA Invites Allwith RSVP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Gunder’s Has 15 Insurers Paying NewLabor Rate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Hertz Buys Dollar Thrifty. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44Insurers Tend to Overcharge Long-TermCustomers Study Says . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

Is New Vehicle Technology EndangeringYour Business? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

Mississippi Collision Repair AssociationPlans to Expand to the North and South . . 18

Mitchell’s Industry Trends Report:Auto Physical Damage Report . . . . . . . . . 13

NABA Announces Survey Results . . . . . . . . . 18NABC Golf Event Fundraiser Opens OnlineRegistration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

New IIHS Test Aims to Improve FrontalCollision . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

New York Body Shop Owner Wins LKQCalendar Contest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

NJ Shop Owner Goes Round and Round with State Farm on Material Reimbursements. . 14

PartsTrader will Come to Chicago Market’s450 State Farm Select Service Shopsin December. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

President Obama Takes on Chinese AutoParts, Alleging Illegal Subsidies, andGov. Romney Plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Recipient of Emil Stanley Merit Awardis Announced . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

Rich Evans' SEMA Appearance Schedule . . . 67SCRS Presents International Perspectiveon Parts Procurement. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

Service King Gives $10,000 for StudentScholarships . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Shop Owner Nets $3.4 Million in PaintContract Lawsuit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

Shop That Helped Bullied Teen Inspiredto Start a New ‘Pay it Forward’ Program . . 64

Silver Sails Paints Launches in USA . . . . . . . 63State Farm Releases PartsTrader Update,Adds Chicago to Test Market . . . . . . . . . . . 1

The Georgia Collision Industry AssociationDiscusses PartsTrader with George Avery. 14

Use myAAPEX to Connect with Exhibitorsbefore Show. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

Van Tuyl Group Joins NABC as NewDiamond Member. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

WMABA Hosted PartsTrader Meetings inTwo Locations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Women Prefer Sedans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

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 Garcia

Serving California, Nevada and Arizona, Autobody Newsis a monthly publication for the autobody industry. Per-mission to reproduce in any form the material publishedin Autobody News must be obtained in writing from thepublisher. ©2012 Adamantine Media LLC.

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

Audi Wholesale Parts Dealers . . . . .64Auto Painting USA . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21Automotive ID . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6Autowest Chrysler-Jeep-Dodge-Ram .17BASF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5BMW Wholesale Parts Dealers . . . .57Buerge Chrysler-Jeep-Dodge . . . . .10Capitol Mazda . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20CCC Information Services . . . . . . . . .7Cebotech, Inc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8Cellette . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18Champion Pneumatic . . . . . . . . . . .19Chief Automotive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .35Classifieds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .70Downtown Motors of LA(Audi, VW, Porsche) . . . . . . . . . . .47

Drew Hyundai . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .54Elk Grove Toyota . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11Enterprise Rent-A-Car . . . . . . . . . . .65Equalizer Industries . . . . . . . . . . . . .14Extractor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12Ford Wholesale Parts DealersAZ, CA, & NV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .53

Galpin Motors . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31, 41Garmat USA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16GM Wholesale Parts Dealers . . . . . .62H & S Autoshot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .30Haydell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22Henderson Chevrolet . . . . . . . . . . . .34Honda-Acura Wholesale PartsDealers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .36-37

Hyundai Wholesale Parts Dealers . .60I.C.E. Institute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .63Infratech Automotive . . . . . . . . . . . .39Intertape Polymer Group . . . . . . . . .33Kearny Mesa Subaru-Hyundai . . . . .58Kia Motors Wholesale Parts Dealers .55Levan Group, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8LKQ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .71Maita Subaru . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .42

Malco . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11Mattei . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .44Mazda Wholesale Parts Dealers . . .68MINI Wholesale Parts Dealers . . . . .69Mitchell International . . . . . . . . . . . .13Mitsubishi Wholesale Parts Dealers .64MOPAR Wholesale Parts Dealers . .43Moss Bros. Chrysler-Jeep-Dodge . .15Nissan/Infiniti Wholesale PartsDealers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .67

North County Kia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28PCL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .49PPG . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2PreFab Ads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4Preval . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .72Prevost . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9Rare Parts Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26RBL Products, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .48Reliable Automotive Equipment . . .40Replica Plastics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .65Riverside Metro VW-Honda-Hyundai-Nissan-Mazda . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .46

SATA Spray Equipment . . . . . . . . . .32Shingle Springs Nissan-Subaru . . .61Sierra Chevrolet-Honda-Mazda-Subaru . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .56

Solution Finish . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .66Star-A-Liner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24Subaru Wholesale Parts Dealers . . .59Summit Software Solutions, Inc. . . .25Timmons VW-Subaru . . . . . . . . . . . .50Total Automotive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .51Toyota Wholesale Parts Dealers . . .63Valspar Automotive . . . . . . . . . . . . .27Volkswagen Wholesale Parts Dealers .69Volvo Crash Wholesale Dealers . . .68Wanda Refinish . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23Weatherford BMW . . . . . . . . . . . . . .29Wedge Clamp System . . . . . . . . . . .45

Inde

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Western

www.autobodynews.com | OCTOBER 2012 AUTOBODY NEWS 3

PartsTrader Updates in this IssuePages 1, 14, 32, 44, 45, 48, 69

Autobody News wants to know what readersin California, Nevada and Arizona

have to say about the industry in your region.Stop by our booth (#N924) at ASRW

(NACE-CARS) during the Expo and tell us!

We’ll pass the information along in future issues.


Arizona may have lost one-quarter ofits illegal immigrants due to the reces-sion, new laws and police crackdowns.

The number of undocumentedimmigrants living in Arizona mayhave dropped by as many as 144,000persons since 2007, according to anew immigration report.

That same report shows Califor-nia’s illegal immigrant population isstable, but rising in Nevada, Texasand Washington.

The report from the Center forImmigration Studies estimates thenumber of Arizona illegal immigrantsat between 435,000 and 479,000.

CIS research director StevenCamarota said the lower number isbased on U.S. Census Bureau data,while the higher number takes into ac-count an estimated 10 percent nationalundercount of the actual number of il-legal immigrants living in the U.S.

Both numbers are down fromprevious CIS estimates that peggedthe state’s undocumented populationat 579,000 in 2007. That translatesinto a drop between 17-25%.

Fewer Illegal ImmigrantsNow Living in Arizona

Xtreme Makeover Collision ownerJoe Mariscal of San Diego, CA,says, “We do what most auto bodyshops won’t. We make house calls.”

In an effort to lessen the diffi-culties for their customers who havebeen involved in vehicular accidents,Xtreme Makeover Collision Centerwill go to their doorstep.

“An accident can be quite a har-rowing experience and having tomake a decision right on the spotabout where to have your mangledcar fixed can be daunting ... youronly recourse would be to have thetow truck driver take you to where herecommends,” Mariscal explains.

He points out, “Not all autobody shops are what they say theyare. In our center, we want everyclient to understand they will betaken care of. For this reason, XtremeMakeover Collision makes housecalls.”

An expert from the auto bodyrepair shop will immediately headover to a client’s residence once con-tact is made after an accident. Theywill meet with the customer as soonas the vehicle has been dropped offby the tow truck service and will givea free quote.

San Diego Body Shop MakesHouse Calls

While the unemployment rate is aclosely watched indicator of eco-nomic health, that rate doesn’t takeinto account the millions of peopleacross the country who are underuti-lized on the job, such as involuntarypart-time workers.

Arizona had the 6th highest rateof labor underutilization in the coun-try in 2011.

In 2011, 18% of Arizonans wereeither unemployed, working part-time or marginally attached to theworkforce, according to new datafrom the U.S. Bureau of Labor Sta-tistics.

This was only a slight drop fromthe state’s peak of 18.4% in 2010,and is still far from reaching pre-re-cession levels. By comparison, only7.4% of the workforce fell into thiscategory in 2007.

However, in what may be agood sign for 2012, the Arizona ratewas a bit lower between the thirdquarter of 2011 and the second quar-ter of 2012, averaging a rate of16.6%. The state had 298,300 unem-ployed residents in 2011 and an un-employment rate of 9.5%. However,there were an additional 217,800 in-voluntary part-time employees.

Arizona Rates 6th Highestfor Labor Underutilization

A single mother of four childrenneeded a car, and several MorenoValley, CA, businesses came to heraid, including Ben Clymer’s TheBody Shop.

Ben Clymer’s The Body Shoppartnered with AAA of Southern Cal-ifornia Insurance, P&D Wholesale,Martin Auto Color, PPG Paint,Mayor Richard A. Stewart and Com-munity Connect to provide a car forCarol Patterson. The gift came withone year of insurance donated byAAA of Southern California Insur-ance and a trunk full of groceries.

Applications from families inneed of transportation were collectedby Community Connect. A teamfrom The Body Shop selected the re-cipient. Patterson and her childrenlived in a shelter for two years.

The family now lives in anapartment and Patterson works atTarget. Before she received the car,she had to walk, ride the bus or ac-cept rides from friends to get towork. When she worked a late shift,it took two hours to walk home.

The car was presented on Aug.30 at Ben Clymer’s The Body Shop,22335 Alessandro Blvd. in MorenoValley.

Ben Clymer’s Body ShopHelps Family In Need of Car

The Glendale/Foothill-CAA Chapterwill hold its next meeting on Sept.20, at Brookside Country Club, 1133Rosemont Ave. in Pasadena, CA.

Guest speaker Toby Chess willspeak about ‘Where are we going inthe future and what are you going todo about it?’ Additionally, Chess willgive a demonstration on the MatrixOne, a new measuring instrumentwhich uses a special photo wand.

Tom Gattuso, trade show directorfor SEMA, will also present a previewof the latest cutting-edge technology.

Members will also hear aboutsome very important legislation thathas been passed regarding BMW.

Other guests include: GoliathCarts with a live preview of theirbody material, paint and detail carts;Pro-Spot Welders will display theirnewest welder; and Gyant Compli-ance will introduce their latest soft-ware program which measures NOxemissions or VOC usage.

Registration begins at 5:30 P.M.and the meeting begins at 6:30 p.m.Cost is $45 for CAA members or$100 for non-members. Please RVSPto CAA Southern California Repre-sentative Cindy Shillito 714-944-4028 or at [email protected].

Glendale/Foothill CAAPreviews New Equipment

Laurie Marshall, owner of Had-dick’s Towing & Auto Body, locatedat 15120 E. Valley Blvd., in the Cityof Industry in California, recentlyadded U-Haul truck and trailer rentalsto the towing and auto-body repairbusiness that has been operating inthe San Gabriel Valley since 1928.

Haddick’s Towing & Auto Bodycan now offer its customers a varietyof moving equipment and suppliesdesigned specifically for movinghousehold furnishings, includingmoving vans, open trailers, closedtrailers, furniture pads, appliance dol-lies, furniture dollies, tow dollies andauto transports. Haddick’s Towing &Auto Body also will offer sales itemsto protect their customers’ belong-ings and make moving easier, such asheavy-duty boxes, which are made ofup to 90 percent recycled content andare available in a variety of sizes.

“In order to better serve our cus-tomers, we wanted to add another di-mension to our business that wouldadd value and convenience for the sur-rounding community,” Marshall said.

Haddick’s Towing & AutoBody Adds U-Hauls

www.autobodynews.comCHECK IT OUT!



Cooks Collision CentersAdds Fremont Location

Environmental Study Favorable for Poway Body ShopCity council members in Poway, CA,have agreed with a study that opera-tions at a body shop will not signifi-cantly affect the environment.

Council members voted 5-0 toapprove a negative declaration fol-lowing a review of a 153-page reportprepared for the city on operations atChrome Collision, 13175 Gregg St.

At the August meeting, councilmembers reviewed the findings ofcontractor Helix Environmental Plan-ning Inc.

The company stated in an envi-ronmental study that while ChromeCollision’s operation will have an im-pact, none of the effects are significantenough to require further study. Coun-cil members agreed.

“The science is there,” saidCouncilman Jim Cunningham. “Ittakes two findings of substantiallysignificant impact to mandate an en-vironmental impact report, and there’snot even one.”

The shop opened in May. A yearearlier, the council had approved aconditional use permit and a notice ofenvironmental exemption, allowing itto set up shop within an old industrialbuilding. City staff members deter-mined at the time the business wouldbe exempt from any environmental

studies. The city had taken the positionthe auto body shop was similar to thebuilding’s previous use as a collectionpoint for repossessed personal water-craft and motorcycles. As such, thecity claimed, the new use would be ex-empt from environmental reviews.

Those approvals were not with-out controversy as the owners of com-peting shops in town alleged that thelarge Chrome operation should not beallowed in the business park and thatits presence would harm their ownbusinesses. A competitor made an al-legation that the 12-bay, 32,000square-foot shop was violating termsof its use permit by doing some workoutside of the building.

Eventually, the opponent tookthe issue to court. A Superior Courtjudge ruled in April that the city erredin concluding that the business wasexempt from environmental reviewand ordered it to conduct a study incompliance with the California Envi-ronmental Quality Act.

Areas addressed in the environ-mental study included air quality, haz-ardous materials, water quality, trafficand parking. None of these areasraised any environmental flags, saidBob Manis, Poway’s director of de-velopment services.

Cooks Collision Centers recently ac-quired a new shop in northern Cali-fornia — this one in Fremont, CA.The Fremont acquisition follows re-cent acquisitions of six locations insouthern California.

This acquisition brings CooksCollision Centers closer to complet-ing its northern California expansionplan, which included further growthinto the South Bay area. Cooks nowoperates 27 collision repair centersthroughout northern and southernCalifornia.

The 25,000-square-foot, high-tech facility with aluminum room islocated at 41041 Albrae Street. It’sconveniently located next to the 880freeway, and will serve the commu-nities of Fremont, Newark, UnionCity, Milpitas and San Jose. It waspreviously owned by Mazi Ghor-bani for 30 years and operated underthe name EMC Collision.

“My brother Rick and I haveenjoyed a friendship and a mutual re-spect with Mazi for many years,”said Don Wood, co-CEO of Cooks.“When this opportunity becameavailable, we knew it would be aperfect fit for our company cultureand customer base.”

AAIA has released the 2012 DigitalCollision Repair Trends: IndustryStatistics & Analysis report, whichcombines the latest available indus-try data from original AAIA research,government and independent re-search sources. The work was de-signed to capture the size and scopeof the collision repair sector of theautomotive aftermarket industry.This online publication is the seventhedition of this report series.

“Collision repair shop sales in2011 totaled an estimated $38.7 bil-lion, up 3.3 percent from $37.5 bil-lion in 2010,” said KathleenSchmatz, AAIA president and CEO.

“Independent paint and body re-pair shops made up $25.7 billion or66 percent of the total market. Statslike these, and so much more, arefeatured in this new study... to helpour members run successful busi-nesses.”

The report covers such topics asfatalities from vehicle crashes, 2011retail distribution, collision repairshop sales and direct repair programs.To order, visit www.aftermarket.organd click “Market Intelligence,” orcall AAIA market research at 301-654-6664.

AAIA Releases 2012 DigitalRepair Trends Report“15 and Counting,” answers Ray

Gunder. “That’s how many insurers,since this past August, have seen fit topay our revised labor rates rather thanto try and legally defeat what wedeem to be ‘reasonable and neces-sary!’”

Gunder goes onto state: “It’s beena busy few weeks,and while 14 ofthe 15 insurersconceded withoutso much as awhimper, InfinityInsurance needed

a bit of persuasion. With the help ofour legal counsel, Attorney BrentGeohagan’s representation of Gun-der’s Auto Center, Inc., they toocame to the right conclusion and arepaying our new labor rates for bodyand refinishing, as well as an ele-vated labor rate for frame/unibodyrepair. Of course they are also pay-ing applicable legal fees and costsfor the lawsuit as well.”

Gunder has 12 current lawsuitspending against State Farm, Allstate,USAA and GEICO for their failure to

pay “reasonable and necessary” al-lowances for labor and materials andfive lawsuits against the insurers forlabor rates alone.

“I can’t express what a feeling offreedom and an incredible sense of in-dependence it gives me to once againhave control over my business and itsdestiny,” said the founder of the Cen-tral Florida-based 44-yearold collisionrepair shop.

“For the first time in a long time,I able to offer my employees a payraise! They have stuck with methrough thick and thin and it’s timethey were rewarded for their loyaltyand support.”

Gunder went on to say, “Likemany, I suppose, I’d forgotten what itwas like to operate my business with-out other’s telling me what I could andcouldn’t do.”

Gunder’s Has 15 Insurers Paying New Labor Rate

Ray Gunder

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California is quietly positioning itselfat the leading edge of what could bethe biggest upheaval in daily travelsince wheels were invented. Intriguedby the idea of eliminating human errorfrom driving, a California legislatorhas introduced a bill to clarify that dri-verless cars are street-legal.

The self-driving car may be lessthan a decade from commercial real-ity, some researchers now say, pushedforward in good part by an unlikelyCalifornia company—Web giantGoogle Inc.

“We may be at a historic cuspwhere driverless cars share the road,”said Carroll Lachnit, an editor at carinformation site Edmunds.com. “The(technological) pieces are all there.”

The concept excites many whosay the technology will lead to fewercrashes and less wasted commute timeand less stop-and-go traffic. Self-dri-ving vehicles won’t slow down tolook at things beside the road.

Researchers, notably Google,more known for Web search enginesthan car components, already are pro-ducing test cars that drive on their ownin traffic on city streets and freeways.

But the push is generating con-cerns about the reliability of the tech-nology and questions about whetherCalifornians, known for their love ofdriving, will turn over control of theircars to computers and sensors.

To highlight the technology,Google recently produced a video thatfollows a seeing-impaired man as heheads out on a taco run in Google’sfully autonomous Toyota Prius. Hesits in the driver’s seat, but only as apassenger, as the car takes him to afast food drive-through lane.

The on-board computers do theheavy work, gauging where the vehi-cle is on the road and what’s aroundit, using continuous feeds from thecar’s cameras, radar, lidar and globalpositioning systems.

Google officials say they havelaunched their high-profile effort be-cause they want to improve safety, andbecause the company believes it haswhat it takes in computer scienceknow-how to pull it off.

“It’s amazing to me that we(even) let humans drive cars,” GoogleExecutive Chairman Eric Schmidtsaid a few years ago. Schmidt’s view:

If computers were invented beforecars, cars already would be self-dri-ven.

Officials with the Auto Alliance inWashington, D.C., which representsToyota, Ford, General Motors, BMWand other major automakers, said al-liance members are individually explor-ing autonomous vehicle technology, andhave made huge advances in the pastdecade — much of it already in com-mercial vehicles.

“Your average vehicle today hasmore advanced computer work thanthere was on the Apollo 11 that landedon the moon” in 1969, spokesmanDan Gage said.

Vehicles now employ sensors toparallel park on their own and to warndrivers if they are about to pull into alane when another car is in the driver’sblind spot. Some are equipped withdistance control assist, which auto-matically slows a vehicle when an ob-ject is close ahead, and lane departuretechnology that redirects a car if it be-gins to veer out of its lane.

Those and future incrementalsteps may make the ultimate switch-over less than dramatic, said Lachnit

of Edmunds.com. “There won’t be theshock of the new.”

Jesse Toprak, vice president ofmarket intelligence with California-based TrueCar.com, says self-drivingcars can be useful.

“You can update your Facebook,whatever you have to do,” he said. “Itmeans a part of (commuters’) lives be-comes more productive and lessstressful.” But he predicts a slowadaption rate, saying the probablehigher costs of driverless cars andconsumer fear of the unknown willlimit initial sales to wealthier people.

Among those who say they won’tswitch is car club member and drivingenthusiast Shane Cole of El DoradoHills, CA. “If I wanted to just sit, I’dtake the bus.” He asks what happenswhen, not if, a car’s computer systemfails. “My cell phone freezes. The com-puter shuts down sometimes. Everyelectronic device is going to fail at somepoint. Imagine your car wigs out on youon the freeway. It’s kind of scary.”


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An apparent auto body shop in NorthHollywood, CA, was raided Aug. 29.Investigators say the shop, indentifiedas Campos Auto Body and Repair,was actually a front for a major drugsmuggling operation stretching fromMexico all across southern California.

It was signed as a body shop andwas tucked away in a small corner lo-cation with several other auto repairshops around it. But federal officialssay it was a front for drug trafficking.

“Methamphetamine, heroin andcocaine, and then of course smugglingthe proceeds of the sales of those nar-cotics out of the United States to Mex-ico,” said Claude Arnold, HomelandSecurity Investigations.

Agents moved in and removedseveral boxes of evidence. U.S. Im-migration and Customs officials say a10-month wiretap investigation un-covered a ring of drug importers,couriers and distributors operating allover southern California.

In the North Hollywood repairshop, workers allegedly would mod-ify vehicles to smuggle drugs.

“They put hidden compartmentsin various vehicles, all types of vehi-cles. Sometimes they’re operated by

power, so they open up and you can’tsee it unless you’re aware of where itis,” said Arnold.

Business owners next door saidthe body shop owners would buy junkcars at auction and bring them to theshop to be worked on. Neighborsthought they were just being repairedto be resold.

Officials say in just the past threemonths, investigators seized 135pounds of methamphetamine, 15 kilo-grams of cocaine and $100,000 incash.

“This is a significant organiza-tion, but this is Los Angeles, so wehave definitely seen organizations ofthis scope before,” said Arnold.

Officials arrested 14 people.Others allegedly involved in thescheme are out of the country. Offi-cials stress this investigation is justbeginning and they say there will bemore arrests.

North Hollywood ‘Body Shop’ Busted inFederal Drug Investigation

Caliber Collision Continues Arizona Expansionwith Grand Opening in TempeCaliber Collision Centers announcedits 8th Arizona acquisition, Elite Col-lision, with a recent grand opening inTempe.

Steve Grimshaw, Caliber Colli-sion Centers’ Chief Executive Officer,said, “This new center provides addi-tional Caliber Collision capacity in theTempe market while providing our in-surance clients the customer focus,operational consistency and cost man-agement they require in today’s com-petitive insurance market.”

Caliber Collision’s newly ac-quired 25,000 square-foot collisionrepair facility opened August 27 at8139 South Priest Drive, Tempe, AZ.

“Our newest Arizona locationprovides yet another example of how

we continue to grow across the Ari-zona market as the collision repair

provider of choice,” added MarkSanders, Chief Operating Officer forCaliber Collision Centers.

“Today’s grand opening bringsthe total number Caliber Collision lo-cations to 111 as we restore therhythm of our customer’s lives acrossArizona, Nevada, California, Texas,and Oklahoma.”

Kevin Hinton

www.autobodynews.com


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Only a signature from the governorstands in between a bill to signifi-cantly change how buy–here,pay–here dealers operate in Californiafrom becoming law.

The first of a series of measuresaimed at regulating buy–here,pay–here dealers in California re-ceived a majority vote from an entirelegislative chamber. The state’s Sen-ate approved AB 1447 on Aug. 23 bya margin of 22-14. The bills werecalled strong protections for used-carbuyers.

The state legislature approved As-sembly Bill 1447, the measure thatwould require a written warrantyamong other mandates. Gov. JerryBrown has until the end of Septembereither to sign or veto AB 1447, writ-ten by Assemblyman Mike Feuer.

“Without the protections includedin AB 1447, mostly low-income buy-here pay-here customers can’t be surethey are buying dependable vehicles,”Feuer said. “This bill requires a mini-mum warranty to help ensure buyersare paying for reliable transportationand other critical safeguards for con-sumers,” he continued. “I urge the

governor to sign this critical meas-ure.”

Some of the regulations Assem-bly Bill 1447 would create include:• Require BHPH dealers to provide alimited warranty that covers mostmajor components and lasts for atleast 30 days or 1,000 miles.• Prohibit BHPH dealers from requir-ing a buyer to make regular paymentsin person.• Require that BHPH dealers receivewritten consent from the buyer priorto selling a vehicle with an electronictracking device.• Require BHPH dealers to providenotice to the buyer of the presence ofignition shutdown technology in thevehicle and that such technology beset to provide advance warnings tothe driver to help avoid strandingdrivers.

Meanwhile, the two other BHPHbills working their way through theapproval process are SB 956 and AB1534.

The main points of AB 1447 in-clude:• Require BHPH dealers to provide awritten warranty that covers most

major components and lasts for at least30 days or 1,000 miles, whicheverhappens first.• Prohibits BHPH dealers from re-quiring a buyer to make regular pay-ments in person.• Requires BHPH dealers to receivewritten consent from the buyer priorto selling a vehicle equipped withelectronic tracking technology.• Requires BHPH dealers to providenotice to the buyer of the presence of‘starter interrupt’ technology in the ve-hicle, ensuring that advance warningsare provided to the driver — prior tothe vehicle being disabled — in orderto help avoid stranding a driver in dan-gerous circumstances.

Furthermore, Assembly Bill 1534would require a BHPH dealer to dis-play a label on any used vehicle of-fered for retail sale that states the‘reasonable market value’ of the unit.The bill would require the label tocontain specified information used todetermine the vehicle’s reasonablemarket value and the date the valuewas determined.

SB 956 has three main goals:• Impose first-ever regulations on

dealers offering buy–here, pay–hereinstallment loans by requiring them toobtain a California Finance Lender’slicense.• Limit used-vehicle installmentloans to an interest rate of no morethan 17.25 percent, which would giveCalifornia the strongest cap in the na-tion.• Change the way BHPH dealers areable to repossess vehicles to includegrace periods and make it easier forbuyers to reinstate a repossessedunit.

Larry Laskowski, executive di-rector of the Independent AutomobileDealers Association of California, isconcern state legislators still do nothave firm classification of what aBHPH dealer is.

“There’s not a definition for abuy-here, pay-here dealer because it’sa business model,” said Laskowski.“It’s not a check box on your DMVapplication when you’re getting yourdealer license that you want to be abuy–here, pay–here dealer. Accord-ing to the definition they have now,our study says it probably involves 50percent of the retail dealers.”


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Jay Leno Examines 1910 Brooke Swan CarAt a recent show in Pebble Beach,CA, comedian and talk show host JayLeno stopped to examine the 1910Brooke Swan Car.

Just after the turn of 20th century,a wealthy Scottish engineer namedRobert “Scotty” Nicholl Matthew-son, living in Calcutta, bought a 30-horsepower Brooke sedan in 1910England, and had a maker of steam-powered fairground rides chisel a mon-umental and highly ornate woodenswan’s body to cover the engine. Thenhe took it back to India.

In an era of awesomely expensivecoachbuilt cars, a Brooke was morethan three times the cost of a Rolls-

Royce. To make sure the Swan’s otheramenities befit the marque, Matthew-son had a multi-note, exhaust-drivenhorn installed that he could play on a

keyboard in the rear seat. But aneven more startling way to clear theroads ahead was the swan’s beak,which emitted a jet of scaldingwater onto anyone in the way.Other features include glowingeyes, Indian silk upholstery, plentyof gold leaf, brushes to keep thewheels clean while moving, and an‘orifice’ round back that would de-posit whitewash on the roads. Be-cause sometimes a swan’s gotta go.The car was such a hit in town thatit was bought by the Maharaja ofNabha, who had a miniature replicaof it made called the Cygnet.

Toyota Celebrates 40th Anniversary in Long BeachToyota Auto Body California (TABC)recently celebrated its 40th anniver-sary in Long Beach with a big partyattended by team members, MayorBob Foster and top Toyota execu-tives.

Back in 1972, eager to expand itsbrand of pickups to North America,Toyota struck a pact with Atlas Fab-ricators, a metalwork facility in LongBeach.

That contract — which wouldproduce truck beds for vehicles des-tined for the U.S. — marked the birthof Toyota Auto Body California(TABC) and Toyota’s first foray intomanufacturing in North America.

In August, city and business of-ficials commemorated the 40th an-niversary of that milestone in theNorth Long Beach plant, home to 470employees and the primary supplier ofparts for the Toyota Tacoma trucksubassembly.

With its investment topping $270million, TABC also manufactures thesheet metal components, steeringcolumns, catalytic converters, andweld subassemblies for the au-tomaker’s North American manufac-turing facilities and for export toJapan.

“It’s been a tremendous and suc-cessful run, and it all started here,

right in Long Beach,” said Bob Daly,senior vice president of Torrance-based Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., theautomaker’s U.S. sales and marketingheadquarters.

Forty years ago, the Long Beachplant set the stage for Toyota’s growthin North America, said TABC Presi-dent Mike Bafan.

Today, Toyota operates 14 manu-facturing plants and employs morethan 37,000 people in North America,according to the company.

“And together we’ve proven our-selves as a world class manufacturerand as Toyota’s first success story inthe U.S.,” he said of the Long Beachplant. “We’re very proud of that.”

As part of the plant’s 40th an-niversary, TABC announced that itwill donate money or cars to 10 areanonprofit organizations. Recipientsinclude Long Beach-based CaliforniaConference for Equality and Justice,a $35,000 gift through joint sponsor-ship with Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A.,and Toyota Financial Services; and$5,000 Toyota scholarships to CalState Long Beach and Long BeachCity College. The firm also gave Toy-ota Sienna vehicles to Children Todayin Long Beach and United Friends ofthe Children in Los Angeles, and$5,000 each to various charities.

Jay Leno is pictured here examining the 1910Brooke Swan Car at a show at Pebble Beach,CA. Leno checked it out with Evert Louwman,the man who owns the museum in The Haguewhere the Brooke Swan Car is displayed

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by Greg Horn, Vice President ofIndustry Relations, Mitchell International

Special to Autobody NewsIn this issue’s feature article, I up-dated the Mitchell Collision Parts

Price Index and touched on how itis affecting severity. In the chartsof the Industry Trends Report, youwill see that when the develop-ment factor is applied to the mostrecent average repairable collisionseverity, it is once again above$3,000.

I wanted to give additional in-sight and data to my most engagedreaders to help you better under-

stand what is changing theenvironment. As you willnote in the chart (left), theaverage parts dollar spentis the highest inflationaryfactor in the increase, withonly a mild labor dollarsincrease. Therefore, we canconclude that the root ofthe overall severity in-crease is parts price infla-tion.

Additionally, we areseeing an interesting de-velopment in the averageage of vehicles being ap-praised. While the whole-

sale auction houses show a softeningof prices (and we associate a lower-ing of used car value with an in-crease in total loss percentages), weare seeing a slightly newer car with aslightly higher value being appraisedacross all coverage types. This phe-nomenon seems to indicate that wewon’t be seeing rapid decline in val-ues and therefore should not see anincrease in the percentage of vehi-cles being appraised marked as to-tals.

For more information about Mitchelland their Industry Trends Reports, goto: www.mitchell.com.


Mitchell’s Industry Trends Report: Auto Physical Damage Report

Average Appraisal Values, ACVs and Age | Collision Coverage*

Avg. Veh Age

$3,038/$3,001 $2,851 $3,031 $2,866 $3,087 $2,910

$12,698 $13,205

$13,560 $13,788 $14,380 $14,598

$0

$2,000

$4,000

$6,000

$8,000

$10,000

$12,000

$14,000

$16,000

Q4 20096.34

Q2 20106.22

Q4 20106.62

Q2 20116.50

Q4 20116.92

Q2 20126.81

Appraisals ACV’s* Values provided from Guidebook benchmark averages, furnished through UltraMate.

$0

$200

$400

$600

$800

$1,000

$1,200

$1,400

$1,600

2011Q1 2011Q2 2011Q3 2011Q4 2012Q1

Avg Parts Dollars Avg Labor Dollars Avg Paint and Materials


NJ Shop Owner Goes Round and Round withState Farm on Material ReimbursementsIn an exchange of several letters be-tween body shop owner Don Harveyof International Collision Service inEnglewood, NJ, and State Farm, theproblem of material reimbursementis yet to be answered.

Harvey initiated the request ina letter to State Farm CEO Ed Rustin February 2012 to address what hefelt was an inadequate paint andmaterials reimbursement rate. De-spite State Farm responding to hisqueries, Harvey says he still hasn’treceived a satisfactory answer tohow the reimbursement rate was de-termined from a “yes or no” ques-tion on the insurer’s survey. The yesor no question on the survey he re-ferred to is, “Do you use an auto-mated paint and materials ratecalculator?”

In response to another letterHarvey wrote dated July 10, StateFarm stated that it believed the bestopportunity to provide him with amore complete understanding oftheir survey was to facilitate a one-on-one discussion between him andtheir estimatics leadership in NewJersey.

Harvey first replied by stating,

“It seems State Farm is ‘dancing’around these issues as this now is thefourth letter and yet no answers to ei-ther the material reimbursement orthe explanation on how the rate gotdetermined from a yes or no questionon State Farm’s survey.”

In a letter dated August 21, Har-vey thanked them for the invite butturned it down.

“My concerns as a member ofthe New Jersey auto body commu-nity is an answer to how a paint ma-terial rate has been determined fromState Farm’s ‘survey’ when a yes orno is the only option,” said Harvey.“This clearly is a question that can beanswered in writing and doesn’t re-quire a one-on-one meeting to ad-dress.”

For details on the back and forthsearch “Don Harvey” at www.auto-bodynews.com.

CREF Reception at SEMA Invites All with RSVPMembers of the collision industry areinvited to a reception highlighting theCollision Repair Education Founda-tion’s work.

The reception will be held duringthis year’s SEMA Show, on Oct. 30from 9:30 p.m. to 11 p.m. at The LasVegas Hotel (formerly a Hilton prop-

erty). At the event, attendees will learnabout the Education Foundation’swork in supporting collision repair stu-dents, and donors and supporters willbe acknowledged. The EducationFoundation will also announce twoschools who will be chosen for the2012 Ultimate Collision EducationMakeover grant, a $50,000 gift.

“We hope the industry will joinus during this reception, as we not

only will be highlighting our indus-try supporters and hear directly fromcollision instructors on what the mil-lions of dollars in donations hasmeant to them, but we will be an-nouncing both the secondary andpost-secondary makeover grant win-ners,” said Clark Plucinski, execu-

tive director of the EducationFoundation. “The collision indus-try should be celebrating the factthat, through their support, the Ed-ucation Foundation has gone fromproviding $300,000 in support in2008, to $4.1 million last year, andwe plan on providing over $10million annually to schools by theend of next year. This is only pos-sible through the industry’s directinvolvement with collision stu-dents and instructors nationwide.Please join us as we celebrate our

recent successes in providing sup-port and learn about our work to-wards enhancing the industry’sfuture.”

Anyone who wants to attend thereception will need to RSVP by e-mailing [email protected]. Forquestions, call Associate Director ofDevelopment Brandon Eckenrode at847-463-5244 or e-mail him at [email protected].

Clark Plucinski

The Georgia Collision Industry AssociationDiscusses PartsTrader with George AveryThe Georgia Collision Industry Asso-ciation (GCIA) will feature GeorgeAvery from State Farm for an in-depth discussion on their PartsTraderpilot program at its Sept. 20 meeting.

According the to GCIA newslet-ter, “Unless you live under a rock, youhave probably heard of State Farm’s

PartsTrader pro-gram being testedin several marketsin the U.S. How-ever, State Farmhas not providedmuch in the wayof details on theprogram. Industrymedia have beenmostly unsuccess-

ful getting State Farm to respond to re-quests for more information.

“Now you have an opportunity tohear first-hand about PartsTrader fromState Farm’s own George Avery. Mr.Avery has agreed to be the featuredspeaker at the September 20th GCIAmeeting. If you don’t attend but oneGCIA meeting this year, this is the one.”

This meeting is open to all collisionrepair professionals and industry sup-porting vendor representatives. Cost is$10 (member/$20-non-member). Mem-

bers may pay at the door and check orcash is accepted.

“This may be the most importantcollision industry meeting you will at-tend all year,” said Howard Batche-lor, GCIA Executive Director.

Due to an overwhelming re-sponse, the meeting location changedfrom MAADA headquarters in Mari-etta, GA, to the Wyndham Atlanta Gal-leria, 6345 Powers Ferry Road NW inAtlanta. See website for directions.

In other GCIA news, the 16th An-nual Golf Tournament is set for Oct. 3at the Trophy Club of Atlanta. ContactHoward Batchelor to learn more aboutsponsoring or reserving your playerspots. Email to [email protected] orcall 770-367-9816.

George Avery

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@autobodynewsAccept no Substitutes!

In a legal battle that involves a bodyshop owner, his former attorney, thePennsylvania Department of Trans-portation and the expansion of Route28, a judge recently ruled thatWilliam Lieberth Sr., 56, owner of abody shop on Route 28, must agree toa PennDOT settlement, pay his formerattorney and vacate his North Sidebusiness by Oct. 1.

Lieberth said he plans to appeal.In an interview with the PittsburghPost-Gazette, he said he is prepared todie for his building. After the orderwas issued, Leiberth said he plannedto continue to fight for his buildingand that he would consider it an honorto die for it. He did not elaborate onwhat that meant but said, “I’m pureGerman descent. We know how tofight. I am fully prepared, if I haveto.”

PennDOT, which acquired theland through eminent domain, hassaid the ongoing Route 28 work re-quires demolition of Lieberth’s build-ing and the adjacent parking lot.

Lieberth ignored a letter he re-ceived from PennDOT in July tellinghim he must vacate his building byAug. 6. Lieberth has owned and oper-ated Allegheny Auto Body since 1976.He said he ignored the vacate noticebecause he had nowhere to move hisbusiness.

The Allegheny County CommonPleas Court order, written by JudgeMichael E. McCarthy, enforces asettlement that representatives for thePennsylvania Department of Trans-portation and Harvey Robins, a for-mer attorney for Lieberth, said theyagreed to in early August.

“There can be little real contro-versy in this matter that an enforce-able agreement was reached andmust be honored,” Judge McCarthywrote.

Lieberth owns the last businesslocated along the north side of theRoute 28 expansion construction areaand refused to leave after receiving anorder to vacate the property on EastOhio Street.

He insisted that he never agreedto a $245,000 settlement with Pen-nDOT to give up his business forthe widening project. AlleghenyAuto Body sits just 10 feet from theroad.

Lieberth fired his attorney Aug.22, saying he did not agree to the$245,000 settlement with 30% due to

the attorney and a move-out date ofOct. 1. Lieberth also said he shouldnot have to pay his attorney.

“I didn’t authorize him to acceptthis offer,” Lieberth said. “I did notsign this agreement.”

According to Lieberth’s formerattorney, his client agreed to a$245,000 payment plus $3,500 in in-terest. In addition, he was able to ex-tend the date Lieberth must vacatethe property from the end of July toOct. 1.

“He said, ‘Well, that’s a goodnumber. Do the best you can,’”Robins told the court, prompting ashout from Lieberth in the gallery,saying, “That’s not true.”

Lieberth was admonished byJudge McCarthy who ordered him towait his turn.

“That’s why I fired him Aug. 22.They tried to get me to sign it. I saidI’m not going to sign it. I just told youin court; now it’s recorded. I didn’t au-thorize him to put the $245,000 on theprice,” Leiberth said.

Lieberth had previously statedthat given the percentage of attorney’sfees and no guarantee he can relocateclose by, he didn’t think $245,000 wasquite enough and doesn’t equal theshop’s value.

“The whole gross amount, in-cluding moving fees and possibly at-torney fees, I can gross here in twoyears,” Lieberth said. “They aren’tdoing me any favors.”

A company he hired to do an ap-praisal set the land value at $285,000.The Allegheny County Board ofViewers set it at $215,000.

The shop owner’s former attor-ney told the court the two sides metclose to the middle. “I don’t knowwhat else I could do for the client,”Robins said.

Lieberth’s main concern is that hehas no place to move his business. “Ihave nowhere to go,” he said. “They’retrying to force me to accept this settle-ment, and I said no.”

He asked PennDOT as part of thesettlement negotiations to provide himwith another property where he couldmove his business. But the agency didnot do that.

“I have nowhere to go, that’s themain thing,” Lieberth said, adding thathe wants to remain in the vicinity ofhis current address, visible to his cus-tomer base and separate from thecompetition of other auto repair shops.

“They think because they haveeminent domain, and the sheriffs cankick you out, they can do anything,”Lieberth said following a hearingprior to the ruling.

“I’m getting screwed over. I justtold the county police I’m not gonnafight with them when they come downto my building,” said the body shopowner before the ruling. “They’regoing to evict me. I know they are.That’s why I didn’t even dress up forthem.”

“They’re going around the churchand around my body shop. I looked atthe plans. I’m right beside thechurch,” Lieberth said.

PennDOT has said that the con-struction phase requiring the property

occupied by Lieberth’s auto bodyshop will begin in late 2013 and becompleted in 2014.

“I’ve been there 37 years. Myson’s been there 18 years. We’re theonly shop on the North Shore.We’re serving the whole commu-nity,” Leiberth said. He had plannedon leaving the shop to his son andgrandson.

“No more body shop and it’s thesame old thing,” Leiberth said. “Pen-nDOT doesn’t care. They don’t carethat I’m the last shop. Me and my sonare historic. We are the last humans on28. It’s very sad that we’re the last hu-mans for 40 miles. They took every-thing from this highway and they tookmy neighborhood.”

PennDOT first contacted Lieberthabout acquiring his property and relo-cating his business in March 2007 butfailed to reach agreement for years,even as 15 residents and 24 businesseswere relocated, most with amicablesettlements, the state agency has said.

PennDOT paid Mr. Lieberth$115,000 in estimated just compensa-tion for his property in November2011, including liens.


Body Shop Move Enforced by Judge for PA Route 29 Expansion

William Lieberth will have to move his shopto make way for a road project

The Mississippi Collision Repair As-sociation met Aug. 20 to discuss howshops can collect the balance on shortpaid claims. Attorney Melvin Paceexplained how by having vehicleowners sign Power of Attorneys togive shops the right to make repair de-cisions and collect all money owed forrepairs.

The newly revived associationhas plans to expand in north and southMississippi. The next meeting will beheld in Gulfport, MS, on Sept. 20 andthe October meeting will be held innorth Mississippi.

“Our goal is to have three well-organized districts addressing the localmembers’ needs on a regular basis,”said acting president John Mosley.

“We will have the membershipvote on having a statewide meeting/con-vention annually.”

The MCRA recently submitted asurvey to their membership, address-ing training, database providers, war-ranties, paint booths and other issues.

The questions on the survey in-cluded:

“Do you use the procedure pages

to prepare estimates?” Every shop an-swered ‘yes.’

“Are there any procedures iden-tified by your database as not includedin the published repair labor allocationwhich you do not intend to be paidfor? If so, please identify them.”

While the terminology differedwith the persons filling out the survey,the conclusion was 100% in that everyshop intends to be paid for all the re-quired performed procedures. Not oneshop identified a procedure they didnot expect to be paid for.

“This association intends to seekfair treatment for its members fromthe insurance industry,” Mosley said.“We will no longer sit back and havean industry tell the member shops ‘Iwon’t pay this because you’re the onlyone in this market area asking to bepaid.’ This is a deceptive tactic usedto intimate or scare a small businessand it will not be tolerated any longer.Not in Mississippi, anyhow.

“The member shops are growingand are learning we can stand togetherunited in a cause while competing forbusiness in a fair manner. Every day,

more shop owners are realizing we arenot enemies because we seek the samecustomer. As allies, we have a power-ful voice. Our voice is being heard.”

The survey also addressed thePartsTrader issue, and member con-sensus was “100% that PartsTrader isbeing considered for nothing morethan State Farm’s profit and will benot any benefit to the consumer or re-pair industry,” Mosley said.

For more information about theMississippi Collision Repair Associa-tion, please contact acting presidentJohn Mosley at (601) 924-2159 oremail him at [email protected]. No website at this time.


Mississippi Collision Repair Association Plans to Expandto the North and South

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A recent study by the Nebraska AutoBody Association (NABA) showedthat the average repair bill for a col-lision-damaged vehicle was $2,593during the first quarter of 2012. In-surers used policyholders’ reserves topay for 72% of repairs performed byNebraska collision shops, while 24%of payments were paid directly bycustomers.

OEM parts accounted for 51%of parts used. Certified aftermarketparts accounted for 32%, while recy-cled parts were used 14%.

Regarding sales during the firstquarter of 2012 compared to the firstquarter of 2011, 50% of shops re-ported no change, 8% of shops re-ported an increase and 42% of shopsreported a decrease in sales.

A surprise was the number ofshops that did not have any DRP af-filiations. Approximately 58% of sur-vey respondents did not have anyDRPs, 8% participated in one DRPand another 8% belonged to twoDRPs. Finally, 17% of respondentsbelonged to two DRPs and 8% saidthey were on at least six DRPs.

The average number of years inbusiness was 24, and 76% of shopssaid they were family-owned.

NABA Announces SurveyResults


working men and women on the as-sembly line in Ohio and Michigan andacross the Midwest. It’s not right; it’sagainst the rules; and we will not let itstand,” said Obama, who has facedcriticism from his Republican rivalMitt Romney over not being toughenough against China on trade.

The United States Trade Repre-sentative’s office announced a requestfor dispute settlement consultations atthe World Trade Organization withChina about auto parts. The trade rep-resentative Ron Kirk said the subsi-dies give an unfair advantage toChinese auto parts exporters whichcompete with producers based in theU.S. and other countries.

Chinese automakers are down inthe past year. China exported onlyabout 500,000 autos last year, mostlyto the Middle East, Southeast Asia andother developing markets. But its pro-ducers of tires, aluminum wheels, ra-dios and other components are makinginroads in U.S., European and Japan-ese markets. They have yet to breakinto the top ranks of suppliers alongwith companies such as Delphi, Vis-teon or Europe’s Michelin and Bosch.At the lower end of the market, Chi-nese suppliers are increasing theirglobal share, putting pressure onsmaller Western competitors.

“We insist upon having a levelplaying field on which our world-classmanufacturers can compete. Today weare continuing to make it clear to ourtrading partners that we will fight tosupport each job here at home that thissector supports,” Ambassador Kirksaid.

Obama’s speech also took a swipeat Gov. Romney, accusing him of notsupporting actions that the administra-tion has taken against China trade prac-tices.

“You can talk a good game, oryou can play one—and my experiencehas been waking up every single daydoing everything I can to give Ameri-can workers a fair shot in the globaleconomy,” Obama said.

Quoting an unnamed administra-tion official, The New York Times re-ported Sept. 17 that the domestic autoparts industry lost about half of its jobsfrom 2001 to 2010. The official saidimports of Chinese auto parts grew byseven-fold over the same time period.The official asked to remain anony-

mous because of White House policyagainst discussing a new policy beforeit is announced officially.

But some of the jobs losses couldhave been due to a shrinking economyand lower demand for autos (which hassince begun to pick up). Some mayhave been due to automation too.

The U.S. Trade Representative’soffice said it was also taking the nextstep in a separate World Trade Organ-ization case it launched in June againstChinese duties on U.S. auto exports.

The USTR’s announcement camenot long after China filed a complaintat the WTO Monday to challenge anew U.S. law on “countervailing du-ties,” or tariffs intended to combat ex-port-promoting subsidies.

The complaint potentially affectsclose to 30 products that have previ-ously been targeted by U.S. duties, atrade official familiar with the casesaid.

Teamsters Support UAWThe Teamsters Union joined with theUAW sentiments in supporting theObama administration for challengingChina over illegally and unfairly pro-tecting its auto and auto parts industriesthrough export subsidies.

“We are pleased the Obama ad-ministration is acting to stop China’s il-legal subsidies,” said TeamstersGeneral President Jim Hoffa. “Presi-dent Obama is sending a strong mes-sage to China that its protectionistpolicies that hurt American workersmust end.”

“We must fight back to keepgood-paying American jobs here athome,” Hoffa said. “I’m pleased Pres-ident Obama is backing up his com-mitment to do so with action, insistingthat China play by global tradingrules.”

China’s rise to the world’s fifth-largest auto and auto parts exportersince 2001, with the value of exportssoaring to more than $69 billion from$7.4 billion. The United States isChina’s largest export market for autoparts. China’s illegal export subsidieshave been estimated at $1 billion be-tween 2009 and 2011. The EconomicPolicy Institute estimates that Chinaputs 1.6 million U.S. auto parts jobs atrisk.

Trade and China have becomesensitive issues for President Obama,under pressure to generate jobs, whopledged in 2010 to double exportswithin five years. Obama and chal-

Continued from Cover

Chinese Auto Parts

See Chinese Auto Parts, Page 49

So you spent a considerable amount ofmoney on your website. But now noone can find you online and it’s start-ing to look like a waste of time andmoney. Then one day a slick salesper-son calls you and catches you on thephone.

“We’re Search Engine Optimiza-tion (SEO) experts and we can get you#1 on Google or Yahoo in your areaby using our secret (hush hush) strat-egy.” They drop words like “metatags” or “embedded codes” and “hy-perlinks” and “secret keywords,” butthe only thing they’re optimizing istheir ability to fleece you for whateverthey can get.

Bryan Fikes, the managing part-ner and chief strategist at ZenergyWorks in Santa Rosa, CA, works withan assortment of mechanical and col-lision repairers to enhance their web-sites, social media and SEO and is anendorsed vendor of the AutomotiveService Councils of California(ASCCA).

“Be careful when someone prom-ises you top rankings and makes out-landish guarantees,” Fikes said.

“If someone tells you that theycan get you the #1 ranking in your cityon Google, for instance, that’s a defi-nite red flag. We never promise the topposition to any of our clients, becausethat’s an impossible claim. It all de-pends on the market you’re doingbusiness in and how long you work atit. In a narrow market with 5–10 play-ers, it’s obviously easier. But, if you’rein a larger market with 20–50 shopscompeting against you, guaranteeinga top position is ludicrous.”

Ideally SEO efforts work in closeconjunction with a plethora of othermedia and have to be maintained care-fully to reap positive results, Fikes ex-plained.

“SEO is just a spoke in a bigwheel. We do a competitive analysisfor each client, to determine what theirneeds are and how to build a plan. It

might include pay-per-click market-ing, blogs, online reputation defenseand certain forms of social media, aswell as the search optimization strate-gies that are specific to each cus-tomer.”

Zenergy Works provides long-term solutions that take time toachieve top results, Fikes said. “Manyshops want it tomorrow, but I tell themthere’s never an overnight fix. There’sno easy button when it comes to SEO,because if your competitors are alsohiring people like us, everyone isvying for those top spots. The shopsthat have embraced this science andknow how to use it will have a defi-nite advantage now and a very distinctone in the next 5–10 years.”

Mark Claypool is the Chairmanand CEO of Optima Automotive, acompany that works with body shopsnationwide to enhance their presenceonline. He has more than 25 years ofexperience in collision and is consid-ered a cutting-edge expert in SEO andsocial media.

Claypool shared some useful tipsfor shops that are currently develop-ing or re-working their websitesand/or trying to improve their SEO.

“First off, you need to refresh andadd new content to your site periodi-cally, because otherwise you’re miss-ing a wide range of SEO advantagesover your competitors. We analyze ap-proximately 50 body shops’ websitesevery month, and one of the things wesee is that many of them have been sit-ting dormant for way too long. I findsites that haven’t been changed in8–12 years, in some cases. If youdon’t change with the times, you getleft behind and you can lose yourranking fairly quickly.”

Claypool offered three quick tipsabout how to improve your SEO.“First, you need to add new content allthe time, because the search enginesare attracted to original, fresh content.You also need to make sure that your

keywords are the best you can have.There are free tools from Googleavailable to help you in determiningthat. And lastly, you should constantlybe looking around to get involved innew things like Google Places forBusiness, mobile apps and emergingsocial media.”

Managing your SEO isn’t some-thing you should assign to one ofyour techs or front office people todo on a part-time basis, Claypoolsaid. Staying on top of the most re-cent changes with Google, Yahooand Bing, for instance, is a huge, un-ending job.

“Google and Yahoo are changingtheir algorithms all the time,” Clay-pool said. “They’ve changed them atleast 400 times over the years and theonly way we can find out is by ac-cessing blogs on the subject. Googlejust recently changed their algorithmtwice and set SEO on its ear in manyways. It’s very challenging, because

the only way to learn is to constantlyuse the search engines. We can’t pre-dict what’s happening next, becausecompanies like Google don’t tell us. Ifyou’re even just 60–80 days behindthe times, you’re lost—especially in abusy area where other body shops arealso vying for improved search rank-ings.”

When it comes to SEO, findingand implementing the best keywordsavailable is crucial, Claypool said.“Devising superior keywords is a sci-ence and based on hours and hours ofresearch. This industry wants to getaway from calling them ‘body shops’and moving toward phrases like ‘col-lision repairers’ or ‘collision centers.’But, the public still uses words suchas ‘body shop’ or ‘auto body’ and‘autobody shop’ much more thananything that contains the word ‘col-lision.’ Knowing the users’ habits is abig part of devising keywords thatwork.”


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

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The Automotive Service and RepairWeek (ASRW) Industry Forum isscheduled for Friday, Oct. 12, from8:30–10:15 a.m. and will again featurecollision and mechanical specific ses-sions.

Tickets for the forum are includedin the purchase of a Super Pass or maybe purchased individually during on-line registration or on-site for $50. At-tendees may select the forum sessionsof their choice.

“More than ever, the ASRW In-dustry Forum sessions are addressingthe most current, controversial topicson both sides of the industry, and par-ticipants can expect not only livelydiscussion, but thought-provokingcomments from those at the center ofeach issue,” stated Ron Pyle, ASApresident.

The schedule for the forum is:8:30 AM–9:15 AM: What Else Is in theBox? More Than Just the Part! (me-chanical)

Top manufacturer members of theAutomotive Aftermarket SuppliersAssociation (AASA) will discuss theintangibles and value-added services

that go into quality parts in this paneldiscussion including:● What goes into a product from con-cept, design, testing, manufacturing,distribution and service after the sale.● Brief comments on specificprocesses followed by their respectivecompanies to ensure the highest qual-ity products.● Question-and-answer session withattendees.

Moderated by: Jack Cameron,AASA vice president. Panelists in-clude: Bobby Bassett, Gates Corp.;Scott Howat, Affinia; and Jack Voll-brecht, Remy International.

Insurance Panel Discussion (collision)The insurance panel discussion willfocus on where the insurance industryis headed, and provide the audiencewith an understanding of where thesemajor insurers see their industrygoing, including:● Consolidation of the market● Integration of cloud computing● Retaining their policy holders.Moderated by: Dan Stander, AAM,Fix Auto Highlands Ranch.Panelists include: George Avery, State

Farm Insurance; Randy Hanson, All-state Insurance; Robert Knott, Na-tionwide Insurance; and JamesSpears, USAA.

9:30 AM–10:15 AM: Paving the Roadto Success: The Next Generation (me-chanical)Moderated by: Dave Kusa, AutotrendDiagnostics. Panelists include: TaylorHill, Larson’s Service Inc.; Josh A.Ingram, AAM, Colchin Automotive& Diesel Inc.; and Charles “Chip”Wright, Pete’s Garage Inc.

A special thanks to these individ-uals who served as consultants to thissession: Pete Rudloff (coach), Pete’sGarage Inc.; and Amanda ClementsMooney (adviser), C&C AutomotiveInc.

Parts Supplier Panel Discussion (colli-sion)The parts supplier forum discussionwill focus on the pressures of the in-dustry from the suppliers’ perspective,including:● How suppliers distinguish them-selves through distributor certificationand customer service; and

● How suppliers interact with infor-mation providers in bringing theirparts to market.

Moderated by: Denise Caspersen,Automotive Service Association (ASA).Panelists include: Mike Dolabi, Na-tional Autobody Parts Warehouse;Terry Fortner, Keystone/LKQ; andDan Morrisey, PartsChannel Inc.

The ASRW Industry Forum wascreated in 2010 as a professional plat-form for interactive discussion of theindustry’s hottest, most current topics.

Sponsors for the event include theNational Auto Body Council (NABC),the Collision Repair Education Foun-dation (CREF), Women’s Industry Net-work (WIN), National Institute forAutomotive Service Excellence (ASE)and the Automotive Management In-stitute (AMI). All proceeds from theforum benefit the training and educa-tion of these organizations.


ASRW Announces Content, Speakers for Industry Forum, Oct. 12

Read all our RegionalEditions Online at:


margins within the PartsTrader tool.● Efficiency: State Farm said re-

pairers have commonly asked howPartsTrader can increase efficiency afterhearing that it takes longer to orderparts through the program. The com-pany said that information is inaccurate.

“The process to create a quotetakes only a few mouse clicks. Whilethere is a waiting period to allow sup-pliers to submit their available parts andpricing to the tool, that time is not ‘ac-tive’ for the repairer, unlike the phonecalls, faxes and follow-ups common tothe industry today,” State Farm said.“Like many new technologies, it takestime to gain efficiencies. A racecar maynot turn its best time on the first lap.When computerized estimating first ap-peared in the industry, many thought itwould take longer than handwriting anestimate—and for a time, it did. In time,electronic estimating technology in-creased efficiency. We are convincedthat over time, repairers will also gainefficiency with the use of the Part-sTrader application.”● Quote pricing time: State Farm saidthe default time for parts suppliers to re-

spond to price quotes is two hours, butrepairers can reduce that to one hour.State Farm said future program en-hancements based on feedback frompilot participants will allow repairersmore flexibility with quote times.● Supplier selection: State Farm said itdoes not require shops to use certainsuppliers, and there are no requirementsto purchase the lowest priced parts.

“The repairer will always maintaincontrol over which supplier is selectedfor parts purchases,” State Farm said.“Among the many options available incustomizing the tool, you can includeor exclude suppliers as you wish, in-cluding selecting a single supplier withwhom you prefer to do business.”

State Farm added that shops arealso able to work with parts suppliersthat do not participate with PartsTrader.The tool includes an option for shops tosend faxes to any designated supplier.

● PartsTrader impact on SelectService scorecard: State Farm saidoverall performance of Select Serviceshops will continue to be monitoredusing its existing Repairer PerformanceManagement (RPM) report—which fo-cuses on quality, efficiency and com-petitive price.

“To the degree that repairers utilize

the PartsTrader application to improvethese elements, the technology can im-prove their overall performance,” StateFarm said.

● Supplier access to price quotes:State Farm said parts suppliers cannotsee price quotes and information pro-vided by other organizations.

“Further, repairers can only see thepricing information after the quote pe-riod has closed. Protecting the integrityof the quoting process is an importantaspect of the program, and at no pointdoes the PartsTrader tool involve a ‘re-verse auction’ or bidding process,”State Farm said.

The letter added: “As we introduceelectronic parts ordering, it may behelpful to review the tenets of the Se-lect Service program. As you know, thepillars of Select Service are quality, ef-ficiency, and competitive price. SelectService repairers are encouraged to bal-ance these three important considera-tions in serving our shared customers.

“The electronic parts ordering pilotdoes not change the basic componentsof Select Service; in fact, we believe theprocess will aid repairers in optimizingperformance and repairing more vehi-cles. Now and in the future, measure-ments of performance will continue to

weigh these important considerations inevaluating repairers, who will continueto manage their performance to demon-strate this balance.

“With several billion dollars ofpolicyholders’ premiums spent on re-pair costs every year, we continue tomanage our business effectively and ef-ficiently by seeking out those repairerswho will work with us to meet theneeds of our customers.

“As you know, State Farm haschosen to work with PartsTrader as atechnology vendor for electronic partsordering in Select Service facilities infour pilot markets. Feedback from thesemarkets continues, and discussion ofthe pilot has spread industry-wide.

“Along with PartsTrader, we areworking with many collision industryparticipants on further development ofthe application, addressing concernsand making improvements. We lookforward to many resulting enhance-ments. While we believe the pilotdemonstrates our commitment to meet-ing changing marketplace conditionsand customer expectations, we also un-derstand that this process has resultedin some misunderstanding and misgiv-ings on the part of many.”

See story on Chicago Market p. 45



PartsTrader Update

by Melanie Anderson

In late August, the California AutobodyAssociation’s Inland Empire Chapterhosted special guest speaker, FrankTerlep, CEO and Lead Sherpa of Sum-mit Software and Marketing Solutions.

Terlep, with 25 years experiencein the industry, addressed the InlandEmpire CAA group Aug. 29 at DonMarcos Restaurant in Rancho Cuca-monga, CA, on the topic of “DigitalMarketing = More Customers, Rev-enue and Profit.”

Back in 2000, 132 million Amer-icans had access to the Internet.

Today, that num-ber has increasedto 274 million. Ad-ditionally, recentstatistics show thatcustomers wouldrather be contactedby email or textthan by phone.

About 98% of people read their textmessages within three minutes.

The bottom line, according toTerlep, is that body shop owners needto be where their customers are, and

they’re online, engaging in Face-book, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedInand Google+.

“Shops have no choice. They haveto market their businesses to younger

customers digitally,” Terlep said. Andit’s not just the younger generationswho are online. Terlep reports that inaddition to 112 million Generation X(those born during the 1960s to early1980s) and Generation Y (those bornin the early 1980s to early 2000s) con-sumers who grew up in a digital world,there are 60 million Baby Boomerswho are actively using Internet, email,text and social media.

Although many customers preferto receive status notifications by text,

email is still the most powerful digitalmarketing tool, says Terlep. Use youremail marketing for education, brand-ing, special promotions and coupons.“But, don’t spam your customers—give them value,” he says, such as tipsto car care. Build your customer data-base by collecting your customeremail addresses. Of the group in Ran-cho Cucamonga that evening, onlythree shops collected email addressesfrom their customers. But all three re-ported they had no problem asking foror receiving email addresses. Oneshop uses a form that asks for a cus-tomer’s email address right beneaththe name—it’s the second question onthe form. Terlep cites a statistic thatmore than 80% of consumers prefer tobe marketed to via email. Accordingto Stan Rapp, the father of directemail marketing, an email address isworth $118 to business.

Got a website? Great. It’s youronline lobby. It’s how potential cus-tomers find you. But it’s no longergood enough to have just a website.Terlep says small businesses that aresuccessful digital marketers need toutilize all the marketing tools, tech-

niques and technologies available tocapture and retain more customers,revenue and profit. He suggests a wel-coming video featuring the shopowner be placed on the home page.It’s like greeting a customer at yourfront door. But the video doesn’t haveto be fancy or expensive. Have one ofyour technicians man the camera. Peo-ple like ‘real’ so don’t worry about itbeing professional.

Do you know if your website isdoing its job? Utilize Google Analyt-ics to find out. It’s free and tells youhow your website is performing. An-other important aspect is to ensureyour website has optimal search en-gine results. When a potential cus-


“Guiding Auto Body and Repair Shops to More Cars, Customers, Revenues and Profits”

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Ron Guilliams, formerly of Fix Auto & MichaelRamirez with Gyant Compliance

Frank Terlep

Steve Leyland, Collision Center Riverside &Jim Coff, Highland Auto Body


tomer Googles ‘auto body repair’ inyour area, will your shop show up onthe first page? Rarely, will someonego to page 2 of the search. For thisreasons, shops should be frequentlyupdating and changing their website.Another reason: “You have between5–15 seconds to capture their atten-tion,” Terlep says. Terlep suggestsshops hire an SEO (search engine op-timizations) consultant to make suretheir site is found.

Another good use of your web-site is to incorporate positive re-views and testimonials because 82%of consumers select a repair facilitybased on customer reviews and rat-ings.

Getting good online ratings andreviews is imperative to the success ofa body shop in today’s world, Terlepsays. Shops could be get getting dam-aging reviews and not even knowabout it. There are dozens of plat-forms out in cyberspace besides Yelp

that you may have never heard of,such as Squidoo, Reddit, HubPages,StumbleUpon, FeedBurner, Weebly,and Zimbio. According to Terlep,phone-based CSI surveys will some-day soon be a thing of the past.

Most people have accidents every7–10 years. Do your customers re-member you? Your customer is yourcustomer because they had a negativeevent occur in their life. It was a hugedisruption to their daily routine. Mostpeople just want to forget and moveon. And they are probably forgettingwhere they had their car repaired. Be-cause of a customer’s tendency to for-get, Terlep says this is why bodyshops need to be continually market-ing to their existing and future cus-tomers. Terlep strongly advises shopsto offer services other than collisionrepair so their customers won’t forgetthem between accidents. Offer theseservices as coupons in your emailcampaigns.

Why is digital marketingcritical to your success?• 80% of the population are Internet users• 77% of the adult population uses email• 90% of consumers do an Internet search prior to pur-chasing a product or service• Over 50% of population use Facebook• More than 50% of population have a smart phone withthe forecast of 75% by 2016• More than 300 MILLION consumers can send and receivea text message• There are more than 20,000,000 “Seniors” that are activeInternet users• 64% of mobile phone time is spent on apps• 42% of tablet users use them daily while watching TV• 82% of consumers will purchase a product/service froma company when marketed consistently for 24 months.• 81 billion minutes spent on social networking/blogs dur-ing 2011

12 Digital marketing tools yourshop should use to capture morecustomers, revenue and profit:

1. Your website

2. Online advertising—Pay Per Click

3. A powerful digital marketing database

4. An email marketing and retention platform

5. A text based marketing and retention system

6. An automated unsold estimate follow up and sales

system

7. 24/7 connectivity to consumers smart phones

8. Social media tools and techniques

9. Validated customer reviews and ratings

10. Digital ads, promotions and e-coupons

11. A customer loyalty and retention system

12. Reputation management system

at www.autobodynews.com

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It’s easy as a shop owner to get socaught up in day-to-day operationsthat it can be a challenge to follow thenews directly affecting collision re-pairers.

But there’s plenty of “insurance-related” news that shops also shouldknow about, because it can help themeducate their customers, market theirbusiness, and maybe even alter howthey vote or shop for insurance them-selves.

Loyalty doesn’t always pay. Havea customer with an insurer you’drather not work with? You might wantto tell them about a new study thatfound that a policyholder who stayswith the same auto insurance com-pany for more than eight years couldsave 19 percent on annual premiumsby switching.

“Consumers must shop their poli-cies to ensure they aren’t overpayingfor insurance,” Deeia Beck of theTexas-based Office of Public Insur-ance Counsel (OPIC), said.

Beck said her organization’s datashows “the longer a policyholder stayswith the same company, the morelikely it is that they are overcharged.”Even after just three years, Beck said,a consumer stands to save 5.2% byswitching.

Despite this, a 2010 study fromDeloitte found that four out of 10 autopolicyholders were with their insurerfor more than a decade, and that sixout of 10 of policyholders “rarely ornever shop their policy for a betterdeal.”

Read more about this study at:http://tinyurl.com/bq8s5cv.

Feds still considering regulationThe role of financial institutions in theeconomic meltdown from which theU.S. is still struggling to recover hashelped keep federal regulation of theinsurance industry on the table.

A recent report released by theTroubled Asset Relief Program (TARP)states that American InternationalGroup (AIG, now selling auto insur-ance as “21st Century”) is still in needof “effective, comprehensive and rigor-ous” regulation to ensure history doesnot repeat itself at the insurance giant.The report notes that four years after a

$161 federal billion bailout of AIG,there is currently no designated federalregulator of the company.

Meanwhile New Jersey’s Rep.Scott Garrett, a senior Republicanmember of the House Financial Serv-ices Committee, introduced legislationin August that would bar federal reg-ulators from designating insurancecompanies as ‘systemically signifi-cant,’ more commonly referred to as‘too big to fail.’

Garrett’s bill would prevent in-surers from having to comply withheightened regulation and capitalstandards placed on other types of fi-nancial institutions that are catego-rized as too big too fail.

Progressive stumbles on social mediaProgressive had taken a pummelingin the social media world recentlyafter a New York man posted a blogwith the provocative title, “My SisterPaid Progressive Insurance to DefendHer Killer in Court” (read it at:http://tinyurl.com/8jqtdwa).

Turns out Progressive believedthat its own insured (the sister of co-median and blogger Matt Fisher) wasat fault in the accident that took herlife, and assisted with the defense ofthe driver of the other car (who had asuspended license and little insur-ance).

Though Progressive may havebeen in the right, it didn’t help itscause in trying to explain the compli-cated situation by making public state-ments parsing words, and sending outtweets (some of which originally hadFlo’s smiling face accompanyingthem) saying such things as it had“properly handled the claim within itscontractual obligations.”

A New York Times article ex-plains the situation well, and could bea good reminder for all insureds tocheck the amount of uninsured mo-torist coverage they carry (read at:http://tinyurl.com/8vtzfd7).

Long-standing parts-related lawsuitcomes to an endA federal court in California hastossed out class action and individuallawsuits against Allstate, GEICO,State Farm and Liberty Mutual, say-

ing the plaintiffs in the case failed toprovide an admissible method for de-termining which replacement parts areinferior.

The suits, originally filed in 2006,alleged that the insurers created a‘sham organization’ (CAPA, the Cer-tified Automotive Parts Association,also a defendant in the case) and usedother means to conspire to unfairlycompete by specifying use of inferiorcrash parts.

The judge’s decision to dismissthe cases was not based on the qualityof the parts, but rather on the fact thathe found the testimony of the plain-tiffs’ expert for evaluating the partswas unreliable.

The expert witness for the plain-tiffs was Allen Wood, a retired Cali-fornia Bureau of Automotive Repair(BAR) investigator who subsequentlywas executive director of the Colli-sion Repair Association of California.Wood argued that six non-OEM part

categories and four salvage part cate-gories are ‘inferior’ and have at leasta 25% probability of ‘significantlylessening’ the quality of vehicle re-pairs (in terms of ‘safety, fit and struc-tural integrity’).

Insurers called Wood’s testimony“biased, junk-science research” be-cause Wood “is not a statistician orengineer, lacks a rudimentary under-standing of basic mathematical con-cepts and statistical principles, andtherefore lacks the relevant expertiseto identify and offer quantitative as-sessments of the alleged ‘inferiority’of imitation and salvage automotiverepair part categories.”

Allstate again ranks best and worstdriversAllstate’s annual ranking of the 200largest U.S. cities in terms of how fre-quently drivers are apt to file a claimranks Sioux Falls, SD, as having


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Shops Can Put News, Trends Related to Insurers to Good Use

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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].

See News, Trends, Page 31


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I’ve written about ways to use thecustomer information form to buildbusiness many times, but I stillcome across estimators who eitherexpect front desk people to handleit and then ignore it, or just capturethe minimum info about the vehicleand insurance company. Somehowmany estimators simply don’t un-derstand the value of this form as asales and profit tool. Perhaps an es-timator’s boss, the shop owner ormanager, foolishly pays estimatorsa flat rate with no meaningful in-centive to increase business volumeand profits, but even estimators Iknow who are paid incentives stillfail to use the form intelligently. Ihave to conclude they simply don’tgrasp the real meaning or value ofthis form.

This form may be one of themost valuable of all forms in a shop!Used properly it can open the door tobusiness and family referrals, pro-

vide many ways to make a customera customer for life, and a wealth ofways to close the sale. In addition tothe obvious questions like familyand children’s birthdays, anniver-saries, and other key events, a goodinfo sheet asks for business or em-ployer info and any company vehicleinfo. A lazy estimator will expectfront desk people to capture as muchinfo as they can, but a smart estima-tor seizes the opportunity to talk withthe customer and fill in the form forhim or her. A smart owner sends outbirthday, anniversary and holidaygreetings, but a smarter estimatorgets to ask about other family mem-bers and associates and their vehi-cles. This is a perfect time to offer afamily or company discount or freecar wash or detail to bring in otherfamily members or business associ-ates.

While all of this should be stan-dard customer sales mining, there is

an even more important sales use forthis form. With the sluggish economy,vehicles are being kept longer. Oneestimate is now eleven years on aver-age. This means that people keepingtheir vehicles longer may not beadding collision coverage to theirauto insurance. This has increased thevolume of self-pay jobs to what maybe 20 percent or more for manyshops. Unfortunately if the estimatorhasn’t used the info form to see if it’san insurance pay or self-pay job, heor she might write an estimate that as-sumes an insurance level of paymentto restore the vehicle to pre-accidentcondition. If the estimator knows itwill be a self-pay job, he or she willusually ask the customer just howmuch restoration is desired and howmuch the person’s budget will bear.Knowing there is a limited budget, anestimator may suggest used or after-market parts and other cost-savingmeasures.

I spoke to one estimator recentlywho told me most self-pay jobs werevery low-priced minor repairs thatprobably cost more to process thanthey were worth. I asked if this wasalways true, and he had to admit thatoccasionally they would get a self-payjob worth many thousands of dollars.He had to admit that a couple of thesejobs would compensate for a greatmany low or no-profit jobs and that itwas probably still worth while to takethe time to do the self-pays when theycame along. Once again, the customerinformation form could be a key toprofitable self-pay. When faced with athousand-dollar deductible, evensome insurance-covered damagemight be profitably converted to self-pay. Most people know that if theyhave the insurance company pay forrepairs, there is a fair chance their pre-mium will rise. A repair job in the$2000 range with a $1000 deductiblecould easily be a wash if the probabil-


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On Creative Marketingwith Thomas Franklin

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

ity of a premium rate increase is fac-tored in. And if the job became self-pay, once again the estimator couldshow the customer ways they couldreduce the cost of the repair (withoutreducing the shop’s profit).

The low-budget self-pay indica-tion on the form is just one heads-upadvantage for the estimator. A moreprofitable opportunity might be sug-gested for more affluent types. Somecustomers might choose to replace anexternal part with a more cosmeti-cally appealing part and be willing topay for an upgrade. Pinstriping,graphics, clear-bra or other paint-re-lated add-ons might be suggested.Mothers transporting children or petsmight be in the market for additionalsafety items or restraints. Truck own-ers might be interested in any num-ber of add-ons. Handicapped peoplecould be looking for a specific up-grade like a power running board. Acareful reading of the form can revealmany possibilities before even look-ing at the vehicle. Handled properly,the customer information form canbe a window into the customer’smind. That little bit of informationmining could turn into some goldmining for the shop.

“America’s Best Drivers” (for the fifthtime in eight years), and Washington,D.C. at the bottom of the list.

The report indicates that nation-ally drivers are in a collision onceevery 10 years; that average is 13.8years in Sioux Falls, but just 4.7 yearsin Washington, D.C.

Other cities where drivers aver-age 12 years or longer between acci-dents include Boise, ID; Fort Collins,CO; Madison, WI; Lincoln, NE;Hunstville, AL; Chandler, AZ; Reno,NV, Knoxville, TN, and Springfield,MO.

Phoenix led the list among citiesof 1 million or more people, with driv-ers there averaging an accident every10.2 years.

In addition to Washington, citieswhere drivers average under six yearsbetween claims are Newark, NJ; Glen-dale, CA; and Baltimore, MD. To seethe full list, see: tinyurl.com/cx2dz75.

Insurers should sell more cover-age, not less. A recent claims satisfac-tion report by J.D. Power andAssociates found that insurers are bet-

ter off selling policyholders broadercoverage with lower deductibles ratherthan lower-priced policies with morelimitations and higher deductibles.

“Settlement satisfaction falls sig-nificantly among claimants paying inexcess of $300 beyond their de-ductible, with satisfaction 89 indexpoints (on a 1,000-point scale) lowerthan among those who pay only theirdeductible,” J.D. Power reported.

The finding indicates insurersmay improve customer retention ifthey do a better job convincing con-sumers they’ll be better off in the longrun with a more all-encompassingpolicy.

Think quality, not just price. Con-sumerReports.org in September re-minded readers that its surveys findthat, depending on the insurer in-volved, between 10% and 26% ofthose filing an auto insurance claimencountered a problem.

The article encourages con-sumers to choose a “top-rated in-surer” rather than one that costs lessbut “may cost you more overall bylow-balling loss estimates, forcing therepair shop to cut corners and makingyou pay extra for OEM parts if youchoose them over cheaper knock-

offs.” Go here to read the article:http://tinyurl.com/cjspd4k.

Growth of telematics spurs concernsAs Allstate, Progressive, State Farmand The Hartford continue to expandavailability of their policy discountsbased on use of data from in-car mon-itoring systems, many consumers con-tinue to voice privacy concerns.

California Department of Insur-ance spokeswoman Pat McConahaysaid some state regulators have lin-gering “concerns about the technol-ogy” used in the programs, which cantrack both how and when a vehicle isbeing driven.

“There are concerns that insurersmight penalize drivers for factors out-side of their control,” she said. “Oneexample might be charging more to acustomer for their occupation thatforces them to drive at night.”

An insurance industry blog this fallquoted a Deloitte Consulting analystwho believes even many good drivershave privacy concerns that make themunwilling to provide data to an auto in-surer through telematics just to save$100. The consultant argues that insur-ers may miss out if they just presumethese drivers “have something to hide.”


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2013 FORD ESCAPE

Continued from Page 28

News, Trends


WMABA Hosted PartsTraderMeetings in Two LocationsVery soon, the doors of the 2012

SEMA Show opens to automotiveindustry professionals all over theglobe. Earlybird pricing for showadmission and registration for theSociety of Collision Repair Special-ists’ (SCRS) Repairer Driven Edu-cation (RDE) series is still availableuntil October 15th. Now is the per-fect opportunity to plan out your tripto Las Vegas! Experience the pre-mier automotive trade event in theworld while taking advantage of allthe networking opportunities andeducation classes offered by SCRSand other collision industry organi-zations at the SEMA Show.

SCRS is pleased to provide anoverview of some of the collision re-pair meetings and events made avail-able to the industry:

Tuesday, October 30th10:00 - 12:00PMLVCC, North Hall, UpstairsSCRS’ RDE Headline: Is New VehicleTechnology Endangering Your Busi-ness? (Free, registration required; reg-ister at www.semashow.com/scrs)12:30 - 2:30PMLVCC, North Hall, UpstairsSCRS’ RDE Sessions (Register atwww.semashow.com/scrs)

3:00 - 5:00PMLVCC, North Hall, UpstairsSCRS’ RDE Sessions5:30 - 7:00PMLVCC, North Hall, CRR StageSCRS Annual Report (open meeting)9:30 - 11:00PMLVH, Pavilion 9Collision Repair Education Founda-tion Industry Reception

Wednesday, October 31st8:00 - 12:00PMLVH, Pavilion 9-10Collision Industry Conference (CIC)12:00 - 2:00PMLVH, Ballroom BCollision Industry Awards Luncheon12:30 - 2:30PMLVCC, North Hall, UpstairsSCRS’ RDE Sessions3:00 - 5:00PMLVCC, North Hall, UpstairsSCRS’ RDE Sessions6:30 - 9:00PMLVH, Ballroom C-GCollision Industry Conference (CIC)Reception

Thursday, November 1st8:00 - 12:00PMLVH, Pavilion 9-10Collision Industry Conference (CIC)

12:30 - 2:30PMLVCC, North Hall, UpstairsSCRS’ RDE Sessions3:00 - 5:00PMLVCC, North Hall, UpstairsSCRS’ RDE Sessions5:30 - 7:30PMLVHCollision Repairer Reception8:00 - 12:00PMLVH, Verona Sky VillaSCRS RDE Sky Villa After Party(Register at www.semashow.com/scrs)

Friday, November 2nd10:00 - 12:00PMLVCC, North Hall, UpstairsSCRS’ RDE Headline: Game Chang-ers - Innovation Forum12:30 - 2:30PMLVCC, North Hall, UpstairsSCRS’ RDE Sessions

A complete listing of the SCRS RDEsessions can be found at www.se-mashow.com/scrs. The RDE series ismade possible thanks to contribu-tions and support from SEMA, PPG,GM Genuine Parts, BASF, FordMotor Company, DuPont Perform-ance Coatings, LKQ, SherwinWilliams, AASP, PBES and AkzoNobel.

2012 SEMA Show Provides Expansive Activities for Collision Repair Professionals

The Washington Metropolitan AutoBody Association (WMABA) hostedtwo meetings Sept. 19 in Virginia andMaryland to discuss issues related toState Farm Insurance’s parts procure-ment program through PartsTrader.

Aaron Schulenburg, executivedirector of the Society of CollisionRepair Specialists (SCRS), gave anin-depth presentation on State Farm’spilot program.

“Understanding that not everyrepair facility can participate and hearthe discussions taking place at na-tional meetings, we wanted to bringthe discussion to the local level andshare with regional areas of the coun-try,” Schulenburg said. “These insurermandated parts procurement pro-grams have the potential to drasticallyaffect every repairer if our industryisn’t cautious about understanding thepotential ramifications. This isn’tabout one carrier, one process or onebusiness model. It is about insurercontrol over repair facility processes,and insurer intrusion into your busi-ness. If these programs are launchednationally, and the repair industrywatches it happen, business for re-pairers and parts vendors will be af-fected.”


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A big news item in the auto body in-dustry has been DuPont’s decision tosell DuPont Performance Coatings(DPC) to the Carlyle Group for $4.9billion after around 90 years in thebusiness (see story adjacent). Such amajor transaction concerning one ofthe largest and most important suppli-ers of automotive paints has garneredmuch interest and concern. Because ofthis, I took the opportunity to sit downwith Mike Bennett, North AmericaMarketing Director at DPC to getmore details about the upcoming tran-sition, expected to close during thefirst quarter of 2013.

DuPont’s decision to sell DPCcame from their strategic decision tofocus on other aspects of their busi-ness, and since the automotive paintindustry is not aligned with these in-tentions, they decided to sell that por-tion of their business with the beliefthat “DuPont and DPC are best servedby focusing on these separate market

segments,” according to Bennett.Regarding how this sale will ben-

efit DPC, Bennettclaims “this willbetter allow us tofocus on our cus-tomers. Currently,DPC’s profits arefunneled back intothe DuPont corpo-ration, but this

transition will allow DPC to funnelprofits back into our own growth... pro-viding a great opportunity for us andour customers and allowing us to focuson what is most important to DPC.”

The transition will also allowDPC to increase their efficiencies andsynergies, but there are no plans tomake personnel changes or changes tothe products and services offered.DPC’s separation from DuPont willsimply allow them to focus on whatthey do best: manufacturing automo-tive paint.

Eventually, DPC’s name willchange as they end their affiliationwith DuPont; however, while therewill obviously be some rebranding,DPC promises that they will continueto maintain their efforts to providetheir auto body customers with thebest possible products.

“DPC is absolutely committed toour individual distribution network, andwe have no plans to change that. In fact,we expect that this transition will helpus grow our position in the market,”Bennett assures Autobody News readers.

DuPont and the Carlyle Groupare working together to ensure asmooth transition for customers, andthey insist that DPC’s eventual re-branding should not significantly im-pact end-users. Since DPC’s paintlines were a major contributing factorin the Carlyle Group’s decision to ac-quire the company, they plan to con-tinue producing and selling theirpopular brands which include Spies

Hecker, Standox and Imron, amongothers. Bennett stressed that DPC hasno intention of changing their com-mitment to their network of individualdistributors; he also adds that this tran-sition will allow DPC to focus on theirspecific market, and “through this re-newed focus, DPC hopes to fuel ourcustomers’ growth and market share.”

The intended transaction was an-nounced on August 30, 2012, ending ayear-long uncertainty concerningDPC’s future. Rumors of a possiblesale of DPC first began in November2011 when sources claimed thatDuPont was searching for potentialbuyers. After the sale is official in early2013, DPC will become an independ-ent company, but the company’s man-agement team fully recognizes theimportance of a smooth transition fortheir valued customers. DPC has statedthat they will indefinitely continue tooperate at the Coatings TechnologyCenter (CTC) established at the

DuPont Performance Coatings, A Big Change but Much Stays in Place

with Chasidy Rae SiskCompany Connections

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].

Mike Bennett


DuPont Experimental Station in Wilm-ington, Delaware in December 2010.DuPont Performance Coatings has ap-proximately 100,000 square feet ofspace at the CTC devoted to their lab-oratories, applications developmentand office space, and their primaryfocus is researching and developinghigh-performance, sustainable coatingproducts.

NASCAR Sponsorship IntactThough DPC is bound to experiencesome changes as they move awayfrom DuPont, one thing that will notchange is their sponsorship of JeffGordon’s #24 NASCAR team. DPCbegan their partnership with Jeff Gor-don and Hendrick Motor Sports in1992, and DuPont has decided that thesponsorship will continue with DPC.In fact, the appearance of the #24 carhas already changed to reduce theimage of DuPont’s name and logo,and to change its emphasis to the Per-formance Coatings aspect of the busi-ness. DPC’s current contract with JeffGordon and Hendrick Motor Sportslasts through the 2013 season, butBennett notes that DPC hopes to con-tinue this important relationship be-yond that.

Carlyle Group LP, the world’s second-largest private equity firm, agreed toacquire DuPont Co.’s auto-paint unitfor $4.9 billion, giving it control of thesecond-biggest maker of coatings forcars and trucks.

DuPont is the biggest producer ofcoatings applied to used autos, typi-cally via body-repair shops, and thelargest supplier of new-car coatingsafter PPG, according Gregg Schmidt,a DuPont spokesman.

Carlyle will fund its investmentwith equity from Carlyle Partners Vand Carlyle Europe Partners III, thecompanies said in a joint statement.The transaction value is $5.15 billionincluding Carlyle’s assumption of$250 million in unfunded Europeanpension liabilities, DuPont Chief Fi-nancial Officer Nicholas Fanandakissaid.

The sale marks DuPont’s exitfrom the auto-paints market, which ithas served since the invention of themotor car. U.S. auto output is still lessthan its pre-recession peak while theprice of titanium dioxide, a raw mate-rial used in paint, has surged. DuPontChairman and Chief Executive Offi-cer Ellen Kullman is focusing onother industries such as food and bio-fuels. DuPont hired Credit Suisse

Group AG in October to seek buyersfor the unit.

Kullman told investors in Decem-ber that she would give the business,which has the company’s narrowestprofit margin, a chance to meet com-pany targets. DuPont’s long-term goalsfor coatings included sales rising by 3%to 5% annually, the smallest targetedrise among the company’s eight divi-sions.

The DuPont deal will close inthe first quarter of 2013, subject toregulatory approvals, the companiessaid. It would be the largest in thecoatings industry globally in at least adecade, according to data compiledby Bloomberg. The next biggest wasPPG Industries Inc. (PPG)’s 2.2 bil-lion-euro ($2.76 billion) acquisitionof SigmaKalon Group BV in 2008.

The DuPont auto-paint unit,which employs more than 11,000 peo-ple, saw second-quarter pretax operat-ing income climb 26% to $92 millionas revenue fell 1.4% to $1.09 billion.Sales will be more than $4 billion thisyear, Carlyle and DuPont said in theirstatement.

Coatings in the last 12 monthsgenerated “slightly less than” $500million in earnings before interest,taxes, depreciation and amortization.

From the third quarter, DuPontwill report the unit’s results as earn-ings from discontinued operations,which it expects will be 41 cents to 47cents a share for 2012.

DuPont became an auto-paints in-dustry leader with its $1.9 billion ac-quisition of Herberts GmbH fromGermany’s Hoechst GmbH in 1999.DuPont cut 1,500 coatings jobs andshut factories in Europe seven yearslater after the business failed to achievefinancial targets.

Kullman is focusing DuPont’sgrowth on what she calls “mega-trends” arising from global populationgrowth: Improving food quality andagricultural productivity, cutting re-liance on fossil fuels, and protectingthe environment and people. She ex-panded last year in food ingredientsand biofuel enzymes with the pur-chase of Danisco.

DuPont, which also makes plas-tics for auto parts, supplied GeneralMotors Co. (GM) in the 1920s with aspray-on coating that cut the weeks-long process of painting a car to sixhours, according to DuPont’s website.

After the Carlyle deal is com-pleted, DuPont will still sell more than$3 billion of advanced materials to theauto industry, it said today.

Carlyle to Buy DuPont’s Auto Paint Business for Nearly $5 Billion


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AUTOMAKER, OEM, AND RECALLAUTOMAKER, OEM, AND RECALL

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Autobody News October 2012CALIFORNIA • NEVADA • ARIZONA


Suzuki Recalls Forenza, RenoNearly 102,000 Suzuki Forenza andReno sedans are being recalled byAmerican Suzuki Motor Corp. Thesmall cars have wiring issues that maycause the headlamps to work only in-termittently, according to the NationalHighway Traffic Safety Administration(NHTSA). Sudden loss of illuminationreduces driver visibility and increasesthe risk of collision, warns the safetyagency. According to NHTSA, poorcontact between the terminals of certainwires can generate heat in the wires ofthe 2004-06 Suzuki Forenza and the2005-06 Suzuki Reno that lead to thecars’ headlights.

2013 Range Rover UnveiledAn all–new Range Rover has justbeen unveiled, and while it featuresevolutionary styling, there's been acomplete revolution beneath the skin.

Most significantly, the new carswaps the steel body of the currentRange Rover for an all-aluminiumstructure, which is around 39% lighter.

That weight saving—along withother smaller ones and improved aero-dynamics—helps make the new RangeRover both faster and more efficient thanan equivalent version of the current car.In addition, it has allowed Land Rover tooffer a new entry-level V6 diesel.

Ford Issues Third Recall of2013 Escape for Fire RiskFord Motor Co. issued a third re-call of its newly launched 2013 Es-cape on Sept. 5, saying animproperly installed part couldcause a fire in the engine compart-ment.

The recall affects about 7,600Escapes equipped with a 1.6-literengine and built between Oct. 5,2011, and Aug. 31, 2012. In someof these SUVs, a component calleda cup plug was not installed prop-erly, Ford spokeswoman MarceyZwiebel said.

A loose or dislodged plugwould cause an immediate loss ofengine coolant. If the glycol con-centration in the coolant comes incontact with the hot engine com-ponents, it may catch fire.

The new Escape was re-designed for the 2013 model year.The latest recall is the second dueto a fire risk.

Ford recalled the vehicle forthe first time in July to correct acarpeting flaw that could causebraking problems.

Days later, Ford recalled theEscape again, citing a fuel lineproblem that could cause an enginefire. The issue forced Ford to takethe rare step of telling owners tostop driving immediately.

Zwiebel said the cup plug de-fect is not related to the fuel lineissue. Ford has determined there isa low likelihood of a plug dislodg-ing and an “even lower likelihood”of a fire, she said. Replacementparts are available at dealershipsnow. About 6,150 of the vehi-cles affected by the plug issue arein the United States and 1,300 arein Canada. No customer vehicleshave caught fire, but in mid-Au-gust an Escape caught fire on adealer lot in Tennessee.

The plugs at issue were man-ually installed at a Ford engineplant in England, Zwiebel said.Manual installation at that timewas used as a back-up when theautomated systems were havingproblems, something that Zwiebelsaid is no longer the case.

General Motors has again stoppedChevrolet Volt production. Accordingto Automotive News, the Volt’s De-troit-Hamtramck plant will be shutdown for four weeks—from Septem-ber 17 until October 15. This will af-fect about 1,500 workers. Earlier thisyear, the plant was shut down becauseGM had a 150-day supply of Volts, butsales have been good this summer.Still, AN says, as of August 1, GM hadan 84-day supply. There may be moreinventory than demand justifies. Somedeals have surfaced recently that areconsidered underpriced.

GM Halts Chevy Volt Production

Fire Causes Karma RecallFisker has been in the hot seat due totroubles with its Karma extended-rangehybrid-electric luxury sedan that re-sulted in two recalls, ownership hic-cups, and more recently the secondKarma to catch fire. The first one tocombust was in Texas earlier this year,the second one in California. The mostrecent incident has been traced to afaulty cooling fan, and the companyvoluntarily issued its third recall overthe weekend.

Incident investigators, includingFisker engineers and an independentfire expert, isolated the combustioncause to a sealed fan component thathad an internal fault, leading to over-heating and eventually a slow-burningfire. Notably, this problem is not directlyconnected to the battery pack or power-train.

Fisker has contacted its dealers,who will reach out to the approximately1,000 owners to have the cooling fan re-placed. In addition, a protective fusewill be added.

Ram 1500 Pickups Will be Firstto Offer Hands Free TextingThe 2013 Ram 1500 pickup will be thefirst American–built vehicle to offerhands-free voice responses to text mes-sages.

“We would like people to put theirphones away and drive,” said JoniChristensen, Chrysler Group’s head ofmarketing for its UConnect mobiletelecommunication systems.

The new pickup uses a com-puter–generated voice to read receivedtext messages aloud. Connecting to aseparate ‘cloud-based’ server, the drivercan then vocally dictate a response.

The message is voiced back to thedriver and, upon vocal approval, it issent through a Bluetooth-connectedcellphone as text.

“We know that although it is dan-gerous and illegal in many states, peopleare still pulling out their cellphoneswhile driving to text message,” Chris-tensen said.

“Some, especially young peoplewe call ‘screen-agers,’ actually don’ttalk on their phones as much as theycommunicate through text,” he said.

“This is a generation that does notknow life without the Internet, but this istechnology that can make using cell-phones safer.”

The new texting capabilities wereannounced when the extensively re-designed pickup was introduced to themotoring press in Nashville, TN.

The Ram 1500 pickup will be indealerships by the end of September.

Nissan Recalls 2012 InfinitiNissan’s luxury-badged 2013 InfinitiJX35 sport-utility vehicles are beingrecalled for a defect in the fuel gaugesystem, said the National HighwayTraffic Safety Administration(NHTSA). The fuel gauges in morethan 7,800 Infiniti SUVs may displayhigher levels of fuel than what’s ac-tually in the tanks, which may causedrivers to unexpectedly run out ofgas.

The company has told theNHTSA that the fuel gauge problemwith the Infiniti JX35 SUV is due toa fuel transfer tube inside the vehi-cle’s fuel tank. During production ofthe SUV, the tube was incorrectlyrouted, which subsequently preventsthe internal fuel level float sensorfrom properly measuring the amountof gas in the tank.

Last month, the federal safetyagency also began a probe of the In-finiti JX35’s brakes. At issue is theDriver Assistance Package, which au-tomatically applies the SUV’s brakesbased on the vehicle’s on-board radarsensors.

GM Recalls 2012 SonicsGeneral Motors Co is recalling nearly45,000 2012 Chevrolet Sonic cars tofix faulty windshield wiper reservoirs.

The Detroit automaker said thewindshield wiper washer hose on44,668 Sonic vehicles may separatefrom the washer fluid reservoir. If thishappens, washer fluid will not be avail-able to the windshield. GM said a lackof washer fluid could impede the dri-ver’s view, increasing the risk of a crash.

GM dealers will ensure the washerhose is properly connected to the reser-voir. The automaker said it notifieddealers on Aug. 14 and notified ownerson Sept. 7. GM said it had an elevatednumber of warranty reports of separat-ing washer hoses and an investigationfound an inappropriate lubricant used inthe assembly process was to blame.


For collision repairers concernedabout the impact of insurance man-dated parts procurement models andlooking to gain more knowledge onthe impact they have had in otherglobal markets, the 2012 SEMAShow is a perfect venue to gather in-formation.

As part of the Society of Colli-sion Repair Specialists’ (SCRS) Re-pairer Driven Education (RDE)series, registrants will be able to par-ticipate in an interactive presenta-tion with Rex Crowther, Editor ofPanel Talk Magazine in NewZealand, and David Newton-Ross,Editor of The National Collision Re-pairer in Australia and The NZ Col-lision Repairer.

The two hour session, ‘BiddingWars: A Global View on the PossibleEconomic Impact of Insurer Involve-ment in Parts Procurement,’ is set forNov. 1 at 12:30. To register for thisRDE seminar or to find other semi-nars being offered, please visitwww.semashow.com/scrs.

While online bidding require-ments for parts procurement haveonly recently entered the U.S. market,

other countries such as New Zealandhave dealt with parts tendering man-

dates by carriersfor many years.This session willprovide attendeeswith a global per-spective on theeconomic impactof NZ based bid-ding programs,procedural im-

pacts the program has had on cycletimes and estimating practices, andchanges the program has had on re-pairer/supplier relationships. It willalso include a historical overview ofthe national rollout, changes made tothe program along the way, and mar-ket impact from inception to presentday; including an oration of marketresponse at various points throughoutthe past eight-plus years.

“Having seen firsthand the im-pact PartsTrader has had on the in-dustry here in NZ and hearing howdifferent both PartsTrader and StateFarm are saying it is going to be inthe U.S., I struggle to see any ad-vantage for repairers, or much real

advantage for State Farm,” sharedCrowther who has been involved inthe NZ collision repair industrysince 1967.

“This makes me suspicious of theend game, as all repairers’ margins arevulnerable through this program andsurely any insurer is out to maximizetheir profits for their stakeholders.”

Crowther is no stranger to re-pairer reaction to the launch of pro-grams such as these, as former ownerof two Auckland, NZ based repair fa-cilities for 28 years, and before hesold the business. Crowther served asthe Executive Chairman of the NewZealand Collision Repair Associationfrom 1999 to 2004, representing amembership base that performedmore that 80% of the insurance paidcollision repair work in the country.He has also served on the board of I-CAR NZ for the last ten years andwas chairman for two years prior tostepping down in April of this year;and since 2004 Rex has been on theboard of the Motor Industry TrainingOrganisation (MITO), which is re-sponsible for all motor industry ap-prentice and advanced training.

Rex is passionate about the colli-sion repair industry and keen to helppeople on their journey from collisionrepairer to successful business owner.

“The real winners of this programare the shoddy suppliers and the dis-organized repairers in NZ becausefrom our experience, PartsTraderdoes not discriminate between thegood and the average,” he concluded.

“While the pro-gram in itself canbe a good tool fordifficult-to-findparts, especiallyhere in NZ withour huge recycledparts market, itcertainly has ahuge detrimental

effect on relationships between sup-pliers and repairers when its use andparts margins are mandated. It is notunusual for a parts supply that previ-ously would have taken 24 hours toreceive, to now take three to fourdays; despite reports from the U.S.proponents that say it will improvethe parts supply process and effi-ciency.”

SCRS Presents International Perspective on Parts Procurement

David Newton RossAustralia

Rex CrowtherNew Zealand

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In a two-year battle about waterbornepaint and paint company contracts,Austin, TX, shop owner RichardWood, 48, recently won a $3.7 mil-lion jury verdict against paint compa-nies BASF and jobber FinishMaster,but the jury also found that he shouldpay damages for breach of contract.

Wood owns Richard’s Paint andBody Shop, which operates under thename Custom Car Crafters. Wood,who has been in business since 1984,has two shops, a 30,000 square-footbuilding on the north side of Austinand a 12,000 square-foot shop on thesouth side of town.

On Aug. 30, a federal jury unani-mously found BASF and FinishMasterguilty of fraud and breach of warrantyto paint supplied to Custom CarCrafters, awarding the shop punitivedamages of $1.5 million from BASFand $750,000 from FinishMaster. Cus-tom Car Crafter’s was also awarded$1.5 million in compensatory damages.

The legal troubles began in 2010when the paint companies sued Cus-tom Car Crafters for breach of a paint

contract. Wood quickly countersued.The court also found that BASF suf-fered as a result of the shop’s breachof contract and they were awarded

$176,000. Additionally, the jurorsfound that the body shop failed toprove that its failure to pay Finish-

Master liquidated damages was ex-cused, awarding $100,000 in damagesto FinishMaster.

Custom Car Crafters will net $3.4million.

At the heart of the matter isWood’s claims that the BASF 90-linewaterborne paint they sold the shopwas “unfit and defective” in Austin’sheat and humidity and that instruc-tions for easy-to-use standardizedmixing ratio of 2:1 was inaccurate.

Custom Car Crafters was obligedto follow the paint instructions tomaintain the BASF and FinishMasterwarranty on cars they painted, butWood said in the Texas climate, thepaint would not dry in a timely fash-ion or sometimes not at all. In courtdocuments, the paint was described asresulting in “seediness, bubbling, fisheyes, side casting, dye back and de-lamination, among other problems.”Wood said he notified BASF and Fin-ishMaster in a timely fashion aboutthe defective paint and instructionsand of the severe impact these defectswere having on his business. In re-sponse, BASF and FinishMasterblamed the problems on shop em-

ployees and their application of thepaint. So Wood requested that theBASF send himself and another em-ployee, along with a FinishMaster rep,to a training course.

According to court documents,while at the training course in Califor-nia, a BASF instructor informed Woodthat BASF and FinishMaster’s trainingand instructions were inappropriate forthe Texas heat and humidity and thatno proper manual existed for that re-gion. The BASF instructor also toldWood that BASF and FinishMasterfailed to sell him the correct suppliesand additives. After a year of strug-gling with the paint, Wood claims thecompanies admitted there was not a set2:1 formula for the paint. After re-peated failed efforts, the shop acted tomitigate its damages by terminating itscontract, halting use of the BASF andFinishMaster Paint, and obtaining thepaint that was necessary for the shopto conduct its business. Wood said hetried to return the paint and materialsback to the paint companies but thatthey refused to collect them.

Wood noted that as a result of thedefective paint and its instructions, his


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Shop Owner Nets $3.4 Million in Paint Contract Lawsuit

When Richard Wood was sued by the paintcompanies, he filed a countersuit. After atwo-year battle, Wood won a $3.7 millionjury verdict

shops had to repaint 565 vehicles andthat it incurred costs in excess of$100,000 for labor and materials andanother $100,00 for rental cars duringrepainting. Wood expects these coststo increase as additional vehicles arereturned for repainting under theirlifetime warranties.

“I did not track most of the re-paints for the first three to four monthsdue to the fact that BASF blamed thepainters. I also was already spraying[another] water base for over fouryears and had the same painters withno problem,” Wood said.

He also said he spent $500,000 onpaint materials, but only collected$320,000 from insurance companiesfor reimbursement of paint materials.In addition, the shops had to turndown other work in order to repaintthe cars. To make matters worse, threeof his painters quit due to the paintcompanies ‘blame game’ and thenumber of re-dos required. Wood alsoclaims the defective paint and instruc-tions harmed his shops’ highly valu-able reputation and relationships withinsurance carriers.

Wood said the defective paintcaused his business to suffer from lossof earnings and profits, loss of earn-

ing capacity, damage to reputation,loss of staff, out-of-pocket costs andcosts of storing the paint when thecompanies refused to take it back.

Wood also said BASF and Fin-ishMaster told him if he switched to90-line he could end his previous PPGpaint contract without penalty. Woodsaid he still had to pay $73,000 toPPG.

In its suit, BASF and FinishMas-ter said the shop failed to purchaseBASF products for five years as partof a contract in which the shop re-ceived $320,000 cash from BASF andFinishMaster.

According to co-counsel BroadusSpivey, the court has not yet entered ajudgment on the verdict, which meansthe judge orders the jury’s verdict intojudgment. “I am sure there will be anappeal. We are ready for that too,”Spivey said.

“It is a privilege to representRichard Wood, who worked so hard tobuild his business and his reputation,”said co-counsel Karen Burgess. “Thejury system worked for justice.”

“I feel justice was served,” Woodsaid. “We won because there was a le-gitimate problem. They knew they hada problem and they tried to cover it up.”


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2013 HONDA PILOT

The Insurance Institute for HighwaySafety (IIHS) has raised the bar withits new small overlap frontal crashtest. With a 50th percentile male Hy-brid III dummy in the driver seat,25% of the car’s front end on thedriver side strikes a 5-ft-tall rigid bar-rier at 40 mph. These small overlapcrashes, which affect the outer edgesnot protected by crush-zone struc-tures, are responsible for a consider-able percentage of the 10,000 deathsin frontal crashes each year. The testutilizes three rating categories: struc-ture, restraints and kinematics, anddummy injury measures. Of the ve-hicles tested, the Volvo S60 per-formed the best, permitting only afew inches of intrusion into the oc-cupant compartment due to rein-forcement of the upper rails and asteel cross member below the instru-ment panel. Common problems withother vehicles included high occu-pant compartment intrusion and un-safe occupant motion, includingdummies that missed the airbag ormoved too far forward toward the A-pillar. After 2013, the IIHS intends toadd the small overlap frontal crashtest to its list of evaluations for theTop Safety Pick award.

New IIHS Test Aims to Im-prove Frontal Collision

Service King Collision Repair Cen-ters has joined the Collision RepairEducation Foundation’s IndustryLeadership Circle with a $10,000donation to the organization.

The Education Foundation saidthe donation will be used to providescholarships to post-secondary col-lision repair students near the mar-kets that Service King’s repairfacilities serve. The student scholar-ships will be included as part of theEducation Foundation’s scholarshipand tool grants that will be awardednext spring.

“We are honored to be able tocontribute to such an importantfoundation,” said Danny Wilkins,associate vice president of staffingand development for Service King.“Supporting collision repair educa-tion is key to growing the industryso that we continue employinghighly skilled technicians andpainters for years to come.”

Clark Plucinski, executive di-rector of the Education Foundation,said, “Through Service King’s dona-tion, collision students located neartheir repair facilities will have theopportunity to apply for financialsupport this upcoming spring.”

Service King Gives $10,000for Student Scholarships

GCIA 16th Annual Invitational GolfTournamentThe Georgia Collision Industry Asso-ciation has sent out invitations fortheir 16th Annual Invitational GolfTournament which will be held at theTrophy Club of Atlanta in Alpharetta,GA on Wednesday, October 3, 2012.The event will be a four-man “bestball” tournament. The playing fee is$75 per person which includes lunch,dinner, unlimited snacks and drinks,trophies, a chance at over $1000worth of door prizes and a Hole-in-One car. Registration begins at 11a.m., but those who come early haveaccess to free range balls starting at10 a.m. unch will be held at 11:30with tee-off at 12:30 p.m. Dinner willbe served after the tournament. Thoseinterested can register by completingthe form and faxing it to TournamentCoordinator, Howard Batchelor, at770-590-3881. More information canbe obtained by contacting Howard at770-367-9816.

GCIA is also looking for sponsorsfor the golf outing. Interested sponsorscan acquire a hole sign for $200 or ahole sign and the opportunity to staff ahole for $500. The $1000 Bronze spon-sorship includes 1 playing spot, a ban-ner and a hole sign. The $1500 Silversponsorship consists of 2 playing spots,a banner, a hole sign and the opportu-nity to staff a hole. For $2000, GoldSponsors receive 4 playing spots, a ban-ner, a hole sign, the opportunity to staffa hole and the chance to stuff the goodiebags. For more information, contactHoward Batchelor at 770-367-9816 orfax sponsorship forms and golf sign-upsheets to 770-590-33881. Checksshould be mailed to GCIA at 595 Com-merce Park Dr., Marietta, GA 30060.

National Autobody Council UpcomingEventsThe National Autobody Council willhold an Open Board meeting atNACE on Tuesday, October 9th, 2012from 1 p.m. until 6 p.m. The next day,Wednesday, October 10th, they willhold their Annual Meeting and Elec-tion from 7:30 a.m. until 9:30 a.m.,and from 10 a.m. until 11 a.m., theywill hold a Closed Board of Directorsmeeting to elect officers for 2013. For

information on sponsorships or regis-tration, please contact Mike McManusat 414-908-4957 ext. 119 or at [email protected].

IABA Dubs First Annual Golf Outing ASuccessThe Indiana Autobody Associationheld their first annual golf outing onThursday, August 23, 2012 at Noble

Hawk Golf Course in Kendallville,IN. The event was a 9-hole scramble,and 13 teams participated in the eventwith around 30 vendors helping outwith hole sponsorships and doorprizes, allowing each player to leavewith several prizes. IABA was verypleased with the turnout for their firstgolf outing, and in fact, the event wassuch a success that IABA has alreadybooked the event again for next year.According to IABA President MikeHartman, “The money [raised] isbeing set aside in a special account.Our goal is to be able to give out ascholarship to a local student who willbe entering the auto body industry…we want to be able to give it to some-one who is really driven towards a ca-reer in the Auto Body business.” Formore information on IABA and addi-tional events, visit www.IABAmeet-ings.com.

ARA Hosting 69th Annual Conventionand ExpositionThe Automotive Recyclers Associa-tion (ARA) will host their 69th annualconvention and exposition from Oc-tober 24–27, 2012 at the GaylordPalms Resort and Convention Centerin Orlando, FL. The event offers at-tendees an opportunity to meet face-to-face with key industry leaders, tosee new products and services, and to

remain a step ahead of the competi-tion.

The convention and expositionwill be preceded by ARA’s AnnualGolf Tournament which will be heldon Tuesday, October 23 at CelebrationGolf Club. Registration begins atnoon, and the tournament is scheduledfor 1-6pm. ARA’s International Expofocuses on networking and learningabout new products and services. Itwill be open on Thursday, October 25from 5–9pm, on Friday, October 26from 1–5pm, and on Saturday, Octo-ber 27 from 8–11:30am. This eventoffers many educational seminars andlectures. The full schedule is availableon the convention brochure which canbe downloaded at ARA’s website. Payattention to the dress codes posted forcertain events to ensure you pack ap-propriately as some events requiremore formal dress.

Additionally, attendees can attendnon-related activities for an additional

fee, such as Emeril’s Cooking Class.Discounted tickets for local attractionscan be purchased in advance throughARA’s website.

ARA offers various levels of reg-istration with varying prices, such asa price specifically targeted towardspouses. The event is family-friendly,and children under the age of 12 enterfor free, but children between theages of 12 and 18 will be charged areduced admission fee. Those inter-ested in attending can register onlineat www.araexpo.org or by faxing theregistration form to 571-208-0430.

For more information on any as-pect of this event, please visit www.ara-expo.org or contact Maria Miller at571-208-0428 or [email protected].

Proceeds from AASP MA’s Annual BBQBenefit Students’ Tool GrantsAASP-MA hosted their MidstateChapter’s Annual BBQ on Friday,


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Hertz will acquire Dollar Thrifty afteryears of back and forth negotiations.

Hertz Global Holdings and Dol-lar Thrifty Automotive Group an-nounced Aug. 26 that the twocompanies have entered a definitivemerger agreement. Hertz will pur-chase Dollar Thrifty for $87.50 pershare in cash, translating into a pur-chase worth a corporate enterprisevalue of approximately $2.3 billion.

Each of the two companies’boards has unanimously approved thetransaction.

The company stressed that the“closing of that divestiture is condi-tioned upon, among other things,Hertz completing an acquisition ofDollar Thrifty.”

Hertz chairman and chief exec-utive officer Mark Frissora said,“We are pleased to have finallyreached an agreement with DollarThrifty after a lengthy—but worth-while—pursuit. We have always be-lieved that a combination with DollarThrifty is the best strategic option forboth companies. The transaction pro-vides Hertz instant scale with twonew, well-established brands with air-port concession infrastructure in themid-tier value segment.”

Hertz Buys Dollar ThriftyIn late August, the Automotive Serv-ice Association (ASA) issued a re-quest to State Farm to prove itsPartsTrader benefit to repairerswithin a timeline, which wasn't spec-ified.

The ASA issued this statementon August 22:

Since early May 2012, the Auto-motive Service Association (ASA)and its volunteer leaders have taken atransparent and methodical approachto State Farm’s electronic parts or-dering application currently being pi-loted. Seeking context regarding thespecifics of the pilot, ASA previouslypresented the industry with verifieddetails of the State Farm pilot and theapplication developed by PartsTraderat State Farm’s request.

For ASA to continue in goodfaith to provide accurate informationto its members – and act on their be-half as advocate and industry liaison– ASA has now entered into a phasein which data delivery will be associ-ated with a timeline. If State Farmcannot provide data showing howthis application benefits collision re-pairers (operationally/financially)within a feasible, specified timeframe, ASA will respond appropri-ately. ASA acknowledges the pilot is

still in process and State Farm is cur-rently reviewing data.

This follows a public request byASA June 12 to State Farm on behalfof ASA’s collision repair members forfactual evidence of how the elec-tronic parts ordering applicationwould benefit collision repair facili-ties. Within this request ASA clearlystated that if this application does notprovide benefits to the collision re-pairer, then ASA would not supportthe application moving forward. OnJuly 17, ASA made another public re-quest to State Farm for data demon-strating that the pilot applicationbenefits repair facilities, receipt ofwhich was confirmed by the insurer.

George Avery, State Farm indus-try liaison and claims representative,said during a recent phone interviewwith ASA that State Farm is still sift-ing through the feedback receivedfrom the 158 shops using the systemin four U.S. markets, and is imple-menting changes in the pilot that, inturn, put them in a position of need-ing to go back to repairers to gatherfurther data. Avery stressed it is afluid process. Although lacking cur-rent data to provide specific answers,he assured ASA that State Farmwould respond to the association

when answers were available.Previously published, ASA’s

areas of concern regarding the pilot –as expressed by collision repairers –includes efficiency issues, additionaladministration costs, reductions inshop profits, potential compromisesto local repairer-to-supplier relation-ships and increasing insurer involve-ment in the repair process.

More than 100 formal and infor-mal interviews have been conductedby ASA, primarily with collision re-pair businesses and other industrygroups.

“For ASA members, the factualresults of the pilot are essential to thediscussion. ASA will continue to en-gage with all parties necessary, as weseek the supporting data that this ap-plication benefits the collision re-pairer. ASA stands by its statementthat if this application does not pro-vide benefits to the collision repairer,ASA would not support the applica-tion moving forward,” said DeniseCaspersen, manager of ASA’s Colli-sion Division. “ASA has a responsi-bility to our membership to be theunyielding, professional voice speak-ing clearly about their concerns andadvocating for favorable resolu-tions.”

ASA Issues Timeline for State Farm to Prove PartsTrader Benefit


ASA Speaks with NWLCRA Regarding PartsTrader PilotDenise Caspersen, manager of theAutomotive Service Association's col-lision division, recently attended aNorthwest Louisiana Collision RepairAssociation (NWLCRA) meeting topresent to its members the ‘facts todate’ regarding the State Farm elec-tronic parts ordering application.

The State Farm pilot is currentlytaking place in Birmingham, AL; Tuc-son, AZ; Grand Rapids, MI; andCharlotte, NC.

Following the NWLCRA Augustbusiness meeting, Caspersen discussedthe verified facts about the pilot alongwith clear statements of concern fromrepairers, based on ASA member feed-back to the association. During thethree-hour meeting, repairers and sup-pliers in the Northwest Louisiana areaasked follow-up questions and ex-pressed their concerns with the pilotand its potential impact on their rela-tionships with suppliers and consumers.

“We are very thankful to Deniseand ASA for bringing to collision in-dustry professionals of NorthwestLouisiana, East Texas and SouthArkansas such a timely discussion ofthe facts concerning this pilot pro-gram. Everyone gained tremendousinsight from the up-to-date facts andASA’s continuing investigation of the

pilot program. We feel complete andopen disclosure of those facts by allparties involved is critical,” said BillBurnside, secretary-treasurer, NWL-CRA. “When all the facts are present,good decisions can be made.”

Caspersen, who will meet withASA members in Ohio in September,said, “ASA welcomes the opportunityto speak with repairers and supplierson this important industry issue. Todate, the majority of the industry has anegative view of this pilot. The facts,the pilot results, and most importantly,the concerns of repairers about howthis application will affect their busi-ness, are what remain vital to ASA.We will continue to work with asmany parties as possible to find theanswers our members require. ASA isnow focused on a timeline in whichresults of the pilot will be provided.”

ASA announcements regardingthe State Farm pilot are convenientlylocated at www.ASAshop.org. Clickon ‘Tools & Resources’ (in the bluemenu bar), then ‘State Farm Pilot Pro-gram.’ ASA reminds members to sharetheir concerns, comments and experi-ences regarding the pilot by contactingCaspersen at [email protected],or by phone at (800) ASA-SHOP, ext.106, or (817) 514-2906 (direct).

State Farm Insurance is planning toexpand its Web-based parts procure-ment pilot through PartsTrader inChicago, Dick Luedke, media rela-tions specialist for State Farm, saidSept. 14.

Luedke said State Farm’s SelectService shops in Chicago will beginusing the program in December. Aspecific date has not yet been set.

That means the program will berequired in five U.S. markets, includ-ing Chicago; Tucson, AZ; GrandRapids, MI; Charlotte, NC; and Birm-ingham, AL. About 600 State FarmSelect Service shops exist throughoutthose five markets.

State Farm selected Chicago asthe next location for its pilot due tothe city’s size, which will allow thecompany to test the program on alarger scale, Luedke said. Roughly450 Select Service shops exist inChicago, while the other four marketswhere the pilot is currently activehave about 150 participating shopscombined, less those who droppedthe program.

“The reason we’re doing this isbecause that market is such a bigmetropolitan area. We want to testthe scale and technology of the pro-gram in a larger metropolitan area,”Luedke said. “That allows us to scalethe program and the technology inthat unique environment. Obviously,Tucson and Birmingham are goodsize metropolitan areas, but Chicagois much larger so we want to do itthere.”

Luedke said State Farm does notcurrently have plans to launch thePartsTrader pilot in any other markets.

State Farm has said its Part-sTrader process should improve partavailability, process efficiency, orderaccuracy and create a better experi-ence for customers.

PartsTrader will Come to Chicago Market’s 450State Farm Select Service Shops in December

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Automotive Service & Repair Weekwill host the second annual MSO(Multi-Store Owner) Symposium onFriday, October 12, during ASRW atthe Morial Convention Center in NewOrleans, LA.

Designed for collision repairmulti-shop operators, the MSO Sym-posium will be held during ASRW,which is scheduled Oct. 10–13. TheMSO Symposium debuted at ASRWin 2011 specifically for multi-shopowners.

Registration for the MSO Sym-posium is $125 and is available on-line for qualified MSOs only. Thesymposium was created specificallyfor shop owners with two or more lo-cations.

“Our success with last year’s in-augural MSO Symposium generatedtremendous enthusiasm and interestamong MSOs in the U.S. and Canada.It has also proven to be a draw for ourspeakers who want to share theirthoughts with this growing segment ofthe collision repair industry,” saidsymposium facilitator and co-pro-ducer Matthew Ohrnstein, Sym-phony Advisors. “We are especially

pleased to be able to tailor this year’scontent to respond to specific feed-back from last year’s attendees.”

The 2012 Schedule-at-a-Glance isas follows:

8:30 a.m.–8:45 a.m. Welcome &Opening Comments

8:45 a.m.–9:45 a.m. Developing aSustainable Culture, facilitated byMarcy Tieger, Symphony AdvisorsGuest Panelists:● Andrew C. Taylor, Chairman andCEO, Enterprise Holdings● Pam Nicholson, President andCOO, Enterprise Holdings● Christine B. Taylor, Assistant Vice

President, Enterprise Holdings9:45 a.m.–10:45 a.m. Strategic

Brand Development: DifferentiateThrough Innovation Facilitated byDavid Lingham, IBIS Conference Di-rector. Guest Speaker: Sasha Strauss,Founder and CEO, Innovation Proto-col; Professor, University of SouthernCalifornia

10:45 a.m.–11:15 a.m. Network-ing Break

11:15 a.m.–12:30 p.m. BuildingLasting Business Relationships ThroughPerformance Facilitated by Matthew

Ohrnstein, Symphony AdvisorsGuest Panelists:● Bill Brower, Assistant Vice Presi-dent and Manager, APD, Personal Mar-ket Claims, Liberty Mutual Insurance● Patrick Burnett, Assistant Vice Pres-ident, Nationwide● Michelle Dereszynski, AssistantVice President, APD National Opera-tions and Strategy, Farmers Insurance● Susanna Gotsch, Director, IndustryAnalyst, CCC Information Services● James Spears, Assistant Vice Presi-dent, USAA

12:30 p.m.–1:30 p.m. Lunch1:30 p.m.–2:45 p.m. What a Dif-

ference a Year Makes, facilitated byMatthew Ohrnstein, Symphony Ad-visorsGuest Panelists:● Steve Grimshaw, Caliber CollisionCenters, CEO● Chris Abraham, Service King Col-lision Centers, CEO● Brock Bulbuck, The Boyd Group,President and CEO● Duane Rouse, ABRA Auto Body &Glass, CEO

2:45 p.m.–3:15 p.m. NetworkingBreak

3:15 p.m.–4:30 p.m. Show Me theMoney: Private Equity’s View of theCollision Repair Industry, facilitatedby Rex Green, BB&T Capital Mar-kets, Head of Consumer GroupGuest Panelists:● Warren Feldberg, Partner, Cham-plain Capital Partners, LP● Lorin Knell, Partner, KCB Man-agement● Luis Zaldivar, Managing Director,Palladium Equity Partners● TBA, The Carlyle Group● Other(s) to be announced

4:30 p.m.–4:45 p.m. ClosingComments

4:45 p.m.–7:00 p.m. NetworkingReception

“The MSO Symposium was oneof the most anticipated events of 2011,and this year’s event is on pace to ex-ceed our expectations once again,”said Ron Pyle, ASA president.

“The overwhelming responseand support by the sponsors of thisevent have truly shaped it, and we aregrateful to each of the sponsoringcompanies who have played a criticalrole in this year’s symposium,” headded.


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AASP-MA Talked Parts Procurement at State MeetingThe Alliance of Automotive Serv-ice Providers of Massachusetts(AASP/MA) tackled the parts pro-curement issue with a panel of in-dustry representatives from acrossthe country at its statewide meet-ing on September 12. The panelprovided an update on the partsprocurement issue, including thelatest developments with StateFarm’s PartsTrader program.

AASP/MA President Rick Star-bard was joined on the panel withToyota Wholesale Development Man-ager Jerry Raskind and Toyota Col-lision Consultant Rick Leos Raskind,as well as Society of Collision RepairSpecialists [SCRS] Executive Direc-tor Aaron Schulenburg, Coalitionfor Collision Repair Excellence(CCRE) President Tony Lombar-dozzi, and Gary Danko, Balise AutoGroup’s Connecticut wholesale partsrepresentative.

“The insurance industry has at-tempted to present parts bidding pro-grams, most notably, PartsTrader, asso-called ‘win-win’ situations for allparties involved,” said Starbard. “Inlooking at these programs in-depth, wefail to see any ‘win’ for anyone but theinsurance industry. In a state like Mas-sachusetts, where our only real profit

margin is derived from parts markup,programs like the one State Farm is at-tempting to introduce could have dev-astating effects. We’ve set up this panelto not only educate members on theparts bidding issue in general, but alsoto give a wake-up call to those whothink it can’t happen in Massachusetts.Parts procurement is not a DRP issue;it’s a profit issue. I encourage any re-pairer who is concerned with maintain-ing profits in his or her shop to attendthis meeting; it will be an eye-opener.”

Added Schulenburg, “I believethe association’s decision to host apanel that will offer perspectives fromall sides of the industry that will beimpacted by these types of insurer-mandated programs is a great one.”

“I believe the more communica-tion and information exchanged on thisissue, the better,” notes Lombardozzi.“Around here, I hear some people say-ing, ‘State Farm doesn’t have SelectService in Massachusetts, so Part-sTrader won’t affect me.’ Wrong. Assoon as State Farm and PartsTrader aresuccessful in one market, it’ll only be amatter of time before other insurerstake the lead with similar parts pro-curement systems. Programs like Part-sTrader could very easily make theirway into Massachusetts and beyond.”

CREF Offers Free Industry Classes for Students at NACEThe Collision Repair Education Foun-dation is offering several free indus-try sessions for secondary andpost-secondary collision students andtheir instructors attending the Interna-tional Autobody Congress & Exposi-tion (NACE), set for Oct. 11-13 at theMorial Convention Center in New Or-leans.

The sessions will be held Friday,Oct. 12 and will provide helpful in-dustry and career information to colli-sion students who wish to enter theindustry after graduation.

Session descriptions are as fol-lows:• 11 - 11:45 a.m. – LKQ Corpora-tion – “Repair and Recycling an Op-portunity” – Presentation will includediscussion on perception and realityof motor vehicle recycling; LKQ Cor-poration company overview; employ-ment need and segmentation; jobs andcareers in motor vehicle recycling.• 1 - 1:45 p.m. – Sherwin WilliamsAutomotive Finishes – “SherwinWilliams Automotive Finishes trainingprides itself on our class offerings,which brings to our customers theproducts and processes that provideour collision repair customers with theknowledge they need to be productiveand profitable into today’s business en-

vironment. Join us for a walk throughSherwin Williams Automotive Fin-ishes Standard Operating Practices andour products that will help any shopbecome lean and process-driven byusing the latest in technologies.”

In addition to the student ses-sions during ASRW, all attending sec-ondary and post-secondary collisionstudents and instructors will be pro-vided complimentary Cintas techni-cian uniforms to wear on the showfloor and back home within theirschool’s collision programs. Thesponsors of the 500 technician shirtsinclude CAPA, CCC InformationServices, FenderBender, LKQ Corpo-ration and LORD/Fusor.

“These attending collision stu-dents are the future of the industry,and the Collision Repair EducationFoundation is proud to work togetherwith NACE to help educate this groupon upcoming industry trends and ca-reer advice,” said Collision RepairEducation Foundation Executive Di-rector Clark Plucinski. “I would in-vite all industry members to join inour efforts to support this group asonly through assisting them in theirtechnical education will there be agreater promise of the industry’s fu-ture.”

lenger Romney have accused eachother of favoring policies that wouldshift more U.S. jobs to China. Obama’sadministration has filed a series ofWTO cases challenging Chinese tradepolicy on autos, rare earth elements andother industries.

The Chinese government had noimmediate response to the latest U.S.complaint but has defended its aid toindustries such as solar power as in linewith WTO free-trade rules.

The United States, China andother governments see the auto indus-try as an important source of higher-paid jobs and export revenue. The 2008global crisis fueled complaints in theWest that Chinese policies on a widerange of industries might be wiping outjobs abroad.

The WTO allows research grantsand some other aid, but critics sayChina violates rules that prohibit mak-ing exports a condition of support.They say Chinese policies have en-couraged auto parts manufacturers toshift production to China, hurting em-ployment abroad.

U.S. Trade Representative RonKirk said in a statement announcing theWTO challenge that Chinese auto andauto parts exporters in government-designated “export bases” received atleast $1 billion in subsidies from 2009to 2011.

Employment in the U.S. auto partssector shrank by roughly half between2001 and 2010, while U.S. imports ofauto parts from China have increasedseven-fold, according to the Obama ad-ministration.

Beijing faces pressure to holddown potential job losses as exportgrowth plunges and China’s domesticconsumer demand weakens.

China’s auto sales growth fellto 3.7 percent in August, downfrom July’s 11 percent growth andJune’s 15.8 percent rate. That re-duces domestic demand for autoparts, increasing the importance ofexports. Sales in China by globalbrands such as General Motors Co.,Volkswagen AG and Toyota MotorCo. are growing faster than theoverall market. That is squeezingChinese automakers, especiallysmaller competitors that local lead-ers want to support as a source ofjobs and taxes.

Beijing fired back in the auto dis-pute last year by imposing anti-dump-ing and anti-subsidy duties on importsof American-made automobiles worthsome $3 billion. The White House saidthey covered more than 80 percent ofU.S. auto exports to China and fell dis-proportionately on GM and ChryslerLLC because of Washington’s financialrescue of those companies followingthe financial crisis. The United Statesfiled a WTO case in July challengingthat move.

China and the U.S. have clashedover complaints about market barriersand subsidies for goods includingautos, solar panels, tires, steel andchicken. Political pressures on bothsides are worsening as demand for theirgoods cools, raising the threat of joblosses in export industries.

The Chinese Ministry of Com-merce said its latest WTO complaintcenters on the U.S. Congress’s passageof a law this year that retroactivelygave the Commerce Department powerto impose anti-dumping duties on Chi-nese goods. That came after a U.S.court reversed earlier duties imposedunder rules covering countries such asChina and Vietnam that are deemed tobe “non-market economies.”

“This practice puts Chinese enter-prises in an uncertain legal environ-ment, in violation of the relevant rulesof the WTO transparency and dueprocess,” ministry spokesman ShenDanyang said in a statement.

The ministry said U.S. measuresbeing challenged cover 24 types ofproducts worth $7.2 billion. It gave nodetails, but a statement from the WTOin Geneva said they include paper,steel, tires, magnets, chemicals, kitchenappliances, wood flooring and windtowers.

The Chinese filing requests con-sultations to settle the dispute, the firststage in a WTO complaint. If no reso-lution is found after 60 days, Beijingcan ask for the case to be handed overto a WTO panel for judgment. De-pending on the outcome, China mightbe allowed to request sanctions.

The two governments, along withother members of the Group of 20major rich and emerging economies,have pledged to avoid taking steps thatmight hamper trade and global growth.Despite that, they have traded accusa-tions they are improperly subsidizing arange of industries or shielding themfrom foreign competition in violationof WTO commitments.



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Van Tuyl Group Joins NABC as New Diamond MemberThe Van Tuyl Group Inc. has becomethe newest diamond-level member ofthe National Auto Body Council(NABC), the highest level of NABCcorporate sponsorship.

The Van Tuyl Group providesmanagement consulting services to70 automotive dealerships nation-wide. The company also operatesmultiple dealership locations with 36collision repair facilities throughoutArizona, California, Florida, Georgia,Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Nebraska,New Mexico and Texas.

The NABC said the Van TuylGroup brings a unique perspectiveand skillset to the organization as anational dealership MSO.

“The ownership model may bedifferent than those found in the in-dependent collision repair market, butour focus is common—facilitatingquality repairs that bring the damagedvehicle back to its pre-crash safetyand integrity,” said Chuck Sulkala,executive director of the NABC. “Weare pleased to have such a prestigiousgroup lend a hand to our efforts andwelcome the thoughts and opportuni-ties they will provide to support andpromote the good work our industryachieves both on the job and awayfrom it.”

The NABC said the Van TuylGroup will be highly involved withthe 2012 Recycled Rides program, aninitiative through which NABCmembers refurbish vehicles for dona-tion to families and organizations inneed. The Van Tuyl Group will do-nate 36 vehicles for this year’s ef-fort—one vehicle from each of itscollision center locations.

“Our goal is to help NABC reachits long-term goal of 500 simultaneousvehicle donations in 2012,” said RafaelHinojos, director of collision businessdevelopment for the Van Tuyl Group.

The Van Tuyl Group said its Re-cycled Rides donations will be a col-laborative effort with the company’scollision center managers and techni-cians, insurance partners, rental carpartners, PPG Automotive Coatingsand 3M.

“Van Tuyl Group Inc. and ourdealer partners are committed to theindustry and the communities inwhich we operate, so we want to part-ner with an organization like NABC,”said Darren Huggins, the Van TuylGroup’s national collision director.“We are honored and humbled for theopportunity to contribute RecycledRides to families who need a safe andreliable means of transportation.”

Is New Vehicle Technology Endangering Your Business?Some say the age of autonomous ve-hicles is almost here and they prom-ise a crash-free future. The questionfor many in the industry is whether aroadway filled with self-driving carsis really that close, and what will thatmean for repair businesses that wouldbe impacted by a speculated declinein vehicle damage occurrences?

To help decipher what theemerging trends in vehicle technologyare, and how those vehicle design fea-tures will truly impact the industry,the Society of Collision Repair Spe-cialists (SCRS) has announced that itwill be hosting an additional RepairerDriven Education (RDE) session atthe SEMA Show.

“Is New Vehicle Technology En-dangering Your Business?” will bepresented from 10:00 am to noon onTuesday, October 30, by Kim Hazel-baker, Senior Vice President of theHighway Loss Data Institute (HLDI).

This session, which will be freeto all pre-registered attendees willlook at the current state of vehicle ad-vancements, both crashworthinessand crash avoidance technologies.Through extensive use of crash testvideo and real world results, Hazel-baker will outline what is state of theart in safety today and how it is rap-idly changing. Using timelines for the

adoption of other automotive tech-nologies, he will suggest what thepace of change may be in the future. Ifyou are concerned about how existingand future technologies could poten-tially decrease the amount of repairwork entering into the market, youwon't want to miss this interesting andinformative update on vehicle tech-nology.

“SCRS understands that the in-dustry gathers at annual events likeSCRS’ RDE series and the SEMAshow to acquire information that canhelp them run their business and fore-cast how they need to adapt to remainrelevant,” stated SCRS Executive Di-rector Aaron Schulenburg. “The dra-matic pace at which we are seeingnew technology, and understandingthe impact that technology has on ourbusinesses, is perhaps one of the mostcritical pieces of information ourmembers need to ensure the successof their businesses. We are thrilledthat we could partner with Mr. Hazel-baker and his well-respected organi-zation to develop a customizedpresentation that spoke to such a crit-ical industry topic.”

HLDI is a private non-profit or-ganization that gathers, processes, andpublishes insurance data concernedwith human and economic losses.


The Automotive Management Insti-tute (AMI) and the Automotive Serv-ice Association (ASA) haveannounced that Ben Rouw, generalmanager for Steele's Collision &Glass, Monticello, MN, is the recipi-ent of this year’s Emil Stanley MeritAward.

The award honors Emil Stanley,who was publisher of AutomotiveBody Repair News (ABRN) until hisdeath in 1989. He was committed tostrengthening the professionalism ofthe collision repair industry througheducation.

Rouw has worked in the auto-motive and collision repair industryfor more than 19 years. He is cur-rently completing the necessary re-quirements to earn the Institute’sAccredited Automotive Manager(AAM) designation. When not work-ing in the shop, he contributes histime to various community and in-dustry organizations.

As the scholarship recipient,Rouw will receive $1,000 to be ap-plied toward expenses to attend edu-cational sessions and view the latestrepair technologies and equipmentduring NACE, Oct. 10-13, in NewOrleans.

Recipient of Emil StanleyMerit Award is Announced

The Automotive Management Insti-tute (AMI) and the Automotive Serv-ice Association (ASA) jointlyannounced today that Jennifer Kin-ney, office manager for Classic AutoCollision, Marquette, MI, is the re-cipient of this year’s Richard Cos-sette/Gale Westerlund MemorialScholarship.

Kinney has worked in the colli-sion industry for more than 10 yearsand is currently completing the nec-essary requirements to earn the Insti-tute’s Accredited AutomotiveManager (AAM) designation. Whennot working in the shop, she con-tributes time to various communityand industry organizations.

As the scholarship recipient,Kinney receives $1,000 to help coverexpenses to attend educational ses-sions and view the latest repair tech-nologies and equipment during the2012 International Autobody Con-gress & Exposition (NACE).

“I am honored and grateful to re-ceive this scholarship. The opportu-nity to continue seeking knowledgeand experience in the industry en-ables me to become a stronger, bettermanager and leader for my team,”said Kinney.

2012 Memorial ScholarshipRecipient Named

ASRW Parties at the Mardi Gras World in New OrleansAutomotive Service & Repair Week(ASRW) will hosts its annual ASRWWelcome Party at the iconic MardiGras World on Thursday, Oct. 11,from 4:30-6:30 p.m. and will again besponsored by CCC Information Serv-ices.

Complimentary transportationwill be provided for ASRW attendees.Upon arrival, attendees will begin theevening by walking through the‘working warehouse’ of Mardi Grasparade floats and sculptures. Theparty culminates at the Grand OaksMansion next door – an indoor ante-bellum mansion replica.

“We’re very happy to sponsorthis terrific event for the fifth straightyear,” said Jim Dickens, senior vicepresident of the Automotive ServiceGroup at CCC. “We’re really lookingforward to seeing our customers andindustry partners in New Orleans thisyear.”

“Mardi Gras World representsquintessential New Orleans and it’sthe perfect backdrop for a memorableevening and lively celebration,” saidRon Pyle, ASA president. “What agreat place to kick-off anotherASRW!”

About the EventsASRW is scheduled for Oct. 10-13 at

the Morial Convention Center in NewOrleans, LA, and includes the Interna-tional Autobody Congress & Exposi-tion (NACE) and the Congress ofAutomotive Repair & Service (CARS),which makes it the industry’s leadingevent for dedicated professionals toconduct business, network and engagein industry issues.

NACE – the world’s collision re-pair event – represents the only B2Bevent of its kind specifically designedfor collision repair industry profes-sionals from around the globe. NACEfeatures a comprehensive educationalConference and Exposition with hun-dreds of diverse exhibiting companiesdisplaying the latest equipment, prod-ucts, services and technology availableto today’s collision repair industry.

CARS – the premier event forautomotive service professionals –features a high-quality educationlineup led by industry leaders, alongwith an exhibitor showcase of auto-motive service and repair relatedequipment, products and services.

About the SponsorThe Automotive Service Association(ASA) is the sponsor of ASRW andtwo of its shows, NACE and CARS.ASA is the largest international not-for-profit trade association of its kind.


by Ed Attanasio

When you call your rebuilt car “BlueHeaven,” AKA “Bad to the Blue,” youbetter have something special.

We all know how a restored carcan go from sitting in a backyard tobecoming a beautiful piece of auto-motive art, but it doesn’t happen bychance. In this case, it took a pair ofmaster painters/artistslike Tom and MitchKelly from Kelly &Sons Crazy Paintersin southern Californiato take this 1957Chevrolet and convertit into a highly-col-lectible one-of-a-kindshowroom gem.When the Kellys fi-nally complete thiscurrent project andunveil it at this year’sSEMA show, therewill be more than justa few “oohs!” and “aahs!” along theway. There may be some outstandingreviews and maybe even a magazinecover in this classic vehicle’s immedi-

ate future.The history behind this vehicle and

Tom and Mitch’s role in the story goesback several years, Mitch Kelly ex-plained. “This car was sitting right next

to my house for thelongest time. It be-longed to my neigh-bor’s father. I waslooking at it one dayand I thought, hey—let’s buy this car andfix it up for SEMA.That way, when mydad and I are standingthere at the PPG booth[Kelly’s main sponsor],it will give peoplesomething to look atand something we cantalk about. My neigh-bor agreed to the sale,

so we started working on it.”With more than 200 hours of

work into “Blue Heaven,” Tom andMitch are thrilled about how the carwill look when completed and ready

for the SEMA floor. “It’s going to getsome attention, that’s for sure,” Mitchsaid. “The plan is to keep it and showit for at least the next year. Unless

someone makes me acrazy offer on the car,I want to keep it, be-cause we’re so proudof it and the work thatwent into it.”

Some notable en-hancements to his ’57Chevy include CrazyPaint’s signature “sur-prise graphics,” whichappear underneath thecar’s hood on the en-gine firewall, Mitchexplained. “Whenpeople see this car,

they want to look at the engine,” Mitchsaid. “So, we’re giving them some-thing new and different to look atwhen the hood’s up. It just adds a dif-ferent look and is a conversationstarter. We’re always searching forways to make our cars stand out, anddoing things like unex-pected graphics is oneway to achieve that.”

Here are the de-tails of the build, ex-plained by Mitch in aReader’s Digest-style.“We used PPG Envi-robase and their 280primer, as well as theirECS-27 Black Envi-robase sealer. The En-virobase is easy toapply and we’re adeptat using it. The fin-ished product is superior and I lovethis PPG blue.”

When Mitch took possession ofthe car and started breaking it down,he and his crew discovered somethingunique about their Chevy. “When itcame back from sandblasting, itlooked like nothing I’d ever seen. Wequickly found out it has a very rarespecialty racing frame. Back then,Chevrolet had to manufacture a fewcars that could meet NASCAR’s re-quirements and make them availableto the general public in addition to theracing community. So, we had a gemhere and we didn’t even know it untilwe were into the build.”

Companies that Tom and MitchKelly want to thank for contributingtheir products and time to buildingtheir 1957 Chevy Blue Dream in-clude Classic Performance Products

in Anaheim , CA, that provided theA-arms, power steering brakes, gastank and front suspension; AmericanRacing for wheels, called the

Burnout series; Quick Cut sandersdistributed by All-American ToolCorp., in Orting, WA; SATA SprayGuns; Kaeser air compressors; sand-paper from Surf Prep; and waxes,polishes, and cleaners from MothersPolish in Huntington Beach, CA. By

collaborating with their sponsoringcompanies and using their best-of-the-best products, Tom and MitchKelly can build a vehicle like thisamazing 1957 Chevy.

“Without our sponsors, we’d beleft hanging. With their help and theirtop-tier products, we’re able to createan amazing vehicle,” Mitch said. “Wescored with this build, because nowwe have a very unique finished prod-uct and something we’re anxious toshow at SEMA.”

On the morning of SEMA’s open-ing day, (Tuesday, October 30) “BlueHeaven” will be sitting under a CoversDirect car cover at SATA’s booth(#10609), awaiting an unveiling thatwill take place between 10–11 a.m. Atthat same time, SATA will be display-ing their new SATAjet 4000 B Camou-flage spray guns, Mitch said. “No one

is going to see this ve-hicle until we pull thatcover off of it, so ifyou’re there, stop byand get the first look atthis car.”

Tom and MitchKelly will both be onhand to display theirartwork and signposters at SEMA’sPPG booth (#24501)every day during theentire show, Kellysaid. “Come see all of

the PPG products we used on thisbeautiful classic car. It’s our SEMAsurprise and we’re obviously veryproud of it!”

A Little Piece of ‘57 Chevy Blue Heaven to Debut at SEMA

Mitch Kelly of Kelly & Sons Crazy Painters in Bellflower, Californiareadies his SATA spray gun as he begins painting his classic 1957Chevrolet, to be displayed at this year’s SEMA show in Las Vegas

Hanging in pieces, “Blue Heaven” will soon be a shining blue starfor Kelly & Sons Crazy Painters and their sponsors at SEMA

After purchasing the car, Mitch Kelly discovered that it has aspecial racing frame that was made for use in NASCAR racesand available on a limited basis to the public

If you look closely, you can see the vehicle’s “surprise graphics”on its engine firewall

Tom Kelly holding the artistic rendering of their “Blue Heaven”


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AASP-MA and CCRE to Host Educational SeminarsWomen Prefer SedansThe Automotive Aftermarket Prod-ucts Expo (AAPEX) launched thisyear’s myAAPEX for buyers onAug. 30.

The tool, myAAPEX, is a freeservice that automatically matchesand selects the best possible con-nections for you based on the in-formation you provided when youregistered. myAAPEX lets yousearch for exhibitors, products,brands and educational sessions.You can view exhibitors’ profiles,videos, products, press releases andspecial offerings, as well as sched-ule meetings before, during andafter the show. It also provideshandy tools to create a personalizedexpo plan with a printable floorplan that syncs in real-time withyour profile on the myAAPEX mo-bile apps.

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poration, although still popularwith U.S. female auto shoppers,preference for the “Crossover”body styles have been decreasingas “Sedan” body styles are becom-ing increasingly popular. This in-sight is based on thousands offemale auto shoppers visitingMyProductAdvisor.com from Jan.1, 2012 to July 31, 2012. In July,the midsize sedan was the singlemost popular body style amongU.S. female shoppers after begin-ning the year behind the compactand midsize crossover body styles.

The top 5 most preferred bodystyles by US female shoppers in Julywere as follows:1. Midsize sedan2. Compact crossover3. Midsize crossover4. Compact sedan5. Large sedan

Preference for body styles is notuniform by age for U.S. female autoshoppers. The four categories ofsedans were most preferred amongall body styles by the 18-24 agegroup in the first half of 2012. Com-pact and medium crossovers had thehighest preference for the 35-49 agegroup during the same time period.

The Alliance of Automotive ServiceProviders of Massachusetts (AASP-MA) will host a series of three semi-nars presented by the Coalition forCollision Repair Excellence (CCRE).

The ‘Three Days to TransformYour Body Shop’ series will coverrepair authorization vs. repair con-tracts, job costing, ROI and interpre-tation of legal documents. The threeSaturday sessions are spread over a10-week period and will take placeat the Best Western Royal PlazaHotel of Marlborough from 9 a.m. to5 p.m.

“The CCRE has made a name foritself over the years as a group of con-sultants who work diligently to helpshops be the best they can be,” saidAASP-MA President Rick Starbard.“As with past CCRE educational of-ferings, this series of seminars hasbeen met with rave reviews in loca-tions such as Cleveland, Philadelphiaand Birmingham, AL. We knew therewas an incredible value in the infor-mation being presented in these sem-inars, but the reality is that manyrepairers can’t afford to spend extratime away from the shop traveling. Sowe worked with CCRE to develop aplan and bring these great seminarsright to AASP-MA members’ ownbackyards.”

The series is offered for $495 toa body shop’s first registered repre-sentative, and additional attendeesfrom the same company will be ad-mitted for $295 per person. “Sincetransforming one’s business may takemore than one person, we encourageshop owners to bring managers orother influential shop members aswell,” Starbard said.

CCRE’s “Level One” presentationkicked off on Sept. 15. Level Two,scheduled for Oct. 20, will continue theinteractive discussion, focusing on help-ing participants run their shops withoutthird-party interference and taking backcontrol of their business. The third sem-inar, slated for Dec. 1, will be facilitatedby longtime automotive industry attor-ney James Castleman and will focuson helping shops better understand legalissues including Assignment of Pro-ceeds/Rights, as well as various docu-mentation and regulations surroundingthe auto repair industry.

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As the automotive service industry be-comes increasingly competitive, shopowners are frequently looking forways to differentiate themselves.Often, the overall cleanliness of theshop can directly influence customerperception and satisfaction with thebusiness. The Cintas Corporation, aleading provider of automotive facil-ity services, has 10 tips to help shopowners improve cleanliness, boostcustomer satisfaction and impact thebottom line.

1. Shop floor cleanliness is in-creasingly important as many techni-cians take customers into the servicearea to discuss their vehicle’s condi-tion. Develop daily floor cleaning pro-tocols to remove any debrisaccumulated throughout the day. Cre-ate cleaning schedules based on peakbusiness times and train employees inproper techniques. In addition tosweeping and mopping, use agitationtools such as brushes and autoscrub-bers to keep fluids and oils frombuilding up on flooring surfaces.

2. Equip the shop with properchemicals and supplies. Chemical dis-pensing units guarantee that solutions

are mixed correctly. These units alsosave time by eliminating manual mix-ing and providing quick access toproperly diluted chemicals. Mi-crofiber mops and dual chamber mop-ping buckets reduce the spread ofcontaminants from the service area tocustomer facilities.

3. Mats capture shop lubricantsand fluids and prevent their spreadinto customer areas. Combine scraperand carpet mats at all entrances to pre-vent the spread of debris throughoutthe shop. Place anti-fatigue mats inhigh-productivity zones to catch anyspills and reduce worker injury.

4. While daily cleanings removedirt and debris, they aren’t always suf-ficient in the total removal of buildupfrom lubricants, antifreeze, brake andpower-steering fluids. Schedule peri-odic deep cleanings through the entireshop to remove grime and ease dailycleaning duties. A combination oftemperature, agitation, chemicals andextraction effectively removes chem-ical residue, oil and dirt from all shopsurfaces.

5. Ensure that personnel look andfeel their best by implementing a uni-

form program. Partner with an apparelrental service to make sure that em-ployees consistently greet customerswith a freshly-laundered uniform. Pro-vide scratchless belts to ensure thatcustomer vehicles stay in top condi-tion while employees execute serv-ices. Promote the shop’s image withuniforms that display company logosand employee names to personalizethe guest experience and boost em-ployee morale.

6. Since technicians are con-stantly working with harsh oils andliquids, ensure they are greeting cus-tomers with clean hands. Providehand washing stations supplied withheavy-duty soaps to cut harsh greaseand oil. Make sure that clean papertowels are readily available and em-ployees aren’t wiping freshly-cleanedhands on soiled shop towels. Addi-tionally, provide protective gloves foremployees performing more intensiveservices.

7. Prevent the accumulation ofunsightly soiled shop towels through-out the shop by partnering with a laun-dry service provider. Serviceproviders will deliver laundered shop

towels based on individual shop needsso a constant supply is available foremployees.

8. Refrain from using solvent-based parts cleaners as inhalation cancause nervous system damage, lunginjury and death. To keep employeessafe, make sure that the washer usesbio-based and pH-neutral cleaning so-lutions to reduce hazards and improveindoor air quality throughout the shop.

9. As a customer’s first impres-sion of the auto shop occurs in thewaiting area, this space should alwaysremain in top condition. Develop dailycleaning schedules to disinfect andsanitize all hard surfaces includingchairs, tables and floors.

10. Whether the shop has cus-tomer-only restrooms or shared facil-ities, restrooms should always bepristine. Ensure that restrooms have acontinuous supply of the essentials in-cluding soap, paper towels and toiletpaper. At least once a day, all restroomsurfaces should be sanitized and dis-infected. To keep restrooms smellingfresh and reduce unpleasant odors, usetime-release air fresheners and urinalscreens.

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bon fiber has been used this extensivelyon a base production car anywhere inthe world,” said Gary Lownsdale,Chief Technology Officer of PlasanCarbon Composites. The key enablerfor this up to 50,000-units-per-year ve-hicle application is Plasan’s patentedPressure Press processing technology.

A secrecy agreement preventsPlasan officials from naming the ve-hicle or the automaker, but detailsabout the vehicle will emerge soon.January 2013 marks the start of bodypanel production at Plasan’s new200,000-sq-ft facility in Walker, MI.

The new press technology devel-oped by Plasan has lower investmentcosts and reduce the lead time on tool-ing. The global increase in raw carbonfiber further enables Plasan CarbonComposites to provide lightweight,economical solutions on low- to mid-volume vehicles.

Plasan Carbon Composites is theleading Tier 1 supplier of carbon fiberparts and assemblies in the UnitedStates. We specialize in the productionof Class A and structural parts formid-volume production cars.

As a Tier 1 supplier, Plasan canwork with all OEM clients to analyze,design and implement mass reductionchallenges and take advantage of carbonfiber’s range of superior material prop-erties beyond just weight reduction.

Carbon fiber allows for significantmass reduction while containing coststhrough part consolidation, lower capitalinvestment, simplified assembly processand other life cycle savings such as re-duced warranty costs and leaner supplychain. Carbon fiber’s production appli-cations have included roofs, hoods, andother Class A surfaces on low-volumesports cars. But the upcoming globalproduction vehicle will have 75% of itsbody (including the hood, fenders, androof) comprised of carbon fiber.

Plasan has developed what it callsa ‘Total Systems Approach’ to maxi-mize the cost-competitive potential ofcarbon fiber. More than just dollars-per-pound, carbon fiber means:● Part consolidation● Reduced capital investment● Shorter lead times● Reduction in assembly process time● Life-cycle cost reduction such as re-duced warranty costs● Increased fuel efficiency● Elimination of secondary pyrotech-

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Approach in the design process, Plasan isbringing carbon fiber to mid-volume pro-duction vehicles including hybrids,crossovers, and sedans. What began inaerospace and moved to the racetrack, isnow being used at Plasan and introducedto volume production. Through automo-tive-specific materials, increased effi-ciency in carbon fiber processing methodsand reduction in direct labor require-ments, Plasan is rethinking carbon fiber.

“We’ve been molding parts at ourWixom, MI, R&D center, which hastwo of the new pressure presses. We’removing one of those presses to theWalker facility and adding five morepressure presses by 2013,” Lownsdalesaid, adding the new facility has thecapacity to house 12 pressure presses.

The novel pressure press technol-ogy shatters the 90 minutes needed byPlasan to mold a body panel with au-toclave processing. Materials process-ing time with the pressure press is a17-min machine cycle.

“It took us about a year and a half tosynthesize fully the process of what hap-pens inside the autoclave. But once wewere able to find out exactly what hap-pens physically and chemically inside

the autoclave at discreet time increments,that enabled us to plot a whole new ther-mal dynamic curve and a whole newpressure curve with our patented pres-sure press technology,” said Lownsdale.

A provisional patent addresses theentire process while eight separate pend-ing patents involve Plasan as well as theequipment provider Globe MachineManufacturing Co. of Tacoma, WA.

The new process applies up to150 psi (10.3 bar) of surface pressureat up to 450°F (232°C).

Plasan’s cure cycle can be as lowas 7 min, depending on the resin for-mulation. (Technical specialists atPlasan have achieved a 2-min cure timein the lab by producing an 18-in (457-mm) long, 6-in (152-mm) diametercylinder made of thermoplastic resin.)

Like Plasan’s other carbon-fiberbody panel production applications,the same thermoset epoxy-based resinwill be used for several of the newbase vehicle’s exterior panels, includ-ing the hood, fenders, and roof.

“The density of the carbon fibercomponents is the same as our currentautoclave production parts,” Lowns-dale said. “Weight savings for all ofthe components will be similar towhat was achieved on the current


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Chevrolet Corvette and SRT Viperproduction programs.”

Carbon-fiber body panels on thefuture vehicle will be a combinationof exposed weave and painted finish.

“There are some new componentswith unusual shapes that required inno-vative mold tooling. We developed re-movable sections of the mold tools toattain detailed design shapes for finecharacter line definition in order to meetthe stringent design studio require-ments,” explained Lownsdale, who can-not reveal the specific components.

Plasan’s new production centerand its equipment represents a $30 mil-lion investment. The company initiallywill employ 202 workers, including 20engineers, at the production facility.

Providing body panels for amedium-volume production vehicle isjust a first step for Plasan.

“We’re processing carbon fiberwith a breakthrough piece of technology.It’s not RTM (resin transfer molding),and it’s not autoclave. It’s something en-tirely new. Our 10-year plan calls for thedevelopment of breakthrough technol-

ogy every three years. This is just thefirst of what’s to come,” said Lownsdale.

The parts Plasan is producing andintends to produce include both BodyPanels and Structural components:

CLASS A Body PanelsFenders

Hood AssembliesSpoilersDeck Lid AssembliesDoor Panel & inner partsRocker MoldingsRoof Assemblies

SplittersLift gatesRear Wings/Spoilers

STRUCTURALRoof FramePillar & BIW SubstructureInner body panels (hood, door, etc.)Engine CradleSide Door Impact BarLoad FloorBattery ModulesEnd Gate AssemblySeat Frames & Bases

Guy Sisson, owner of Sisson’s BodyWorks in Delevan, NY, spent two yearsrestoring a 1937 Packard Club Sedan forhis daughter’s 2010 wedding. Recently,he entered the car in the LKQ Triplettannual calendar contest. With over 300entries, Sisson’s car made the top 13 fi-

nalists and was assured a spot in the cal-endar. On Sept. 4, Sisson was notifiedthat his car was picked as the GrandPrize winner to be featured on the cal-endar cover. The grand prize includes anall-expense paid trip to Las Vegas to berecognized at the SEMA show.

The story about Guy Sisson andhis 1937 Packard began 25 years ago.A local farmer had bought it from anold farm auctionwhere the vintagecar had been storedin a barn. Thefarmer took ithome, tore it apartand quickly real-ized it was muchmore than he couldhandle.

“I have alwayshad a fascinationwith the 1930s era,” Sisson said. “Iheard about the car and ended up buy-ing it from the farmer. When I first

bought the car my daughter was only5 years old, and she has always beenequally interested in vintage things. I

told her that someday we would re-store the old Packard for her wedding.Well, the car was put on the back

burner, and life wenton.”

In 2008, Sissoncould no longer ig-nore the Packardwaiting for his at-tention.

“My future son-in-law came to me andsaid he was going toask Ashley to marryhim and wanted my


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New York Body Shop Owner Wins LKQ Calendar Contest

Guy Sisson, owner of Sisson’s Body Works in Delevan, NY, spent two years restoring this 1937Packard for his daughter’s wedding. A photo of the car won the grand prize for the LKQ CalendarContest and will be featured on the cover

permission (very unusual these days).He also knew the plans for the car andknew that I would need some time torestore it. I started on the car immedi-ately. We worked on it daily for twoyears and still wondered if we wouldmake it,” Sisson said.

One week before the wedding, onSept. 4th, 2010, the car was finished.

“It was a wonderful day,” saysthe proud father of the bride. “Nextto the bride, it was the star of theday. The wedding was a complete1930s theme. My wife and I were inheaven.”

Sisson said it wasn’t until hestarted restoring the car that he real-ized how rare the car actually was.

“Packard was one of America’spremier luxury cars at this time andthey only made 2,489 of this model,”he said. “This car is one of onlyseven known to survive today. Weuse the car regularly on weekends,going out to dinner and to car shows.

The car represents a very uniquetime in America’s history. Everyonethat sees it seems to go back in time.

I did most of the work myself, how-ever I still owe many thanks to myemployees at Sisson’s Body Worksand my father and son for theirhelp.”


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An eighth company has agreed toplead guilty as part of the Justice De-partment's wide–ranging investiga-tion into price fixing and bid riggingin the auto parts industry.

Nagoka, Japan-based NipponSeiki Co. Ltd. agreed to plead guiltyand to pay a $1 million criminal fineas part of a conspiracy to fix prices ofinstrument panel clusters installed invehicles sold in the United States andaround the world, the Justice Depart-ment said.

To date, 11 executives have beencharged and the companies haveagreed to pay $785 million in fines.

According to a one-count felonycharge filed in the U.S. District Courtin Detroit, Nippon Seiki engaged inconspiracies to rig from at least asearly as April 2008 until at least Feb-ruary 2010, and has agreed to coop-erate in the FBI investigation.

Nippon Seiki manufacturesmany auto parts, including instrumentpanel clusters.

Furukawa Electric Co. Ltd.,DENSO Corp., Yazaki Corp., G.S.Electech Inc., Fujikura Ltd. and Au-toliv Inc. have pleaded guilty andwere ordered to pay more than $785million in criminal fines.

8th Company Pleads Guiltyin Auto Industry Price Fixing

ALLDATA Europe GmbH, the Euro-pean subsidiary of ALLDATA LLC,the leading provider of manufactur-ers’ vehicle repair information andsolutions for the U.S. professional au-tomotive service and collision repairindustries, announced that ALLDATARepair, its first product designedspecifically for the European marketis being introduced to the public atAutomechanika in Frankfurt.

ALLDATA Repair was createdby experts for experts. With morethan 25 years of experience and adedicated team behind it, ALLDATARepair for Europe is the most com-prehensive automotive repair data-base in the industry.

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The National Auto Body Council’s(NABC) Golf Event Fundraiser takesplace on Wednesday, Jan. 23, 2013and interested participants and sponorscan now register online.

Online forms are now availableat www.autobodycouncil.org for play-ers and sponsors wishing to partici-pate. A running list of sponsors andtheir chosen sponsorships is main-tained and automatically updated.

“It was important for the Na-tional Auto Body Council to make it

as easy as possible for interested par-ties to sign up for participation as wellas sponsorship, and these newchanges to our website make that a re-ality,” said NABC Fundraising Com-mittee Co-Chair David Merrell ofPartsTrader. “We again expect theevent to sell out and remain excited topromote the positive image of the in-dustry.”

The Annual Golf Event Fundraiserwill again take place at the TahquitzCreek Golf Resort in Palm Springs, CA,

in conjunction with the NABC’s openboard meeting, which will take placethe previous day, Jan. 22. The event isopen to both individuals and teams, andwill be played using a four-personscramble format.

NABC Golf Event Fundraiser Opens Online RegistrationThe Automotive Aftermarket Suppli-ers Association (AASA) will host amedia and member briefing,“Thought Leadership for the Auto-motive Aftermarket,” at AAPEXfrom noon to 1 p.m. on Monday, Oc-tober 29. Lunch will be provided. Theevent will take place at the AASAMember Center, Sands 101-103. Ifyou have questions, please contactMargaret Beck at AASA (919) 406-8828 or [email protected]. PleaseRSVP to [email protected].

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Copart Gives $15,000 to CREF for scholarships, grantsIn its commitment to the future of thecollision industry, Copart recentlycontributed $15,000 to the CollisionRepair Education Foundation. The$15,000 contribution will support theEducation Foundation’s Collision Re-pair Education Campaign fund, whichallows the Foundation to provide itsannual student scholarships, schoolgrants, and the annual Ultimate Colli-sion Education Makeover $50,000school grant.

“Copart is proud to support theefforts of the Collision Repair Educa-tion Foundation as this organizationcontinues its on-going educationalwork. It is critical that there be invest-ments in collision school programsand most importantly, investments inthe next generation of collision repairindustry professionals. We are happyto do our part to ensure the industrythrives and grows,” noted Copart CEOJay Adair.

Clark Plucinski, Collision Re-pair Education Foundation ExecutiveDirector stated, “On behalf of the Col-lision Repair Education Foundationstaff, Board of Trustees, and the colli-sion students that we support nation-wide, thank you to Copart for joiningin our efforts to support the future ofthe industry. Secondary and post-sec-ondary collision school programs, in-

structors, and students are facing adifficult crossroad. The advance tech-nologies and materials for today’s(and future) vehicles will require awell-trained, skilled workforce to re-pair them safely and efficiently. Whileall of these advanced skillsets andhigher technical education will beneeded by tomorrows repair techni-cians, there has never been a time inhistory when school budgets havebeen under such exceptional pressure.Programs like collision repair bear thebrunt of funding cuts. The industrysupporters, such as Copart, allow theEducation Foundation to assist theseschools with needed tools, equipment,and supplies for their collision pro-grams.”

Copart, founded in 1982, pro-vides vehicle sellers with a full rangeof remarketing services to process andsell salvage and clean title vehicles todealers, dismantlers, rebuilders, ex-porters and, in some states, to endusers. Copart remarkets the vehiclesthrough Internet sales utilizing itspatented VB2 technology. Copart sellsvehicles on behalf of insurance com-panies, banks, finance companies,fleet operators, dealers, car dealer-ships and others as well as cars sourcefrom the general public. The companycurrently operates 155 facilities.

Silver Sails Paints Launches in USAYin Fan Chemistry, one of China’slargest auto paint manufacturers,launched the Silver Sails Paints brandof automotive finishes this year. YinFan Chemistry has been successfullyexporting its products to the USA forover three years.

Yin Fan Silver Sails, a pioneerauto paints producer with a long his-tory in China, has become one of thehighest ranking and most reliablemanufacturers of quality auto paints inChina. Silver Sails produces primers,basecoats, clearcoats, and a line of an-cillaries. It supplies paints to 30 auto-motive and truck manufacturers andover 700 jobber outlets in China. YinFan was chosen as coatings supplier toDa Chang Jiang, the biggest motorbike manufacturer in China.

Yin Fan in English means “Sil-ver Sails.” Its products have becomeknown for their superior quality andreasonable pricing.

In 2006, Yin Fan Silver Sails estab-lished the “Nano Coatings TechnologyCenter” in conjunction with ShanghaiUniversity. Silver Sails HS403, 10minute bake “Nano Clearcoat,” is a re-sult of the Nano Coatings TechnologyCenter cooperation.

Yin Fan has received several In-ternational Standards certifications,

including: ISO 9001-2000, ISO/TS16940-2002, and SGS Interna-tional’s testing certificate for 2.1 lowVOC compliant clearcoat.

Silver Sails guarantees a high-quality automotive finish at a price bodyshops can afford. The Silver Sails HighSolids mixing system includes 66 ton-ers with liquid pearls and Zirallic pearls.

Jobbers wantedSilver Sails Paints is looking for qual-ity distributors who are interested indistributing superior products at an af-fordable price, says Larry Wagreich,Sales Director. If interested, he can bereached by email at [email protected].

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A consumer advocate study fromTexas “strongly supports” the notionsthat shopping around for an auto in-surance policy can produce savingsfor a policyholder and that the longera policyholder stays with a company,the stronger the likelihood they’ll bepaying more than they should.

A policyholder who stays withthe same company for more than eightyears, according to estimates from thestudy produced by the Office of Pub-lic Insurance Counsel (OPIC), couldsave 19 percent on annual premiumswhen switching insurers.

“This study supports what wehave believed for a long time,” OPICexecutive director Deeia Beck said ina statement. “Consumers must shoptheir policies to ensure they aren’toverpaying for insurance.”

The average policyholder at aninsurer for up to two years usuallywon’t realize any savings fromswitching, according to OPIC projec-tions, but a policyholder at an insurerbetween two and three years can seeaverage savings of 5.2 percent. That


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A shop that repaired and restored abullied student's car received so manyemails, cards and phone calls thankingthem for what they did, that the autobody shop is inspired to do it all overagain for another deserving individual.

“I wanna pay it forward everyyear so we’re calling it operation payit forward and once a year we’re goingto overhaul a deserving person’s car,”says Richard Henegar Jr, a managerat Quality Auto Paint and Body inRoanoke, VA.

In August, a bullied gay teenmade headline national news when theauto body shop repaired his Volkswa-gen for free and prompted a commu-nity to take action.

The Radford University student'scar was vandalized four times, once athome and three times on-campus, withanti-gay slurs and death threats.

For several months, college stu-dent Jordan Addison had to drive hiscar with its windows bashed in and thewords “die fag” keyed into his door.Addison said no matter how hard hetried, he couldn’t get rid of the slursentirely.

“The first time there were somehomophobic slurs keyed into the sideof it,” said Addison. “Then the secondtime I had ‘die’ keyed into it. The low-

est estimate I got just to fix the dam-age to the doors was like $2,500, andfor a college student that's a lot ofmoney.”

Henegar heard about Addison'scar and teamed up with 10 other busi-nesses to repair the car and added onseveral extras.

Henegar said he was shockedwhen he first saw Addison’s trashedcar. The student had tried unsuccess-fully to hide the slurs with spray paintand because he couldn’t afford newtires, had fitted several mismatchedpair to his axles.

“Once I saw the vandalism thatwas done to it, I said, ‘That’s uncalledfor. We’re gonna fix your car. That’sthe least we can do,’” said Henegar.

“We don't take kindly to discrim-ination of any sort here,” Henegarsaids. “I was bullied in high schooland a little bit in the service and I sawan opportunity to help somebody out.”

Henegar and fellow volunteersspent 100 hours and over $10,000adding a new scratch-resistant paintjob, new tires, tinted windows, a newstereo, and a new security system toAddison’s 1999 Volkswagen.

The $10,000 worth of extras wereprovided by ten local businesses: PartsUnlimited, Advance Auto Parts,

Moon's Auto Body, Rice Toyota, Val'sAutomotive, The Rod Shop, B&C Ex-terminating, Twists & Turns, AJ'sLandscaping and Sunnybrook AutoSpa.

The effort came together in be-ginning of August. Addison was givena small, red Fiat thanks in part to anEnterprise car rental agency for thetwo weeks of repairs. At that point,Henegar had only told Addison thathis door would be repaired. Workingat night after hours and on weekends,Henegar and his team repaired thedamaged car, inviting Addison back inAugust 20 for his big surprise.

“I was entirely speechless,” thestudent told the Daily News. “I justwalked around saying, ‘Oh, my God,this is not my car. It just restored myfaith, my good faith, in people.”

Henegar and Addison appearedon the 10th season premiere of theEllen show where Ellen DeGeneresrepeatedly plugged Quality Auto Paintand Body and had her star guests,Pink, Patrick Demsey and gymnasticOlympic gold medalists film an all-star commercial for the shop. As anadditional surprise, CoverGirl Cos-metics gave both men $25,000 each asa gift “for sharing their story and beinga good example to the rest of us.”

Shop That Helped Bullied Teen Inspired to Start a New ‘Pay it Forward’ ProgramInsurers Tend to Over-charge Long-TermCustomers Study Says


An East Hampton, NY, autobody tech-nician for 20 years, Tom Bono transi-tioned his experience painting carsinto a side business—skillfully trans-forming guitars into masterpieces.

Bono, a musician at heart,learned to play guitars from his wife’sfather, the late Bob Forrester.

A damaged Ibanez bass guitarthat he acquired led him to buy apainting kit and restore the instru-ment. He’d save left-over auto bodypaint for his designs and go to workwith a spray gun.

Several years later, using thename Custom Painted Guitars, Bonotakes on commissioned jobs to cus-tom paint guitars, which may include

striping, graphics, writing, and muchmore on the body.

He has a passion for creating thecustom paint jobs, intricate designsthat he sometimes does over and

over until he gets it justright, he said.

“It’s more of a hobby,”said Bono, who also staysbusy as the Chief of the EastHampton Fire Department.“I like the challenge of howI can make it look.”

He hasn’t stopped atjust guitars. He recoversamps, installs LED lightsalong pedal boards, and cus-tom paints amps and pedal boardsso they can match the guitars. Heeven made a custom tip jar out of

a small bongo drum for the band Ma-malee Rose.

Bono has a studio in his house inEast Hampton—a room that doublesas a music room, filled with hundredsof vinyl records he collects, memora-bilia, instruments and accessories. It’sin the studio where he’s able to get‘into a zone,’ where he has found acreative outlet.

“I’m not much for writing downand drawing out the design,” he said.His wife Allene Bono may help him

decide on color schemes, he added.Depending on the detail in-

volved, the guitar custom paint jobscan run about $500.

In September 2011, Bono intri-cately painted the national symbol forautism—puzzle pieces—on a guitarfor an auction at a fundraiser for Al-ternatives for Children, a pre-schoolfor developmentally delayed children.Bon Jovi guitarist Bobby Bandiera,whose grandson has autism, gave aconcert at the Westhampton BeachPerforming Arts Center as part of thebenefit and signed the guitar, whichwas auctioned off for $900, Bono said.

Auto Painter Uses His Skills to Transform Guitars into Artwork

Tom Bono uses his experience painting cars topaint guitars into pieces of art

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figure increases with every year a pol-icyholder is at a company, peaking at19 percent for a customer at an insurerbetween eight and nine years.

The OPIC notes that customerswho insure both their cars and homewith the same company may have toinsure both with the new company inorder to realize those savings.

High Retention Rates Mean Many Cus-tomers Could Be OverpayingSeveral studies back the fact that in-surers hold very high retention ratesfor their policyholders, which couldmean that consumers are missing outon savings.

A July report from J.D. Power andAssociates showed a split trend: The por-tion of consumers shopping for auto cov-erage hit its lowest point in five years, butthose who did shop around switchedproviders at an all-time high rate.

That study found the averageshopper switching their auto coveragecarrier saved $359.

A 2010 study from Deloittefound that 4 out of 10 auto policy-holders were with their insurer formore than a decade and that 6 out of10 of policyholders “rarely or nevershop their policy for a better deal.”

This month’s column is Part 2 of myJune column about building a juniormotor sport body for a motor sport ve-hicle for an 11-year-old driver.

You can read or download it atwww.autobodynews.com in my columnssection if you missed it.

In the last column, I talked aboutbuilding the plug to make a mold. Aswe left it, I was creating the plug form.I was working to get the plug com-pleted so it was totally true to where Iwas satisfied enough to make a mold.Doing body work is one thing, butmaking a plug and going to a mold is

just repeating steps and you can’t evensee the light at the end of the tunnel. Iam totally exhausted from it. The hun-dreds, almost thousands, of hours I’veput into it just to get a part. After youget a mold made, it’s amazing how youcan put out a part every 30–35 hours,after the hundreds of hours I spentmaking the mold. So, there are re-wards at the end of it—to make thatpart in that short amount of time andget exactly all the details you wanted.

Getting back to the plug, I left it at400 grit. I did a wet sand after primer-ing: 80 grit, 150 grit, with 400 grit, thenI’m ready for sealer. Next, I wipe itdown with carbon wax twice, then comeback with a release agent that I spray on.Then, I mask all the areas off, to breakthis down into a form of how everythingcomes apart to get the body out. Wemark off a section of the car—the roof,

hood and trunk is one section. I make aflange using a fiberglass 1/8 inch sheet,two inches wide. This flange is wherewe are going to bolt this mold together.Then we’re going to use locating but-tons along the top to keep everything to-gether. We use clay, hot glue, and woodto give it structure. Then I come backwith FBS brown tape that allows me todraw out my lines, tape two inches, thencome back and glue blocks of wood allthe way down where I put the tape. ThenI cut and make a flange that goes all theway around that perimeter. After I dothat, then I wax everything once again,

use release agent, then put tooling gelcoat down. Any cracks or imperfectionsare filled with clay, like sculpturing.Then, we’re gonna lay mat down anduse cloth and a Squeegee to get all theair bubbles out, then pull off the clothand let that cure. We also use a paste,too, to get down in the corners where thecloth might not sink down and pull up.

We do that once, then we comeback the next day and grind every-thing, put another mat down, anothercloth, and do it again for a total of fivetimes. That way, you have a total of al-most a half inch of thickness.

After we finish that, we tear off theflange, we go to the left and right side ofthe car and make another part and do thesame thing: the wax, the tooling gel coat,the mat, the cloth, the same process.

Then we go to the rear of the carand do the same thing, plus the wheel

wells, the rocker, the rear part of thebumper. There are 14 pieces to the moldby the time I am done. That’s hundredsof hours just to make this one mold.

Then I have to build a frame be-cause the mold is so heavy. I have tobuild the frame while the mold is con-nected to the plug to make it even. Ibuild the frame out of thick gauge 2x4square tubing, then we mount casterson it, connect supporting bars, andthen take it off, finish welding it, andturn it upside down. Next we take themold off the plug, clean it up withwater, then bolt it together. After that,

we repeat the process of cleaning themold, putting it all together, sandingdown the imperfections on the moldwith 400 grit to make sure its allsmooth, then we go back and waxeverything, put release agent, gel coat(not tooling gel coat), then repeat thesame process on all the pieces. I’musing mat and cloth to get air bubblesout and make it stronger. Then I comeback with some reinforcing 5mm Cor-mat which will fill up with resin toadd density to flat areas. The next day,I come back and put everything to-


Building Body Molds from Plugs is No Easy Task

Custom Cornerwith Rich Evans

On Creative Marketingwith Thomas Franklin

Action Countswith Lee Amaradio Jr.

with Sheila LoftusYour Turn

Opinions Countwith Dick Strom

Shop Showcasewith Janet Chaney

Industry Overviewwith Janet Chaney

Industry Interviewwith Janet Chaney

Industry Insightwith John Yoswick

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

See No Easy Task, Page 68


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Rich’s SEMA Appearance ScheduleSEMA 2012 is approaching faster thanwe could expect. As we all know, theSpecialty Equipment Market Associationis the biggest automotive show of theyear. I am totally looking forward to itand I wanted to give you the low-downon what Rich Evans Designs has beendoing and how we are gearing up forSEMA.

On Tuesday, October 30 at 1 p.m. inthe FBS Booth #11177, we will be un-veiling the project we built in Canada, a2004 H2 Hummer which was built in 10days on our new show “World Wide CarBuilding.” We will have all nine buildersfrom the U.S. there, as well as the teamfrom Curtis Customs in Canada.

At 3 p.m. in the Wyotech Booth#12073, we will be unveiling our sec-ond project from the recent build inCanada, which was also filmed for“World Wide Car Building.” The secondvehicle we built is a 1954 panel truck.

We will have scissor reels playingin both booths with highlights from thefilming.

Please stop by and say hello at any

of the following scheduled celebrity ap-pearances:Tuesday, October 309:30-10 am: Solution Finish Booth#1304312:30-1: FBS Booth#11177 (before the un-veiling of the H2 Hum-mer)2:15-2:45: WyotechBooth #12073 (beforethe unveiling of the 1954panel truck)3:30: MGP Booth#481074-4:30 pm.: SolutionFinish Booth #13043

Wednesday, October 319:30-10 a.m.: SolutionFinish Booth #1304312:30-1: FBS Booth#111772:15-2:45: Wyotech Booth #120733-3:30: MGP Booth #481074-4:30 Solution Finish Booth #130434:30-5 FBS Booth #11177

Thursday, November 19:30-10: Solution Finish Booth #1304312:30-1: FBS Booth #111772:15-2:45: Wyotech Booth #12073

3-3:30: MGP Booth#481074-4:30: Solution FinishBooth #130434:30-5: FBS Booth#11177

Friday, November 29:30-10: Solution FinishBooth #1304312:30-1: FBS Booth#111772:15 - 2:45: WyotechBooth #120733-3:30: MGP Booth#481074-4:30: Solution FinishBooth #13043

I also will be participating in acelebrity build, the 2012 HRIA PinewoodDerby display of the race cars, located inHot Rod Alley at HRIA Booth. I’ll be com-

peting against other celebrity car buildersto build and race a pinewood derby car tobenefit two charities, Child Help and Vic-tory Junction Camp. I’ve competed in thisrace the past three years and have comein 2nd place. Come by and see my rocketcar!

I also wanted to mention two an-nouncements regarding Solution Finish.

First is a new product line calledRich Evans DIY kit, a complete packagefor the do-it-yourselfer. It includes every-thing needed to completely restore plas-tic, vinyl, rubber on any vehicle withoutneeding to scrounge around looking forthe professional items that are essentialfor getting the same results as masterdetailers.

Secondly, Solution Finish has madea major breakthrough in the formulizationof its gray fusion, a restoring product thatis the first of its kind. This product allowsyou to restore gray bumpers and trim toa better than new condition with one ap-plication, and it removes tiger striping.Check it out in action at Booth #13043.

See ya at SEMA!

gether, using paste, cut out strips ofmat, connect everything together, boltthe mold together. Three or four hoursafter that, we’re ready to pull it apart.Then I spend five hours cleaningeverything. Finally I’m donewith the first Rich Evans-de-signed motor sports body. Thisdoesn’t count all the acces-sories… the wings, scoops, sidescoops, front bumper, etc.

Seems like now I am get-ting away from parts and add-ons. Now I’m making completebodies. Who would have fig-ured?

I have major respect forguys who are building molds out there.It’s a whole different task. Props to theguys who are making molds day inand out, because as a car builder, youcan see daylight at the end of the tun-nel. But in this field, you don’t evenknow how many sand strokes youneed to get to the end.

I’m excited about the project and tosee it on the track in full motion. ThenI can sit back and enjoy.

The body is ready to sand down,seal and paint, and it’s ready to go.I’ve got scribe marks to cut the doorsout, and scribe marks for the hood andthe deck lid. The whole idea is for thisto look like a real car featured in themotor sport world. Stay tuned to seewhere this car will be seen and what

it’s going to be doing on the track.Follow me on Rich Evans Designs

on Facebook, RichEvansDesigns.com,BuilditwithRichEvans.com, and Hunt-ingBeachBodyWorks.com.

Thanks to all my sponsors, with ashout-out to FBS, a title sponsor ofWorld Wide Car Building, and myother sponsors listed on my website.

See ya at SEMA. It’s a greatmonth to be around automobiles.


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RX-8 2012


No Easy Task

September 7, 2012 at Hudson Elks.As a result of AASP MA’s recentpartnership with the Collision RepairEducation Foundation (CREF), theproceeds from the event will go to-wards providing tool grants to stu-dents. Midstate Chapter PresidentMolly Brodeur notes “AASP-MA isthe first association to create a ToolGrant, and our BBQ is the primaryfundraiser for the grant. I am very ex-cited as it looks like the proceeds willfund 10 $500 tool grants. Whatmakes the grant even better is that astudent applies and ultimately re-ceives (if chosen) the $500 tool grantbut is awarded with $1000 in toolscourtesy of Mac Tools.”

AASP-MA raised $5400, mak-ing the event the most successfulfundraiser they have had to date forthe Tool Grant. There were 165 at-tendees at the family-friendly event.AASP-MA’s event featured foodfrom Firefly’s Bodacious BBQ and anumber of raffle prizes. Norm Au-dette won the live auction, acquiringa Becca Gun Washer, valued at

$2300, which was contributed byManaged Air Systems. Other grandprizes include Carrie Underwoodtickets donated by Long AutomotiveGroup, a LCD TV donated by Impe-rial Parts, a Bose Wave Radio do-nated by Finishmaster, a BBQ grillcontributed by Bernardi Auto Group,and a Kids Go-Cart which was do-nated by Enterprise Rent-A-Car.

Donations were made to the ToolGrant fund by Imperial Parts, VenueSponsor, Dinner & Dessert Sponsor,and Bald Hill Dodge, Chrysler, Jeep &Kia. Direct Tool Grant donations werealso made by Lexus of Northboroughand Relco Products. General RaffleSponsors included the following: 1-800 Radiator, 3M, BASF, BestChevrolet, Boston Bumper Supply,Don Kennett Inc./Bob Levy, Enter-prise Rent-A-Car, Herb Chambers/BillEnross, Herbert Berg Florist, HertzLocal Edition, Inskip, Linders, Inc.,LKQ/Keystone, Long AutomotiveGroup, Marcotte Ford, MarlboroughWellness Center, NAPA-Hudson,Ollie’s Used Auto Parts, RodmanFord, Arrow, Wellesley Volkswagen,Sherwin Williams, Town Fair Tire-Shrewsbury, Tuck’s Truck Sales, andWellesley Toyota.


Associations’ Activity

The Auto Body Association of Con-necticut (ABAC) released this follow-ing statement, taking a position onState Farm's PartsTrader program:

The ABAC stands with our brotherand sister organizations across the coun-try decrying State Farm’s PartsTraderprogram. The endeavor is a wolf insheep’s clothing. It is bad for repairers,part manufacturers, and most impor-tantly, consumers. The only two enter-prises in place to profit – and profithandsomely – are State Farm Insuranceand PartsTrader.

PartsTrader is a web-based, colli-sion part sourcing, quoting and orderingsystem. According to its website, “Part-sTrader is a tool to improve the collisionreplacement parts sourcing, quoting andordering process. We are not a parts re-tailer. We facilitate the matching of col-lision repairers with replacement partssuppliers.”

Currently, PartsTrader is open onlyto State Farm Select Service repairersand parts suppliers nominated by SelectService repairers. According to Part-sTrader, however, its long-term goal isto make PartsTrader available to the en-tire U.S. collision repair industry.

The idea, as we see it, is to hood-

wink the part suppliers and repairersinto negotiating away their respectiveprofit margins in the name of greaterprofits for State Farm. Despite the pro-gram being sold as a benefit to repair-ers and consumers, it quite clearlybenefits neither. There are already pro-grams in place to ensure competitivepricing. What PartsTrader does is infusea grossly inefficient process at the ex-pense of the repairers and OEM ven-dors. Thus, not only is the programredundant, it is also inefficient. What ismore, insurers simply cannot continueto draw profits from an already besiegedindustry without further affecting qual-ity and safety. It just can’t happen. Sim-ilar to what is happening in the healthcare market, the insurer model of per-petually taking in more premiums,while perpetually finding new ways topay less on claims, is fundamentallycorrupting both industries.

If State Farm and PartsTrader aresuccessful in penetrating the entire U.S.parts market, State Farm will find itselfflush with new profits hot off the backsof repairers, retailers and consumers. Itwill not take long for the likes of All-state, Progressive, GEICO and others tofollow suit. History and experience

have taught us that any time an insurerendeavors to “improve” the auto bodyindustry, bad things happen. Instead offocusing on the business of insurance,State Farm has, once again, taken itupon itself to meddle with the collisionrepair industry for its own selfish moti-vations. Insurers should not be involvedin collision repair decisions, collisionrepair standards, setting pricing on re-pairs or establishing a new system forthe sale and distribution of auto parts.None of this relates to the business ofinsurance.

Members of the ABAC and othersacross the country have unsuccessfullysought to secure the contractual docu-ments detailing the specifics of this planand respective rights and duties of StateFarm, PartsTrader and the participatingauto body shops. As with any programof this scope and degree, the devil is un-doubtedly in the details. Seeing as theauto body industry had no say in this en-deavor, the specifics are being keptfrom us, and because we know StateFarm’s history of selfishly interfering inour industry, we can only presume thatwhat we do not yet know is even worsethan what we already know. All of thefacts, not just those selected by State

Farm and PartsTrader, should be on thetable.

The ABAC surveyed all of its sup-porting OEM vendors to ask a simplequestion: Do you intend on participat-ing in PartsTrader? For many of the rea-sons articulated in this press release,every OEM vendor, all 76 of them, saidthey will not. Not one OEM vendor saidit would agree to participate in Part-sTrader. Indeed, we are unaware of anyOEM vendor in Connecticut who in-tends on participating.

Given the origin of the PartsTraderprogram, State Farm’s apparent objec-tives, the obvious inefficiencies andharms caused by the program, togetherwith the litany of problems already ex-perienced and highlighted by industryleaders across the country, the ABACfelt it imperative to interject its voiceinto the national debate. For all of theaforementioned reasons, we write tostrongly oppose the PartsTrader pro-gram. Further, in light of the long-termdamage this program will likely causeour industry, we are respectfully en-couraging those of you who have notyet weighed in on this debate to care-fully examine the pilot program andvoice your opinions.


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Connecticut Association Voices Alarm About PartsTrader


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Automotive Service and Repair Week(ASRW) introduces the “Auto BodyRepairers Assembly.” This new spe-cial event is limited strictly to quali-fied collision repairers and will takeplace Wednesday, Oct. 10, from 4:45p.m. to 6:45 p.m. at the Morial Con-vention Center in New Orleans. Ad-mission is complimentary for repairprofessionals, and registration isavailable online for the event.

The urgent need for collisionrepairers to have a forum to openly

discuss their issues amongst theirpeers was brought to the attention ofASRW organizers by repair commu-nity leaders across the industry. Inresponse, the Auto Body RepairersAssembly was created as an inaugu-ral event and hosted as a natural ex-tension of the activities that takeplace during ASRW. Dependingupon repairer response and interest,future events will be scheduled andthe assembly will become an ongo-ing venue for repairers to ensure

their voice is heard.“Like other organizations, re-

pairers need their place to openly dis-cuss issues important to them withoutfilters and having to be politically cor-rect,” said Scott Biggs, Assured Per-formance Network CEO.

ASRW Adds Auto Body Repairers Assembly Oct. 10 Automotive instructors are invited toAAPEX for an inaugural event. ‘InsideAAPEX’ will give instructors the oppor-tunity to learn about new technology,meet with manufacturer product man-agers and trainers, and earn NATEF credithours. The event includes a forum, “WhatCan the Industry Do to Support You?”and three educational sessions: “The Im-pact of Dissimilar Coolants on the Auto-motive Coolant System,” “Start/StopTechnology: It’s Coming Your Way,” and“Advanced Driveability and Diagnostics:Properly Diagnose the First Time.”

AAPEX Invites Auto Instructors

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october 2012 western edition

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