Autobody News April 2012 Southwest Edition

The Society of Collision RepairSpecialists (SCRS) will hold thegroup’s 30th Anniversary Celebra-tion Tuesday, April 24th in Okla-homa City, Oklahoma at theRenaissance Oklahoma City. SCRSwill honor individuals who havesupported the industry through theirdedication and activism with SCRSat this celebration. There is nocharge to attend, although pre-reg-istration is required and the regis-tration deadline is April 13th.Please RSVP to Linda Atkins byphone at 877-841-0660 or via emailat [email protected].

The following is the scheduleof events, and please note SCRSmembers and industry guests arewelcome to attend and participateat the Board of Directors meet-ing. SCRS members will have avote in the upcoming electionheld just prior to the evening fes-tivities.

Tuesday, April 24:3:00 —5:00 p.m.: Open Board of Di-rectors Meeting5:15—5:30 p.m.: Board Elections6:30—7:30 p.m.: 30th AnniversaryReception7:30—10:00 p.m.: 30th AnniversaryDinner, Induction of SCRS NewBoard of Directors and RecognitionAwardsWednesday, April 25:8:00—11:30 a.m.: Industry IssuesForum (Agenda to be announced.)

CIC Held in ConjunctionThe meeting is held in conjuction withthe Collision Industry Conference,also Wednesday, April 25: 1:00—5:00PM CIC Meeting, 6:30 PM CIC Re-ceptionThursday, April 26:8:00—12:00 PM CIC Meeting

For more information please visitwww.scrs.com, or ciclink.com.

On March 16, a group of 188 U.S.lawmakers led by U.S. Senator Deb-bie Stabenow (D-MI) urged Presi-dent Obama to crack down on“predatory” Chinese pricing prac-tices, which they said are threateningthe U.S. auto parts industry and couldcost the U.S. more than a millionjobs.

“We cannot wait until furtherdamage is done,” the nearly 200members of the House and Senate—including all the Democratic mem-bers of the House Ways and MeansCommittee—said in a letter to Presi-dent Obama. “Seventy-five percent ofthe jobs in the automotive sector arein auto parts, and these jobs are at riskin every state in the nation.”

The Congressional letter encour-ages Presidential action against Chi-nese predatory trade practices in thissector to be one of the “first and high-est priorities” of his Administration’srecently created Interagency Trade

Enforcement Center. The lawmakerspraised the administration’s creationof the Interagency Trade EnforcementCenter to promote a more coordinatedeffort, which they say will provide theUnited States additional resources toexamine China’s and other nations’trade violations. This effort, unlikeany that have taken place in recentmemory, asks the Administration tofurther investigate the barriers thatChina has adopted and initiate appro-priate action to level the playing field.

The complaint is supported bythe United Steel Workers. “Mosttrade cases are filed by the privatesector after substantial injury has oc-curred. China’s practices in this sec-tor have already caused harm, but thegoal is also to alter its policies beforethe complete decimation of our do-mestic industry. In these critical eco-nomic times, we must take everyappropriate action to address unfair

Ray Gunder of Gunder’s Auto Cen-ter has been pressing insurers to pro-vide full compensation to hiscustomers for “necessary processesand materials needed to properly andthoroughly repair his customer’s ve-hicles” through filing litigationagainst the insurer, specifically StateFarm, on the customer’s behalf.

The first instance required alawsuit to be levied against the in-surer by Gunder brought the matterof unpaid procedures and paint andmaterial invoicing to court and wassettled during a court ordered media-tion and actual litigation wasavoided. State Farm agreed to pay all

State Farm Pays Gunder’s Processes and MaterialsPreviously Denied—Without Litigation

See Chinese Auto Parts, Page 42

See Gunder, Page 40

Nearly 200 Congressmen and Senators Write inOpposition to China’s Auto Parts Practices

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DAVID McDAVIDT H I S B R A N D S TA N D S F O R S AV I N G ST H I S B R A N D S TA N D S F O R S AV I N G ST H I S B R A N D S TA N D S F O R S AV I N G S

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Serving Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, New Mexico and adjacent metro areas, Autobody Newsis a monthly publication for the autobody industry. Permission to reproduce in any form thematerial published in Autobody News must be obtained in writing from the publisher.©2012 Adamantine Media LLC.

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Accudraft. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21BASF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11BMW Wholesale Parts Dealers . . . . 36CCC Information Services . . . . . . . . 7Champion Pneumatic . . . . . . . . . . . 15Chevyland . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18Chief Automotive. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9Classic BMW. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35Classifieds. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46CSS USA, Inc.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8Dallas Dodge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48David McDavid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2Equalizer Industries . . . . . . . . . . . . 39Ford Wholesale Parts DealersTX, OK, LA, NM. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

Fowler I-240 Chrysler-Jeep-Dodge. 17Garmat USA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6Gene Messer Hyundai . . . . . . . . . . 39GM Wholesale Parts Dealers . . . . . 44Honda-Acura Wholesale PartsDealers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24-25

Huffines Hyundai Plano . . . . . . . . . 37Hyundai Wholesale Parts Dealers . 41Kia Motors Wholesale Parts Dealers. 19LKQ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

Mazda Wholesale Parts Dealers . . . 45Mercedes-Benz of Oklahoma. . . . . 40Mike Calvert Toyota. . . . . . . . . . . . . 43Mitsubishi Wholesale PartsDealers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

MOPAR Wholesale Parts Dealers . . 23North Freeway Hyundai . . . . . . . . . . 4PCL Automotive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20Ray Huffines Chevrolet . . . . . . . . . . . 5RealParts.com. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16Reliable Chevrolet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12Replica Plastics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43Russell & Smith Ford-Mazda . . . . . 34Safety Regulations Strategies. . . . . 16SATA Spray Equipment . . . . . . . . . 31Scoggin-Dickey Buick . . . . . . . . . . 33Solution Finish . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42South Pointe Chrysler-Jeep-Dodge. 13Toyota of Fort Worth . . . . . . . . . . . . 37Toyota of Laredo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30Toyota Wholesale Parts Dealers . . . 45Volkswagen Wholesale PartsDealers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

Volvo Wholesale Parts Dealers . . . . 46Young Chevrolet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Inde

xofAdvertisers

REGIONAL6-Time DWI Offender Skips Out on Trial in TX. 4GEICO and Caliber Collision Centers Donate

Vehicle to National Guard Vet . . . . . . . . . 4NWLCRA to Hold First Day Meeting of

2012 in April in Shreveport, LA . . . . . . . 4SCRS to Hold 30-yr Anniversary Celebration

Meeting in Conjunction with CIC April24–25 in Oklahoma City. . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

TIAA Holds March Meeting, Will HoldCollision-Specific Meetings in theComing Months . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

W M Automotive Warehouse in Fort Worth,TX, to Hold Home Run CelebrationOpen House in April . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

COLUMNISTSChess - CAFE Standards Will Affect More

Than A Shop’s Miles Per Gallon . . . . . . 22Franklin - Sprucing Up Your Shop For Spring. 8I-CAR - Oil Spill at the I-CAR Tech Centre

in Appleton, WI, Raises Awareness . . . 38Insurance Insider - ‘Survival of the Fittest’

Also Applies to Collision Repairers . . . . 44Nigro - Feather, Sand and Fill: Paint

Operations Body Shops PerformBut Don’t Get Paid For . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Weaver - What If You’re Looking for Morethan One Waldo? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

NATIONAL22 West Virginia Vocational Schools Integrate

I-CAR Professional Development Program into Curriculum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

275,000 Subaru Forester SUVs From2009–12 Recalled For Rear Seat BeltsFailing to Lock Properly . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Assured Performance Network OffersOther OEM Rewards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Auto Supplier Daehan Catches Fire in GA . 21CAPA Announces Plans for New Vehicle

Test Fit Lab in California . . . . . . . . . . . . 40CARSTAR Expands Sales and Marketing

Teams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46Chrysler Launches Certified Collision

Repair Facility Program . . . . . . . . . . . . 26Connecticut Bill Adds Subsection to

Require Recycled or A/M Parts . . . . . . . 9Delaware Bill (HB 242) Prohibits Insurers

from Exploiting Data. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9Fix Auto Appoints Tim Clark as Senior VP,

Insurance Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46Ford Probes 2005-06 Ford Taurus Throttles. 43GM Recalling Some 2012 Regal Sedans . 43Guardian Auto Glass Expands in

Bloomington, Illinois . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46Gyant Compliance Launches

‘Vocwebmanager’ Application . . . . . . . . 4Helpful Documents, Tools And Information

Only a Click Away for Shops . . . . . . . . 32Hyundai Recalling 2011-12 Sonata Hybrids

For Rear Seat Belt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30Infiniti Launches National Certified

Collision Repair Network . . . . . . . . . . . 26Infiniti Recalling 2003-04 Infiniti M45

Sedans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43Iowa Shop’s Action and Iowa Collision

Repair Association, Established in2005, Starting to be Heard Statewide. . 31

LQK Has Record Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34Mexico Implements New Mandatory

Auto Insurance Laws . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34Mitchell’s Claims Triage is Available

to Carriers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37Montana Collision Repair Specialists’

Legislative Record . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30Nearly 200 Congressmen and Senators

Write in Opposition to China’s AutoParts Practices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Nissan Leaf Nationwide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34NORTHEAST™ Trade Show Leadership

Forum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6PSE Appoints Guy Barnes as VP, Sales

& Marketing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36Ray Gunder to Sponsor Free Legal Seminar

for Collision Repairers in Lakeland, FL . 35Rhode Island Bill Would Delete Anti-Steering

Legislation Language . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9State Farm Pays Gunder’s Processes and

Materials Previously Denied—WithoutLitigation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

The Levan Group—Where Crash andMechanical Parts Intersect. . . . . . . . . . 10

TopTech Finder Unites PDR Techs withBody Shop Managers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Toyota Recalls Another 681,000 Vehicles. 43UPDATE on Tow-for-Pay Scam, “Evangelist

Jerry Bratt” and “Jacqueline Harris” . . . 41Verifacts Symposium Recognizes

Achievement, Industry Unknowns,and Negotiation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

Women’s Industry Network Holds Planning Meeting in Late January, Will Hold Annual Conference in May in Atlanta . . . . . . . . 39

PPAAIINNTT SSPPEECCIIAALL2012 Ridler® Award Winner Features

BASF’s Glasurit® Paint . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15Airbrush Artist JoAnn Bortles is Writing

Her Seventh Painting Book. . . . . . . . . . . 28BASF Advises Shops to Join the Move

to Waterborne Coatings Now . . . . . . . . 18Bobby Alloway’s 5 Essential Tips for

Achieving a Flawless Black Finish . . . . 33Custom Painter Charley Hutton Explains

Step-By-Step How to Create RealisticWood Grain Effects With PPG Products 14

PCL Has Been Primed Since 1929 withClear Solutions for Shops . . . . . . . . . . 20

RBL Products New Pre-Treat System . . . . 39

Contents

www.autobodynews.com | APRIL 2012 AUTOBODY NEWS 3

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Winter vs Auto: Let Spring Begin

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Jackson, MI Laurens, SC

Upstate, NY Austin, MN tornado


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North Freeway HyundaiGEICO and Caliber Collision CentersDonate Vehicle to National Guard VetWithout the benefit of reliable trans-portation, things have been difficultfor National Guard veteran JohnJones of Hurst, Texas, since he re-turned from two tours of Iraq. To helphim out, GEICO partnered with Cal-iber Collision Centers to provide arefurbished vehicle for Jones and hiswife and two children.

GEICO donated the vehiclewhile Caliber provided repair serv-ices. GEICO participated through theRecycled Rides program, an aware-ness project that encourages mem-bers of the National Auto BodyCouncil (NABC) to refurbish and do-nate recycled vehicles to families inneed in their communities.

Reserve Aid, a nonprofit organ-ization that provides support to thefamilies of Reserve Service Membersfrom all military branches selectedthe Jones family as the recipient.

Greg Shook, a GEICO autodamage manager, helped present thevehicle to the Jones family recentlyat Caliber Collision Center in Keller,Texas.

“We’re glad we’re in a positionto support a serviceman who ad-mirably served our country,” Shooksaid. “The Jones family now hasdaily transportation that most of ustake for granted.”

6-Time DWI Offender SkipsOut on Trial in TexasA six-time DWI offender skipped out onhis trial March 7 in Collin County Dis-trict Court in Texas before a judge couldsentence him to 40 years in prison.

Richard Davis Callaway, 48, isconsidered a fugitive from justiceafter disappearing from court duringa lunch recess.

Callaway was pulled over forrunning a red light Feb. 21, 2010, atPreston Road and Spring Creek Park-way in Plano. He failed all three stan-dardized field sobriety tests andadmitted he had been drinking.

After running a backgroundcheck and learning of Callaway’sprior convictions for driving while in-toxicated, the officer took Callawayfor a mandatory blood draw under aTexas law for repeat DWI offenders.The blood sample showed Callaway’sblood alcohol content to be 0.23, al-most three times the legal limit.

He appeared in court for the startof the trial on March 7, and heard allof the evidence against him. Thecourt took a recess for lunch andscheduled closing arguments for 1:30p.m. But Callaway did not return.After the sentence was pronounced, awarrant was issued for his arrest.

Anyone with information on thewhereabouts of Callaway can call972-547-5134.

W M Automotive Warehouse in Fort Worth, TX, toHold Home Run Celebration Open House in AprilW M Automotive Warehouse an-nounced that they would hold theirHome Run Celebration open houseevent on April 21 and 22 at their dis-tribution center in South Fort Worth,Texas. The annual celebration will fea-ture a vendor trade show with an esti-mated 110 manufacturers showcasingtheir products at booths. Additionally,the event will include training, tours,and meals. An estimated 600 auto partsstore and repair shop owners and man-agers are expected to attend.

“It has been over 25 years sincewe have done anything like this. I toldmy people that I wanted this to be thebiggest thing to happen in the after-market in our region for years tocome, and it’s shaping up to be betterthan I expected,” said CEO WilsonMcMillion. “Our manufacturers havereally stepped up to participate, andour people are going the extra mile tomake this a super event.”

W M Automotive was estab-lished in 1976 and is headed by ownerand CEO Wilson McMillion.

“We will be hosting our cus-tomers from all over Texas and Okla-homa, and we want them to have agreat time,” McMillion continued.

“This is going to be a real celebra-tion!”

W M is the largest privately-owned aftermarket automotivewholesaler and store group in theSouth-Central region, serving over200 Parts Plus and independent autoparts stores in Texas and Oklahoma.Parts Plus is an international group ofindependent distributors, retail stores,and Car Care Centers. W M Automo-tive is the supplier for over 100 PartsPlus Autostores in Texas & Okla-homa, as well as many other non-Parts Plus jobbers.

NWLCRA to Hold First Day Meeting of2012 in April in Shreveport, LAThe Northwest Louisiana CollisionRepair Association (NWLCRA) willhold their first day meeting of theyear on April 3, 2012 at 12:00 PM.The group will meet at the MagnoliaRoom in Shreveport, LA. You don'tneed to RSVP for this meeting. Theassociation is currently having theirMembership Drive and would like tohave new members. For an applica-tion, please see www.nwlcra.org. Ex-isting members, remember to renew.

Gyant Compliance Launches ‘Vocwebmanager’ ApplicationGyant Compliance, a division ofGyant Group, a Lake Forest, CA,based company, announced Feb. 9 thatit has launched a New VOCWEB-MANGER Application for the Colli-sion Repair Industry.

“Gyant Compliance developedVOCWEBMANGER due to experi-encing first-hand challenges of com-pliance that McLaren Unibody, myfather in law’s old shop had faced withAQMD,” said Jon Gypsyn, CEO. ”Iwitnessed auto body shops strugglingwith tracking VOC’s, expiring per-mits, keeping up with new regulations,getting fines for being over their VOClimits, and scrambling for product lastminute with no central system for allof their environmental needs,” Gyp-syn continued.

“It took three years to developthe VOCWEBMANAGER web appli-cation, and there were several consid-erations in the development of theVOCWEBMANAGER,” said MikeRamirez. “It needed to be web basedso that there would not be a need forextra equipment, or interference withexisting software programs. It had tobe user friendly for the painter to op-erate. The painter adds the usageamount, and with a click the VOC’s

are automatically calculated and pop-ulated into reports. It needed to keeptrack of inventory and send an emailalert when the shop was low on prod-uct and allow them to order with aclick. It had to alert the shop whenthey were nearing VOC limits or whenpermits were expiring. It needed tostore MSDS and technical data sheets,and be able to update owners on newregulations that affected their businesswith access anywhere at any time. Inother words, it needed to be the com-pliance and inventory tracker all inone place and that’s exactly what thevocwebmanager accomplishes, addedRamirez.

Gyant is an environmental com-pliance company focused on emis-sions tracking, reporting and carbonfootprint management.

The company operates and main-tains a web-based VOC and CO2Monitoring & Tracking System to as-sist clients in complying with govern-mental regulations and guidelines. Theweb application also complies withCOSHH, HAPS, and HSE regulations.VOCWEBMANAGER streamlinesmonitoring and reporting in real timeat any time. For more informationcontact: [email protected]


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Collision Centers & Body Shops

The Texas Independent AutomotiveAssociation (TIAA) held their Marchmembers meeting on March 15 at6:30 p.m. at Pompei Italian Grill inSan Antonio, TX.

The 35 or so in attendance heardfrom local channel KLRN. Theyspoke about how shops can donate aservice for their upcoming 46th annualBlazing Gavels charitable auction. For

more information about the auctionplease visit blazinggavels.com.

Jeff Franco from Elite Sales andmarketing was also in attendance. Jeffhas a lot of experience in the collisionindustry and has been in talks withMembership Director Hunter Hooge

to start a collision-specific side ofTIAA. This collision-specific sub-group would have industry-specificspeakers and their own meetings. Ac-cording to Hooge this subgroup willnot officially start for another monthor so.

Jeff’s website is elite-dealers.com.The TIAA will hold their April

monthly meeting on April 19 at theBarn Door, 8400 NorthNew Braunfels Avenue,San Antonio. Sid Hurlbertwill be the speaker. He willspeak about how best todeal with customers. Sid isa motivational speaker whospecializes in the art ofcommunication. Sid gener-ally teaches “what to sayand how to say it.” Sid has

also published several books andwritten many articles on communi-cation skills.

Learn more about Sid atwww.sidneychurlbert.com. For moreinformation about the associationplease visit www.tiaa.net.


TIAA Holds March Meeting, Will Hold Collision-Specific Meetings in the Coming Months

There were approximately 35 attending TIAA’s March meeting

by Chasidy Sisk and Janet Cheney

Attendance at the recent NORTH-EAST trade show, at the Meadow-lands in Secaucus, NJ, was up 20%from last year, which was up from

the year before. Some seminarswere overflow seating and organiz-ers had to pull in extra chairs forpeople who arrived late were stand-ing.

Heard and seen at the show weresome familiar figures in the industry.Several took the mike at the NortheastLeadership forum.

One person we all wanted tohear from was the owner of NorthState Custom, Greg Coccaro, whosurprised a number of attendeeswith the revelation that he’s back to

doing businesswith ProgressiveInsurance, despitethe long and tor-turous legal bat-tles between thetwo. Even thoughbusiness is rela-tively slow for

shops in the area, his Progressivework has actually picked up. Coc-caro was told by a Progressive em-ployee that “Progressive does nothave a network of shops in NewYork any more, so the intense steer-ing they practiced in this area hassubsided.” Coccaro added, “I’m

now repairingcars for Progres-sive’s customersonce again.” Coc-caro still owessome $500,000 inlegal fees to de-fend his shop’sreputation and his

own name. He hopes to be able torecover his losses due to the causesof action in his pending lawsuitagainst Progressive.

Another engaging speaker at theforum was Tony Lombardozzi withAutomotive Collision Repair Servicesin New Hampshire, who repeated hismessage of self-sufficiency for the in-dustry and his advocacy of independ-

ence from insurers through hispresidency of the Coalition forCollision Repair Excellence(CCRE). Lombardozzi put itplainly: “The insurer is not athird party to our contract withour customer and should not beinvolved in the repair process.What an insurer appraiserwrites is meaningless. It servesno purpose in the repairprocess.”

The executive director ofshow-organizer the Alliance Auto-motive Service Providers of New Jer-sey (AASP/NJ), Charles Bryant,agreed with Lombardozzi’s assess-

ment of insurer in-volvement. Bryantunderscored thatrepairers not ne-gotiate with insur-ers.

“Offer them acup of coffee, talkto them about last

night’s hockey game, and direct themto the car they want to write an esti-mate on,” Bryant said. “But don’t goback there with them and don’t nego-tiate the repair... You are the expert onhow to repair cars, not the insurancecompany. Write what needs to bedone, make a proper and safe repairand bill fairly for your work.”

Both stressed that repairersneed to take responsibility for edu-cating customers about the repairprocess and explain why the esti-

mate the repairerwrote is the mostreliable one.

Janet Cheneygave a quick re-port on a couple ofstate’s associa-tions that don’t al-ways have the ear

of the national trade press. See her ar-ticle this issue (p. 30 and 31).

NORTHEAST™ Trade Show Leadership Forum

AASP/NJ Exhibiting at Northeast 2012, their own show

Tony Lombardozzi

Janet Cheney

Greg Coccaro

Charles Bryant

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A Smart Solution THE CARCOONWORKSTATION

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It’s been said that a picture is worth athousand words. Yet, with today’s digi-tal cameras in cell phones, even, pic-tures are worth less than a dime adozen. Yesterday’s promotional pieces,flyers, brochures and even websitepages, all may have nice photos, butpeople are less impressed with themthese days. To really make an impact ona potential source of referral business,you need to get them to come to theshop and see the real thing. One livecontact is easily worth more than athousand pictures.

With spring arriving, this could bea good time to spruce up the shop andpush for some live visits by referral co-ordinators you’ve been chasing. Overthe winter some aspects of your shopmay have fallen into disrepair or worse.Getting an entire shop showcase-readyis generally not an easy task. Spareparts storage and the paint mixing roommay have become major eyesores.

Walk through the shop and imagine youhave an insurance executive or dealer-ship owner walking along with you. Trylooking at your place from his or hereyes and take some notes. These couldbe the improvements that make the dif-ference in how your shop is valued as aplace to refer customers.

A few standard interior-decoratingmeasures can make a major differencein how your shop is perceived. If youoften have spare parts or some othereyesore in your office or waiting area, auseful device to hide that kind of thingis the room divider. These are generallyjust a couple of free-standing 2’x 6’ or3’x 6’ panels hinged together, but de-pending on how they’re painted or cov-ered with fabric or used to displaypromotional posters, they can be a sig-nificant visual asset in an otherwisedrab room. If the office or waiting areais uncomfortably small, a mirrored wallgives an illusion of larger space and

also reflects light to brighten a dimly litroom.

Although a body shop is in the au-tomotive painting business, it’s surpris-ing how many shops fail to adequatelypaint their buildings, driveways andequipment. Just painting the spraybooth doors makes them look newerand better maintained at a glance. Thesame is true of the paint storage room.Older equipment like ancient frame ma-chines and welding equipment can bespruced up quickly with a coat of themetallic paint you use on vehicles everyday. Dealership shops are more likelyto have identifying signs over bays in-dicating body work, frame work, weld-ing, etc.

Dealership driveways also usuallyhave painted lines to direct customersto various parts of the facility. But anindependent shop can add a perspectiveof professionalism by adding a fewsigns around to designate how various

bays are used and perhaps some paintedlines on driveways. These simple cos-metic measures will make a major dif-ference to visitors accustomed to wellorganized and generally very clean of-fices.

While these improvements mightbe made to impress an insurance exec-utive or dealership owner, otherchanges might be added for more spe-cific visitors. Some shops have begunto take advantage of the “baby boomgeneration” achieving the status of “se-niors,” and looking for ways to alleviatephysical problems that can come withaging. Special handicap access ele-ments around the shop can assist anolder person taking a shop tour and theshop could profit from offering and in-stalling handicap-assistance deviceslike power running boards. Drivingschools have begun to multiply as pub-lic schools drop driver training classes.Some shops invite student drivers in to

Sprucing Up Your Shop For Spring

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

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


Raised Bill 387 in CT calling for the useof alternative parts as the primarymeansof repair on state vehicles. The amend-ment reads: (j) In performing the re-quirements of this section, theCommissioners ... shall use recycled, re-manufactured or aftermarket parts as theprimary means of maintenance and re-pair of the state fleet, provided the re-quirements of this subsection shall notapply to any fleet vehicle under theman-agement of the Department of Emer-gency Services and Public Protection.

Connecticut Bill Adds Subsectionto Require Recycled or A/M Parts

As more insurers begin offering pay-as-you-drive insurance options inwhich vehicle driving patterns aretracked by the insurer through a de-vice hooked to the vehicle’s on-boarddiagnostic system, a Delaware bill(HB 242) would prohibit the releaseof such data by insurers to others, andwould prohibit insurers from usingthe information for anything otherthan consideration for premium dis-counts, unless the policyholder givesconsent. Any violation of the billwould charge the violator with aClass G Felony.

Delaware Bill (HB 242) ProhibitsInsurers from Exploiting Data Rhode Island is becoming a legislative

battleground for competing interests be-tween shops and insurers. No fewerthan six bills have been introduced thisyear in an attempt to modify the state’sunfair competition laws. In January,H7688 introduced a classification system:creating “three (3) classifications of fullcollision licensees based upon theamount and type of equipment main-tained and used by the auto body shop,the number of certified technicians em-ployed by the auto body shop, certifi-cation and compliance withenvironmental agencies such as theEPA.” This bill also required differentlabor rate surveys for each classifica-tion.H 7690 introduced “three (3) busi-ness days advance notice to the insureradjusting the claim for damage to thevehicle for the purpose of allowing theinsurer an opportunity to appraise andphotograph the vehicle prior to disman-tling” and bolstered the insurance fraudstatute by requiring shops and insuredsto certify that repairs have been madein accordance with the insurer’s ap-praisal and indemnifying the insurer forrepairs notmade at the request of the in-sured. Now, bill H 7782, introducedFeb. 16, would amend the state’s unfaircompetition law by deleting the sectionof the law that requires insurers to in-

form insureds or claimants of their rightto use the shop of their choice. Thedeleted section (15) reads:

(15) Requiring that repairs bemade to an automobile at a specifiedauto body repair shop or interferingwith the insured’s or claimant’s freechoice of repair facility. The insured orclaimant shall be promptly informed bythe insurer of his or her free choice inthe selection of an auto body repairshop. Once the insured or claimant hasadvised the insurer that an auto body re-pair shop has been selected, the insurermay not recommend that a differentauto body repair shop be selected to re-pair the automobile. An auto body re-pair shopmay file a complaint with thedepartment of business regulation al-leging a violation of this subdivision(15).Whenever the department of busi-ness regulation has reason to believethat an insurer has violated this subdi-vision (15), the department shall con-duct an investigation andmay convenea hearing.Acomplaint filed by an autobody repair shopmust be accompaniedby a statementwritten and signed by theinsured or claimant setting forth the fac-tual basis of the complaint, and the in-sured or claimant must voluntarilyappear and testify at any administrativeproceedings on the complaint.

Rhode Island Bill Would Delete Anti-Steering Legislation Languagelook at heavy hits to alert them to what canresult from hazardous driving.Ashop show-case might add a display to that effect.Alsoa shop that caters a bit to mothers and par-ents should consider adding some child-en-tertainment items that could be emphasizedwhen showing amother or parent around theshop. This kind of convenience can make amajor difference when a prospect is com-paring competitor shops in your area.While all of these improvements

would significantly help sell your shop toprospective referral source visitors, the im-pact on shop personnel shouldn’t be over-looked. Sprucing up a work bay andperhaps making some improvement in theappearance of standard worker clothingtells a technician his or her work is valuedand especially appreciated at this time.This same technician is likely to also pres-ent a better P.R. image when people arecoming through on a tour. Efficiency stud-ies have shown that personnel in generalperform better in well organized, attractivespaces. You may have started out to simplymake improvements to impress anyonecoming through on a shop tour, but youcould also be pleasantly surprised to findthat your improvements have reducedcycle time and made a major difference inyour financial bottom line.


by Ed Attanasio

It’s like water and oil; church andstate—the Democrats and the Repub-licans. For many decades, there havealways been two disparate sourcesfor collision and mechanical parts.But now, still mired in an economythat is improving but lagging, after-

market parts distributors are startingto think outside the parts box andadding mechanical parts to their col-lision inventory and vice versa.When ancillary revenue becomesvital to the bottom line, every com-pany starts looking harder for the“new, new thing”. By being a one-stop parts source and expanding theirinventories, companies are increasingprofits and building a larger, moreloyal customer base.

The Levan Group, Inc. has beenin business for two decades and hasfive locations in California and Texas,so owner Kenny Levan has seen thecollision parts industry change and re-invent itself on many levels. That’swhy he began incorporating mechan-ical parts into his collision inventorywithin the last several years.

“We’re always looking for waysto increase our revenue, because onceyou rely totally on certain types ofparts, you’re limiting yourself,” Levansaid. “We discovered that our bodyshop customers want certain mechan-ical parts to supplement their crashparts. It’s a matter of convenience andif we can match the prices they’refinding elsewhere, it’s an easy deci-sion for them.”

By offering a limited range of me-chanical parts, such as radiators, lamps,window regulators, shocks, brake partsand struts, for example, the Levan

Group has attracted a new group ofcustomers, including nearby mechani-cal shops, walk-in cash customers anda whole new business segment theyhad never tapped into before—the do-it-yourself (DIY) market.

“The DIY customers are startingto save money by doing repairs theywould not consider before,” Levan

said. “Now, we get about 30%of our business from thesepeople. And by adding morechemicals, clears, bondo andsand paper (he does not sellpaint), we are appealing moreand more to the growing DIYpart of our overall business.”

Owned and operated by sixbrothers, Kenny, Michael,Brandon, Andy, Harry, andHenry; each Levan overseesone location while Andyworks at all five warehouseswhen required. It’s a hard-working family that came tothe United States from Viet-nam 33 years ago. In 1988,

they started the Levan Group with lit-tle capital but lots of sweat, Levansaid.

“I came to this country when Iwas 13 and I always tell people, Istarted working the minute I got offthat boat and haven’t stopped yet,” hesaid. “It’s a family business, so wemake the decisions together and wework as a team. We’re always think-ing of new ways to make our companybetter, and adding parts or supplies toour inventory has turned out to be a

wise move. We carry mechanical partsat all of our Bay Area locations andwill be expanding to include Sacra-mento very soon. By the end of 2012,all of our Northern California loca-tions will have collision and mechan-ical parts, as well as shop supplies.”

Other parts distributors havemerged collision and mechanical partsand seen it lead to more profits and ad-ditional customers as well. SSF Im-ported Auto Parts in South SanFrancisco is such a business, market-ing both mechanical and collisionparts with good results, according toBill Foxworthy, the company’s Colli-sion Parts Director.

“When business slows down,both mechanical and collision shopsstart looking around for new sourcesof income,” Foxworthy explained.

“Body shops obviously need mechan-ical parts to complete a lot of their re-pairs and more and more people arebuying salvaged cars, fixing them upand re-selling them, especially with alot of the higher-end imported vehi-cles we sell parts for.”

SSF sells a fair amount of frontend parts, water pumps, fans, bear-ings, condensers, wheel components

and air conditioning parts tobody shops. Conversely, me-chanical shops are buyingmore headlights, grill, em-blems and other accessory-type body parts as needed,according to Foxworthy. It’shit-and-miss and tough totrack, but Foxworthy knowsthat SSF is providing a value-added feature by offeringboth. SSF sells collision partsfor 80% of the car nameplatesthey also sell mechanicalparts for, including BMW,Mercedes-Benz, Porsche,

Volkswagen, Audi, Mini Cooper, Saaband Volvo.

“Sure, our mechanical lines areour bread and butter,” he said. “Butwe’re starting to see that the two typesare slowly morphing together, so werealize that we need to keep selling

both. When business starts lagging,we see a spike in collision parts sales,so we know it’s a necessary part ofwhat we’re selling. We’re in an age ofconvenience and shops realize time ismoney. If they can improve cycletimes as a result, it’s a win-win, defi-nitely.”

Foxworthy has been in parts forseveral decades, so he has seen theparts industry change with the Inter-net and other technological advances,he said. “The auto repair industry hasseen a lot of drastic changes, but inother ways they’ve been reluctant tochange. Selling both mechanical andcollision parts would be a logical al-ternative, especially when we’re allfighting for that extra dollar. But, it’snot the traditional way of doingthings, so aftermarket distributorsaren’t going that way. The overall at-titude is we're not going to changesomething that's already working. But,we all know that’s shortsighted think-ing.”

By incorporating aftermarket col-lision parts into their inventory mix,Midway Aftermarket in Kansas City,Missouri has benefitted by the resur-gence in the DIY market while ap-pealing to body shops that want a mixof recycled parts coupled with new af-termarket parts, Marketing DirectorAimee Studna explained.

“For more than 20 years, our sal-vage yard has been our core business,”she said. “Several years ago, westarted identifying a need with ourcustomers who wanted a mixture ofrecycled parts and aftermarket parts,both collision and some mechanic alparts, mostly air conditioning partsand radiators. Now customers askabout them and we sell them rightalongside the crash parts and our re-cycled inventory. This way they get amix of new aftermarket and recycledparts, which appeals to a lot of the in-surance companies.”

Can collision and mechanicalparts co-exist together in the samewarehouse? Will automotive shops ofall types gravitate toward this one-stopshopping approach to acquiring partsand how will the OEM’s react when itstarts becoming more than just aminor trend? Stay tuned, becausewe’ve learned that if money is in-volved, people will adapt and quicklychange their ways of thinking in thepursuit of increased profits and a big-ger piece of the overall parts pie.

The Levan Group—Where Crash and Mechanical Parts Intersect

Inside Sales Rep Leo Puentes, Owner/Manager KennyLevan and Sales Rep Andrew Knowles market a widerange of both collision and mechanical parts at the LevanGroup

Kenny Levan runs the San Jose, Calif. location for TheLevan Group. He started selling collision repair parts inaddition to his mechanical inventory to better cater to thedo-it-yourself market and body shops looking for a one-stop solution

Bill Foxworthy is the Collision Parts Director atSSF Auto Parts, a company that sells bothmechanical and collision aftermarket parts forbrands such as BMW, Mercedes-Benz,Porsche, Volkswagen, Audi, Mini Cooper,Saab and Volvo

How much money are you losing eachyear by not charging for Feather, Sandand Fill (aka Feather, Prime andBlock)? If you’re charging nothing, Ican guarantee you $5,000 more inyearly profits if you follow this adviceand start getting compensated for thenecessary work you’ve always beendoing.

Feather, Sand and Fill is a non-in-cluded procedure that takes the sur-face from 150-grit level smoothness tothe condition of a new, undamagedpanel that can then begin the refinishprocess. The labor and supplies usedwith with feather, prime and blockmay fluctuate based on the nature ofthe repair area and should be consid-ered when deciding which work needsto be performed. I will address the is-sues many shop owners have in get-ting insurance companies to pay forthis procedure, the laws involved, andpossible solutions to consider.

In 2006, the Collision IndustryConference Estimating Committee de-fined feather, prime and block as“non-included refinish operations thatcomplete the process from 150 grit tothe condition of a new, undamagedpanel... The body/paint labor and ma-terials necessary to prepare the re-paired area from 150 grit to thecondition of a new undamaged part isa valid and required step in theprocess. The labor and material al-lowances for these operations requiresan on-the-spot evaluation of the spe-cific vehicle and damage.”

Despite this clarification, shopsare still having trouble claiming thisprocess and being paid for the workand materials. Some insurance com-panies say that Feather, Sand and Fillis included in the repair process,which simply isn’t true. In addition,often times, on many insurance com-pany estimates, they state that feather,sand and fill is included in the repairprocess, which directly contradicts thelaw, the P-Pages, and the logic of ourbusiness. Of course, the insurancecompanies don’t want to pay for thiscostly operation becuase they’vehaven’t had to pay for it for years.

An even stronger argument can bemade using the language in the federalregulations imposed through the EPA’s

6H rule. “On January 9, 2008, the EPAaccepted a new standard known as theHAPs 6H rule to reduce the public’shealth exposure to Hazardous Air Pol-lutants (HAPs). The agency’s main ob-jective is to significantly lessen theamount of HAPs released into the en-vironment during paint stripping orsurface coating operations.

During such work practices, themost dangerous chemicals, namely,methylene chloride (MeCl), cadmium,chromium, lead, manganese andnickel compounds, represent signifi-cant risk to employee health if properengineering and administrative con-trols are not in place.”

The 6H rule requires that thisportion of the process needs to bedone by the paint department, in anenclosed space, and is therefore a re-finishing procedure, not a body repairprocess. This rule helps solidifyFeather, Sand and Fill as a refinishingprocess by definition of the law, but itstill isn’t properly compensated for bythe Insurance Companies.

This means that any application ofprimer that is sprayed through a HVLPspray gun must be done by a certifiedpainter, inside an enclosed sprayboothand billed as a paint procedure.

But how should your shop chargeand get paid for it?

It is a judgment call that must benegotiated on the spot. The repairprocess only takes you up to the 150grit level, but I have to get the panelsto pre-loss condition before the refin-ish process can take place. I am facedwith this issue on almost every singlejob and I approach it by talking withthe adjuster directly. I say “If the P-Pages state that this is a necessaryprocess to repair a job and bring itback to pre-loss condition, then whywould it not be covered?” So, first Iprove my point that it’s a necessarypart of repairing the vehicle. I cite The6H rule that supports claiming it as arefinishing process. At this point,some insurance companies will payfor the operation, while others simplywill not pay. In this case, the insurancecompanies are forcing auto bodyshops to break the law by not listingthe procedure as a refinishing processand therefore admitting to violating

the 6H rule. Failure to comply to the6H rule can result in hefty, daily finesand even jail time. If your shop does-n’t report or charge for it, you are in away admitting to breaking the law.

Another typical response is thatcharging for feather, sand and fill is notcompetitive in the market, and becauseother body shops are allowing the in-surance agencies to take advantage ofthem, they claim that all shops shouldfolllow suit. I also hear “you’re the onlyshop that charges for this process,”which simply isn’t true. So the insur-ance company is literally telling us thatbecause other shops aren’t recoupingthese costs, we should all lose the rev-enue and break the law.

So how do you calculate the costsof FSF (or FPB)?

A simple forumla that I’ve comeup with over the years in the business,and doing my own time studies is asfollows: I use .3 per repair hour to cal-

culate FSF. The example we’ll use is a2 hour repair. 2 X .3 = .6, Refinishlabor rate = $48 x .6 = $28.80, Paintand Materials = $27 x .6 = $16.20.

Total costs associated with FeatherSand and Fill on a 2 hour job is $45.

If a shop performs two of theseeach week, there is a yearly loss of$4680 a year. In addition, at a sales taxrate of 8%, the state is losing $375 ayear for each shop not being paid forthis process.

If you simply use the formulaabove, your painter’s efficiency goesup and you’re no longer supplyingthese materials for free.

Determine your repair times first,state this is only a repair process, firstnegotiate your body repair time andspecify that this is only for the repairs,not for refinishing.

Once that is established then younegotiate your time and costs for


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Feather, Sand and Fill: Paint Operations Body Shops Perform But Don’t Get Paid For

with David BrownShop Showcase

with Attorney Martin ZuradaBody Shop Law

with Domenico Nigro

The Community-Focused Body Shop

with Janet CheneyShop Showcase

Domenico Nigro is the president of Nigro’s Auto Body, a very progressive shop fortheir community in Philadelphia. In addition to many productivity innovations, Nigro’sinstalls equipment for disabled drivers, has developed several phone Applications,and represents products which directly support charities such as United Way and theNational Breast Cancer Foundation. Contact him at: [email protected].

See Feather, Sand and Fill, Page 15


Custom Painter Charley Hutton Explains Step-By-Step How to CreateRealistic Wood Grain Effects With PPG ProductsCharley Hutton, custom painter ex-traordinaire, explains how to create arealistic, wood grain look with a fewsimple tools and PPG Envirobase®

High Performance basecoat.A painted wood-grain effect is

one way to add a distinctive look toyour custom build. In this step-by-step article, Charley will show youhow to paint a panel with one style ofwood in the center, framed by anotherwood grain look.

Creating the wood grain effect isabout having the right tools. You’llwant to have a variety of sponges,some with loose density for creatinglarger grain, and others more densefor tighter grain. Sea sponges areideal. You’ll also need a choice ofbrushes, preferably inexpensive oneswith stiff bristles. The brushes areused to create very tight grain lines,what we call the “dry brushing” tech-nique. And finally, you’ll need an air-brush and compressor for shadowingand highlighting.

Of course, like learning any spe-cial effect technique, it will take somepractice to get the technique down.“Some of the techniques I’ve learnedactually came by accident,” said Hut-ton. “For example, Paul Stoll, PPG’scustom painter/trainer, and I discov-ered a cool trick while doing a ’49 tinwoody. We didn’t like the look wewere getting, so when we went towipe the paint off, it smeared and cre-ated a really nice wood grain effect—and I’ve been using this techniqueever since.”

The PaintTwo colors of basecoat are neededfor the wood-grain look—a dark,reddish brown (T442 Woody Brownat 800.0 pts. and T430 Green 100.0pts.) and a lighter tan color (T429Trans. Golden Yellow at 940.0 pts.,T442 Brown 40.0 pts. and T430Green 20.0 pts.) In my case, Huttonuses PPG Envirobase® High Per-formance basecoat and he says itworks wonderfully.

“I especially like the fact that ifyou apply some paint and you don’tlike the effect you’re getting, you caneasily re-wet again with more water-borne color, giving yourself a freshstart,” said Hutton.

Painting the Outer Frame(1) Hutton starts with a white base-coated panel, masked off to create acenter panel. Each end of the outerframe should be masked with miteredcorners, typical of wood frames.

(2) Start with the top and bottomportions of the frame. Wet your finersponge with the lighter tan color,squeezing out the excess by pressing itinto the side of the mixing cup. Then,simply drag the sponge across the sur-face in one direction, repeating theprocess several times. Next, we needto mask the outer frame to create abeveled look. With ¼-inch tape, maskfrom the side where you want the lightsource to appear to come from. Do the

same with the bottom edge. Then maskthe frame panels, leaving only the bot-tom edges of the frame exposed.

(3) Then, as the paint begins todry and get sticky, drag your glovedhand across the painted surface. As itbegins to drag it’ll create authentic-looking grain with that knotty look.After dragging all the way across thepanel for several strokes, start fromthe center and drag, and make smallerswipes in succession, gradually taper-ing your strokes to short swipes. If thepaint starts to set, just re-wet it withmore waterborne paint.

(4) After finishing the top and bot-tom of the outer frame, mask the cor-

See Hutton, Page 16

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The 2012 Ridler® Award winner an-nounced at Detroit Autorama® Febru-ary 26 was the 1955 Ford T-Bird,owned by Dwayne Peace of Tyler,Texas. The car was painted withBASF’s Glasurit® 90-Line™ BrilliantRed waterborne paint.

“BASF’s Glasurit paint has beenon six of the last 11 Ridler award win-ners,” said Vitor Margaronis, Mar-keting Director, BASF CoatingsSolutions, North America. “We’revery proud of this achievement andthe quality of our products.”

The list of products used to paintthe car included Glasurit’s Epoxy801-72, Polyester Filler1006-26, 90-Line Waterborne Basecoat and HSMulti Clear 923-155.

A total of 64 vehicles competed

for the coveted award at the DetroitAutorama. Vehicles are judged basedon three criteria: creativity, engineer-ing and workmanship.

“The execution of the plan andthe quality of the build were out-standing,” said Butch Patrico, Co-chairman of the DetroitAutorama andRidler judging supervisor. Patrico alsosaid the process for this build wassimilar to what a major manufacturerwould do to build a prototype. "Thiswas not a normal build. He didn’t fol-low a cookie cutter process.”

The car was painted by JacobEdens and Jeff Greening of GreeningAutoCompany inNashville, Tennessee.

“The entire painting process tookabout sixmonths,” said Jesse Greening.“The color helped it show very well.”

The Ridler award is named afterDon Ridler, who started promotingAutorama in the 1950s. With his ex-pertise, Autorama became one of thetop hot rod shows in the country. Fol-lowing Ridler’s passing in 1963, a de-cision was made to create an award tohonor his memory. The Ridler awardhas been given out to the best newcreations since 1964. Cars must beshown for the first time to be eligiblefor the award.

To learnmore about BASF refinishproducts visit: www.basfrefinish.com.

2012 Ridler® Award Winner Features BASF’s Glasurit® Paint

The 2012 Ridler Award Winner from DetroitAutorama is the 1955 Ford T-Bird owned byDwayne Peace featuring BASF’s Glasurit90-Line Brilliant Red paint

Feather, Sand and Fill by using myformula. This will increase yourpainter’s efficiency, it will increasethe profitability of your paint suppliesand it will add to your overall busi-ness success and bottom line.

If you try these methods and theydon’t work, you should show the ad-juster the P-Pages, even reference thisarticle. Ask the adjuster to prove toyou that you don’t have to do this step

which is required by all three estimat-ing systems and established as an in-dustry standard. What do they say? Ifyou’re still not being compensated,have them call me.

Write us, let us know if you’recharging for this operation. The onlyway for justice and fair compensationfrom insurers is through cooperationand unity among shop owners.Allow-ing the insurers to strong arm your bot-tom line is costing us thousands eachyear. A standard formula can be ap-plied to all jobs that account for thesecosts in a fair and transparent manner.

Continued from Page 12

Feather, Sand and Fill

22 West Virginia Vocational Schools Integrate I-CARProfessional Development Program into CurriculumThe West Virginia Department of Edu-cation/Division of Career andTechnicalEducationwill integrate the industry rec-ognized I-CAR® Professional Develop-ment Program™–EducationEdition intothe curriculum of all 22 secondary andvocational schools in the state of WestVirginia. This marks two firsts for I-CAR. West Virginia’s initiative marksthe first time I-CAR trainingwill be usedat a statewide level within a school sys-

tem’s curriculum andWestVirginia willbe the first publicly announced adopterof the I-CAR® Professional Develop-ment Program™– Education Edition.

Kathy D’Antoni, West VirginiaAssistant State Superintendent ofSchools said, “Our vision is to grow ahighly skilled and quality driven work-force... to make sure the curriculumbeing taught in our career technical cen-ters satisfies industry needs.”


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ners off before doing the sides. Be sureto “under mask” a bit, which in the endwill create a darker line highlight.Then, using your sponge and gloved

hand, create the wood-grain look on theside panels, as you did on the top andbottom. Remove the masking on thecorners and allow the paint to dry.

(5) Next, we need to mask theouter frame to create a beveled look.With ¼-inch tape, mask from the sidewhere you want the light source to ap-pear to come from. Do the same withthe bottom edge. Then mask theframe panels, leaving only the bottomedges of the frame exposed.

(7) Airbrush the areas left un-masked. This will darken them andcreate the illusion of shadows.

(8) After creating the darkershadow lines, re-mask over the linesin preparation of creating a lighter,highlight line. Once you airbrush theunmasked areas of the frame, making

it darker, the area covered by the tapewill leave a lighter, highlight line.

(10) Shadow and Toning. Next,reduce the same lighter color with aclear basecoat T490 at 2:1, and re-duce 4:1 with reducer. This willmake the color more transparent.Airbrush the outer frame panels toadd tone and accentuate the grain inthe wood. When the ¼-inch lines areunmasked it will leave the lighterhighlights.

Painting the Center Panel(11) After it’s dried, re-mask the outerframe, and remove the masking fromthe center—you’re ready to create thewood grain effect on the middlepanel. With the sponge, use the sametechnique as the outer frame to applythe color. Start at one end and drag the

sponge in straight lines across thepanel. Keep applying coats and as thepaint begins to dry, it’ll get sticky andcause the sponge to drag. This createsa streaked, grained look.

(12) Now you want to add tonewith a paintbrush and the darker, red-dish shade of brown. Dip the brushinto the mixing cup and tool it out, solittle is left on the bristles. Using lightstrokes, swipe the brush across thepanel, creating the darker streaks.First, apply strokes horizontallyacross the panel. Be sure to leavestreaks to mirror the inconsistentcolor of natural wood.

(13) Next, airbrush the panel invertical, up ‘n down strokes. This iscalled “ribbing.”

(14) If you’d like to add a simplelogo, this is the stage to do it. Usingthe same paint you used to tone thewood, airbrush the cut-out of thelogo. This will create a darker high-light around the letters, creating a de-bossed effect.

For more information about theproducts used in this project, pleasevisit www.ppg.com.


Hutton

13 14

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Environmental legislation and in-creasing restrictions on VOC emis-sions continue to transform thecoatings industry and collision repairbusiness. Waterborne paint systemshave become more prevalent as thebest way to radically reduce green-house gasses. At BASF, this environ-mental breakthrough has also becomean opportunity for product and serv-ice innovation to add superior value,helping increase shop safety, produc-tivity, quality and, ultimately, cus-tomer satisfaction.

Innovative BASF Products LeadsAs a world leader in automotive refin-ishing products, BASF introduced oneof the first waterborne systems withthe launch of the Glasurit® 90-Line™in 1992. Ahead of its time, the high-performing 90-Line began a revolu-tion that has not only made manycollision repair shops more environ-mentally friendly, but has improvedquality and throughput — throughease-of-use, low material consump-tion, fast-drying formulas, better hid-ing and easier blending.

Moreover, the fact that approxi-mately 70 percent of all new cars arefinished with waterborne paint make90-Line an ideal system for repair. Andwhen it comes to quality, it’s reassur-ing to know that the world’s finest au-tomobiles—including Mercedes-Benzand BMW—have waterborne paint. Inaddition, ultra-luxury cars such asMaybach and Rolls Royce are handsprayed at the plant with 90-Line.

For collision repair centers thatdemand high productivity, superiorquality and cost efficiency, BASF’s R-M® automotive finishes continue to bethe right choice. R-M’s low-VOC wa-terborne basecoat—Onyx HD™ —has been used by many independentcollision repair centers and car dealer-ships for almost two decades. The sys-tem brings next-generation processesinto the shop, while offering excellentversatility, durability and cost effec-tiveness along with superb colormatching with BASF’s proprietaryCOLOR-MAX® system. And, OnyxHD does all this while meetingtoday’s most stringent VOC regula-tions at local, regional and nationallevels.

The combination of R-M’s fastdrying primers, high gloss “no-bake”clears and Onyx HD low-VOC water-borne basecoat reduce cycle time and

energy consumption while helpingpreserve the environment. Beinggreen with Onyx HD can actually save

you some green, helping make thebusiness case to switch to the water-borne system.

More Than Just Great ProductsBASF’s Glasurit® 90-Line™ and R-M® Onyx HD™ paint products aresupported by industry-leading lifetimewarranties, along with technical train-ing programs, advanced color infor-mation systems and businessmanagement programs.

SmartTrak® is a state-of-the-artcolor management system that pro-vides fast and accurate color formulas.It’s designed to help increase shopprofitability and productivity throughcolor updates, inventory and stockcontrol management, formula cus-tomization, cost and low-VOC track-ing, advanced reporting and more.

The company’s comprehensiveVisionPLUS® program is an industry-leading suite of value-added programsgeared specifically for collision repaircenters. This full-service toolkit helpscollision center managers and ownersmonitor, grow sales, streamline busi-ness operations and gain a solid com-petitive edge in the industry. And,VisionPLUS Online is a turnkey toolthat allows collision repair centers totrack, analyze and advance their busi-ness in real time. This allows for im-mediate and continuous improvement,increasing shop productivity and prof-itability.

Better to Lead Than Follow the PackIn the U.S., some state and local ju-risdictions are taking the lead in

regulating automo-tive refinishing emis-sions. California andDelaware, for exam-ple, have developedpractice standards forshops to reduce VOCemissions. And, as afurther indication ofthings to come,Canada has alreadyrequired all shops toswitch to waterbornebasecoats.

Clearly, shopswould be well advisedto stay ahead of com-ing legislation andswitch to waterbornesystems before it be-comes mandated.

When consideringconversion to a water-

borne paint system, be sure to consultwith your BASF representative. Be-yond the regulatory considerations,

keep in mind the following advan-tages:• Reduced basecoat solvent emissionsby approximately 90 percent• Increased quality and customer sat-isfaction• Improved color matching• Improved throughput• Applied with conventional sprayequipment and easy to clean up• Improved safety (less toxicity, lowerodor and reduced flammability)• Reduced hazardous waste

Before you make the final deci-sion to change to a waterborne paintsystem, it is important to be aware ofnot only the advantages of using wa-terborne technology, but also key dif-ferences when compared to a solventsystem. There are many questions ashop should ask before switching towaterborne coatings. Let the expertson Waterborne Automotive Finishesfrom BASF answer them for you.

For more information aboutswitching to waterborne, contact yourBASF representative by calling 800-825-3000, or visit www.basfrefin-ish.com.


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Aftermarket Price MatchOrder in by 5pm, Arrives Next Day7:00am - 6:00pm M-F

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BASF Advises Shops to Join the Move to Waterborne Coatings Now


LOUISIANAKia of Baton Rouge

Baton Rouge5740 Siegen Lane

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OKLAHOMAFerguson Advantage

ImportsBroken Arrow

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TEXASArcher Kia

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Capitol Kia13573 North US Hwy 183

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Central KiaPlano

(972) 422-9320(972) 633-5761 FaxM-F 7:30am - 7:00pmSat 8:00am - 5:00pm

De Montrond KiaHouston

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Huffines Kia DentonDenton

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by Ed Attanasio

When it opened its doors more thaneight decades ago, Pacific Coast Lac-quer (PCL) Automotive was providingproducts for body shops painting auto-motives such as Ford Model A’s, Hud-son Roadsters and Austin 7’s. Today,the brands and names have changed,

but PCL still markets a wide range ofpaint-related products to the collisionindustry, including surface cleaners,pre-treatment coatings, primer surfac-ers, primer sealers, single stage top-coats, aerosols and solvents.

The body shop business haschanged in a big way since 1929, backin the days before DRPs or labor ratesurveys. But according to Ruben La-

guna, PCL’s Director of Sales andMarketing, quality products backed bysolid customer service is still a formulafor success and longevity. Since beinghired by the company in 1988, Lagunahas seen PCL grow and change withthe times and is proud of the com-pany’s role by providing solutions forbody shops that are 100% compliant

and make financial sense aswell.

“I tell my customers thatour products offer all threethings: Performance, qualityand price,” Laguna stated.“That’s why they represent agreat value across the board.You can save money, but areyou sacrificing quality or per-

formance as a result? And just becauseyou pay more, does that necessarilymean you’re getting real value?”

Manufacturers of automotive re-finishing products have come andgone over the years and PCL is proudto be the only manufacturer of its typestill doing business in California. Bydeveloping new products through itsextensive R&D efforts at its head-

quarters and factory in Los Angeles,PCL has developed a wide range of in-novative products, including severalthat can be used with both solvent andwaterborne paint systems,” Lagunaexplained.

Body shops make up 85% ofPCL’s total revenues through morethan 300 paint suppliers and jobbersstatewide. The company’s best-sellingproducts are its primers and clears andwithin the last few years, the manufac-turer’s flat black and flat clear topcoatshave become extremely popular, espe-cially with customizers making thefashionable trend more commonplace.

Twenty-four years ago, changes inCalifornia’s environmental laws dras-tically changed the types of solvents

that had to be used for cleaning paintguns. PCL quickly became the numberone provider of these types of solventsin the California market, because theywere able to change rapidly and adhereto the new requirements quickly.

In addition, all of PCL’s compli-ant cleaning solvents adhere to SouthAir Coast Air Quality ManagementDistrict (SCAQMD) Rule 1171,which began requiring more water-borne cleaners starting in 1999. All ofPCL’s products are designed to meetand/or exceed local and national envi-ronment and air quality laws and re-quirements, according to Laguna.

Exemplary hands-on customerservice has long been a key element toPCL’s continued success, Laguna ex-plained. “If you use our products, youalso get our knowledge and our yearsand years of experience. We respondquickly to questions and concerns with-out fail, and if one of the body shopsusing our products gets cited for somereason, we’re there to represent themand address the violation. It doesn’thappen very often, because we formu-late our products to be 100% compliant


PCL Has Been Primed Since 1929 with Clear Solutions for Shops

across the board, but when it does, wedo everything we can to rectify it.”

Training in order to learn the ap-plication techniques associated withany of PCL’s products is also alwaysavailable, Laguna said. “Our productsare very easy-to-use, so most of ourcustomers don’t require training. Butif they want it, we will come out thereand train them right at their shop. We

back every product we make andthat’s why we’ve been serving the au-tomotive industry continually for solong.”

By making products that havebecome invaluable to body shopsthroughout California over thedecades, PCL has survived several re-cessions without taking a hard hit, La-guna said. “Between 2007 and 2008,when the economy took a beating, we

increased revenues by 20-25%. Whentimes are lean, more body shops buyour cleaners, primers and sealers par-ticularly, because they know they willdo the job, saving them time andmoney.”

Susan Simmons is a 30-year vet-eran of the automotive paintindustry and is the storemanager of FinishMaster inMontclair, California. Serv-icing approximately 200Southern California bodyshops, Simmons has beenworking with PCL since sheentered the field, she said.

“PCL has definitelyfound several niches over theyears and by providing compliantproducts at affordable prices, they’vedone very well,” Simmons said. “Wesell their primers, surfacers, sealers,clears and solvents to a wide range ofdifferent customers, from customshops to do-it-yourselfers to hobbyists,restoration shops and of course, regu-lar body shops. We get customers whocall us all the time and ask specificallyfor PCL’s products, especially their flatblack paint fast-drying product.”

Simmons values the support and

accountability offered by PCL, shesaid. “Paul Casanova is my PCL rep,and he is always available and willingto help us in any way. He has assistedus in training and on numerous specialprojects. If we ever have any issueswith PCL products, Paul is there to do

whatever it takes to make it right. Ifthere is any hint of trouble, he re-places the product without question.PCL definitely follows through andstands behind all of their products,which makes working with them a no-brainer.”

PCL Automotive3150 East Pico Blvd.Los Angeles, CA 90023(800) 752-1566www.pclautomotive.com


Call your localdistributor

Eco Tech Systems at:

• Spraybooths• Prep Stations• Mixing Rooms• Waterborne Systems

www.accudraftpaintbooths.comwww.accudraftpaintbooths.com

800524-0340524-0340

ECOTECH SYSTEMS LLC

Daehan, an auto supply company lo-cated just outside of West Point, GA,caught fire March 17.

The company supplies parts,mostly metal car parts that protectdrivers from the engine and electri-cal wiring, for Kia, most notably theKia West Point facility nearby. Theparts supply company remainedclosed Monday March 19 as fire-fighters investigated the cause of theblaze. No one was hurt but the build-ing was severly damaged.

“My boss man called and toldme you don’t even have to come in.He started telling me that the build-ing was on fire. At first I thought hewas joking, but I started gettingmore calls and texts,” Chris John-son, a worker at the plant, said toWSFA News Montgomery, AL.

In response to this fire, Kiaclosed their West Point, GA, plantfor two days—Monday March 19and Tuesday March 20.

A Kia spokesman told Reutersthat the interruption would have alimited impact on sales, due to theplant’s inventory.

For more information pleasevisit www.kmmgusa.com

Auto Supplier DaehanCatches Fire in GA


Ask most people about CAFÉ stan-dards and they would immediatelythink of food quality control. There isanother meaning that you probablyknow and it will drastically impactyour business, but you may not beaware why it will.

CAFÉ stands for Corporate Aver-age Fuel Economy-- the average milesper gallon on an OEM’s passengercars and trucks. The standards forpassenger vehicles will rise from thenational current 27.5 mpg to 35.7 mpgby 2015, while light trucks will gofrom 23.5 mpg to 28.6 mpg. My nextquestion is how will the OEMs ac-complish these figures? Car andtrucks will be lighter and smaller, witha greater use of aluminum, plastics,carbon fiber, magnesium and ad-vanced high strength steels (60 per-cent of all steel in today’s vehicles isAHSS). These exotic materials are thereason that fuel economy will impactbody shops.

Aluminum is being used on vir-tually all makes and models builttoday, not only on upscale importsports cars. The hood on a ToyotaPrius for example is made from alu-minum. You will need to invest innew tools and training to work withincreasing use of this metal.

Even with an increase in the useof aluminum, the percent of usage isrelatively small compared to the useof Advanced High Strength Steels.Steels (AHSS) will pose the biggestproblems for repairers and we need

to look at the challenges for thesesteels. The first area is we need tounderstand is the effect of heat onmetal.

Heat applied to mild steel will in-crease its strength (once it cools).Heat applied to high strength steelswill decrease its strength. Heat ap-plied to ultra high strength steels(UHSS) will destroy the steel. Re-member these facts.

A couple of other facts that youneed to remember: There are twotypes of energy behavior that weneed to recognize when dealing withtoday’s vehicles. The first one is en-ergy absorption. This is the processof dissipating the energy by the de-formation of the part. As the partcollapses, energy is lost as it travelsfrom front to back or back to front.This deformation is accomplishedby use of laser welds (differentthicknesses of metal or differentmetals attached together with laserwelds), collapse zones and rein-forcements. Most of the metal ontoday’s vehicles utilizes highstrength steel with MPa (a megapas-cal is a unit of pressure, which hereis a measure of stiffness or tensilestrength of materials) ratings be-tween 440 and 590. The second

type of energy behavior that we dealwith is energy transfer.

The design of energy transfer isto move the energy away from the im-pact without it deforming. This is ac-complished by making the partextremely strong. Many OEMs uti-lizes ultra high strength steels in thecabin reinforcements (“A” pillar rein-forcement, “B” pillar reinforcementand roof and rocker reinforcements).The MPa ratings are 600 and abovewith some metals reaching over 1400MPa’s for these metals. You ask thequestion why are they using thesesuper metals. The answer is simple.The government and Insurance Insti-tute for Highway Safety demanded it.Let’s look at Federal Motor VehicleSafety Standard 216A.

By the model year the governmentwanted a 2 ½ times gross vehicleweight to be placed at the “B” pillar, butthe IIHS wanted 3 times and by modelyear 2012, 4 times. What happenedwas most manufacturers were able tomeet the 2012 standards in 2009 andthose vehicles received a 5 star rating.

We now need to look at heat andits affect on these metals.

I am going to heat the metal withan induction heater and monitor thetemperature with a non contact ther-mometer. I will take a before and afterreading with an instrument to test thestrength of steels.

The next part to be tested was a“B” pillar reinforcement from a VolvoXC90. The part is constructed of ad-vanced steel alloyed with boron.

CAFE Standards Will Affect More Than A Shop’s Miles Per Gallon

Tech Notes

National News in BriefWEB WINDOW: - www.autobodynews.com

Regional News in BriefWEB WINDOW: - www.autobodynews.com

with Jeremy HayhurstPublisher’s Page

with Karyn HendricksShop Showcase

with David M. BrownShop Showcase

Shop Showcasewith Jeremy Hayhurst

Hey Toby!with Toby Chess

California Autobody Associationwith David McClune

Collision Repair Association of CA.with Richard Steffen

Insurers Excel at Steeringwith Richard Steffen

Year in Quoteswith John Yoswick

Transition Planningwith John Yoswick

Mainstream Media

My Turnwith Joe Momber

Toby Chess is an I-CAR program instructor, Training specialist, and former salvage yard operator.Toby is universally known in the collision industry for his work with first responders and advocacyfor body shops and consumers. He can be reached at [email protected]

Besides hand tools and aluminum stud guns,you will need to know how to weld aluminumand you may need to invest in a dedicatedaluminum welder

Note that the front of the Volvo has collapsedand shortened length is evident, but there is nodeformation in the passenger’s compartment

The IIHS devised a test to determine thestrength of the “B” pillar to withstand roofcrush in a roll over scenario

The above 2 welds are fusion welds. Themetal becomes molten (over 2200 degreesFahrenheit) and when it cools, a ring formsaround the weld known as the Heat AffectZone. This area on high strength steel isweaker than its surrounding metal. In thecase of ultra high strength steel, this areahas a strength equivalent to the strength ofmild steel, which has no energy absorptionor energy transfer capabilities

HEAT AFFECT ZONE

MIG Weld

Spot Weld

One method of reducing the heat affect zone isskip welding. A bead length of 25 to 38 MM ismade (#1 weld). A second weld is made(#3) and the weld is closed by last weld (#2).Let’s look at what heat does to metal

The first test was done on a front rail on a2009 Toyota Camry which is high-strengthsteel and has a strength category of 440 MPa.The value of the steel is 16.9 which convertsto a 440 MPa reading

See Hey Toby!, Page 37


®

+++


®

++

Bankston HondaLewisv i l le

800-344-8611972-219-0021

Dept. Hours:M-F 7-7; Sat 8-5

www.bankstonhonda.com

Benson HondaSan Antonio

800-727-8705210-340-0831


[email protected]

Cleo Bay HondaKi l leen

877-253-6229254-699-2478

Dept. Hours:M-F 7:30-6; Sat [email protected]

Gillman HondaHouston

800-999-8309713-776-4834


[email protected]

Honda of FriscoFr isco

866-442-2711972-731-3176

Dept. Hours:M-F 7-7; Sat 7:30-5:[email protected]

Russell & Smith HondaHouston

800-833-0180713-663-4266


[email protected]

Wholesale Parts DirectAust in

800-234-4441512-458-2910

Dept. Hours:M-F 8-6

[email protected]

Don Carlton HondaTulsa

800-722-2379918-622-9670

Dept. Hours:M-Sat 7-6

[email protected]

Joe Marina HondaTulsa

800-722-0520918-491-0110

Dept. Hours:M-F 7:30-6; Sat 8-4

[email protected]

Walker HondaAlexandr ia

318-448-8255318-445-6677

Dept. Hours:M-F 7:30-5:30

[email protected]

Patty Peck HondaRidgeland, MS800-748-8676601-957-3400


[email protected]

Superior HondaHarvey

800-943-4227504-368-5687

Dept. Hours:M-F 7-5:30

[email protected]

Garcia HondaAlbuquerque

800-677-6632505-260-5002

Dept. Hours:M-F 7:30-6; Sat 8:[email protected]

Santan HondaChandler, AZ

800-765-1353480-285-2804

Dept. Hours:M-F 7-5:30; Sat 7-5

[email protected]

Showcase HondaPhoenix , AZ

800-537-8236602-230-7306

Dept. Hours:M-F 7-7; Sat 8-5; Sun 9-4

[email protected]

TEXAS TEXAS OKLAHOMA NEW MEXICO

The Honda and Acura Dealers Listed Here are Subscribers:HONDA

LOUISIANA

TEXAS TEXAS TEXAS LOUISIANA

ACURA

Champion AcuraGul f Freeway

800-749-6227713-371-4700


[email protected]

David McDavid AcuraAust in

800-575-3553512-401-5976


[email protected]

David McDavid AcuraPlano

972-964-6044Dept. Hours:

M-F 7-7; Sat [email protected]

Mac Churchill AcuraFort Worth

888-824-9634817-806-0571


[email protected]

Sterling McCall AcuraHouston

713-596-2337713-596-2338

Dept. Hours:M-F 7:30-7; Sat 7:30-4

[email protected]

Don Carlton Acura of TulsaTulsa

888-550-7278918-664-2300

Dept. Hours:M-Sat 7-6

[email protected]

Acura of Baton RougeBaton Rouge

866-733-2861225-756-6166


[email protected]

Walker AcuraMetai r ie

800-359-8555504-465-8555


[email protected]

OKLAHOMA

OKLAHOMA

www.autobodynews.comwww.autobodynews.com

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Autobody News April 2012TEXAS • OKLAHOMA • LOUISIANA • NEW MEXICO


Infiniti has launched a new nationwideInfiniti Certified Collision Repair Net-work, a comprehensive program de-signed to recognize and distinguish bodyshops that meet or exceed standards forrepair work, training, equipment and de-livery of Infiniti customer service.

The new certification program isopen to both Infiniti retailer-ownedand independent collision shops.

“The purpose of the certificationprogram is to provide the resources tohelp ensure consistency of the repairof Infiniti vehicles on a national basis,”said Carnie Colliver, senior manager,Parts and Service, Infiniti Americas.

“Each Infiniti owner that comesinto these certified facilities presentsadditional face-to-face opportunitiesto reinforce the Infiniti Total Owner-ship Experience.”

The certification program will beconducted in conjunction with DuPontPerformance Coatings (DPC), whichwill assist in the implementation ofthe program’s certification process,and I-CAR, the Inter-Industry Confer-ence on Auto Collision Repair, whichwill conduct technician training.

“Facilities that have the willing-ness to participate in this programmust have the commitment to achievehigher standards in the collision repairindustry. This program will be a plat-form to satisfy all aspects of their cus-tomers’ automotive service needs,”said Colliver.

● Infiniti Certified Collision Re-pair Facilities will be able to distin-

guish their facility from non-Certifiedrepairers, by an ever expanding mar-keting package including but not lim-ited to:

● A shop plaque acknowledgingto customers the facility is a memberof the Infiniti Collision Repair Net-work and recognized as meeting therequirements set forth by Infiniti

● Customer marketing materialsexplaining the benefits of using thecertified shop network for repairs andthe use of OEM collision parts

● Exclusive website for InfinitiCertified Collision Repair Facilities toobtain program and technical infor-mation

● Infiniti owner awareness mar-keting initiative

● Shop locator for owners toidentify Certified shops in their area

“The overriding goal is to pro-vide a better customer experience—with an assurance of safety throughthe repair process and facility stan-dardization, and the financial preser-vation of the vehicle to help minimizediminished value after collision re-pairs,” added Colliver.

“Certified network collision repairfacilities will deliver a professional re-lationship consistent with the Infinitibrand—and enjoy the added prestige ofbeing recognized by Infiniti as meetingour stringent factory standards.”

For more information on en-rolling contact the Infiniti collisiongroup via email at: [email protected]

Infiniti Launches National CertifiedCollision Repair Network

Chrysler Group’s Mopar Brand hasannounced that enrollment is nowopen for the newly launched ChryslerRecognized Certified Collision RepairFacility program. This program in-volves the services of Assured Per-formance Network and allows dealersand independent collision repair facil-ities to meet the qualifications neces-sary to be recognized by Chrysler as acollision repair facility of choice forits Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, Fiat andRam vehicle owners.

Chrysler’s program managedby Assured Performance Networkwhich is designed to benefit OEMparts purchases and ensure customersatisfaction via Certificates of Au-thenticity.

Under the program, shops willbecome a “Chrysler Recognized Cer-tified Collision Repair Facility,” andreceive official signage from Moparwith Chrysler Group logos. The certi-fication opens the shop for approvalfor other programs, not yet specified.

Member shops will receive 5%rebates on 100% OEM Chrysler col-lision repair parts. When repairs arecompleted with OEM collision repairparts, a Write Certificate of Authen-ticity, to help the resale value of thecustomer’s vehicle, will be created forthe customer’s records. Updates willbe made to the CARFAX vehicle re-port showing 100-percent OEM partswere used in the repair, and that aChrysler Recognized Certified Colli-sion Repair Facility made the repairs.

Shops will also receive a busi-ness development report to help eval-uate the business and identify keyimprovemments.

“We announced earlier this yearthat Mopar would be changing theentire ownership experience of ourvehicles, and this program is anotherimportant step forward,” said TonyBrenders, Vice President of Techni-cal Service Operations, Mopar.“Working with Assured PerformanceNetwork, we will not only expandour repair capabilities across theU.S., we will also ensure that thework performed will be to the highestlevel of quality.”

The new certification process re-quires key business standards includ-ing:

● Road to Gold: Attaining andmaintaining I-CAR Gold Class Pro-fessional shop status

● Minimum welding standards:Owning and utilizing squeeze typeresistance spot-welding equipmentwhich duplicates the original assem-bly process

● Minimum measurement stan-dards: Utilizing structural straighten-ing equipment with three- dimensionalmeasurements

The program launches on March26, 2012. Shops interested in begin-ning the certification process canvisit:www.ChryslerCertifiedShop.com formore details and program registra-tion.

Chrysler Launches Certified CollisionRepair Facility Program

Assured Performance Network Offers Other OEM RewardsChrysler joins GM and Nissan in thecertified collision shop program man-aged by Assured Performance Net-work which is designed to benefitOEM parts purchases and ensure cus-tomer satisfaction via Certificates ofAuthenticity.

Assured Performance Net-

work also offers member benefitswhich earn 5% rebates from GMand Nissan. GM and Nissan areproviding an incentive and rewardfor shops to use more genuine GMand Nissan parts and less after-market.

Members can receive a rebate

of 5% off list price on GM and Nis-san parts when you repair using100% GM and Nissan parts on ALLrepairs using GM and Nissan colli-sion parts.

Members can print and presenta “Certificate of Authenticity” totheir customers illustrating that

you have used 100% Genuine GMand Nissan parts to repair their ve-hicle.

The posting and auditing processis automated with 100% Write ESP(enhanced settlement process).

For more information see:www.assuredperformance.net


OK, I really do fix cars for a living. Itake a car that’s acting up, locate theproblem, and make the appropriate re-pair. Sometimes I haven’t a cluewhere to look when I start, but with afew proper tools, a little ingenuity,and a whole lot of experience I’ll findthe problem eventually.

It’s like finding Waldo, that nerdylittle guy dressed in red and white whotravels a lot and specializes in challeng-ing people to locate him. He sometimeshides in plain sight. You’ll usually haveto look closely to find him. Except my“Waldo” doesn’t wear a red and whitecap to give himself away. My Waldo isusually something to do with a compo-nent or part that has failed, or has de-cided to be difficult. I sometimes thinkthat these weird repair jobs that end upat my shop are like an elaborate game of“who can find Waldo first?”

I’m not always the first guy to tryand find Waldo. A lot of times a cus-

tomer will take their car to a relativeor next door neighbor, or they’ll findthe cheapest shop or the closestgarage in their area. I’ll hear a cus-tomer tell me they always go to a cer-tain shop for all their repairs, so theythink nothing of going to a specialistfor repairs. But, when that doesn’twork it’s time to ask for a recommen-dation for a shop that can make the re-pairs. Now, of course, this isn’t trueof everyone. A lot of people have afamily mechanic they have used foryears, while others believe the dealer-ship is the only place to go for repairs.Whichever or whatever way worksfor each and everyone is just fine withme. One way or another somebodyhas to find Waldo.

When it comes to cars, Waldocan be pretty crafty. He can be hidingin thousands of places. He can beunder the hood, behind the dash, inthe trunk, or under the seat. He can be

well concealed or under layers ofcomponents—carpet, plastic, or en-gine parts. With today’s cars he caneven be inside a computer lurkingabout in the form of a corrupted bit ofinformation. I never know where he’llshow up, but I’ll do my best to findhim. The other day I was on a Waldohunt for a whacked out gas gauge.The fuel gauge was stuck on emptyon this ‘03 Ford Van. It came from an-other shop after they had given up onit. The shop had already tried a newsending unit in the tank, but it onlylasted a day or two before the gaugequit again.

So where is that little beanie capwearing weirdo hiding this time? Istarted with behind the steeringwheel. After doing the self test on thedash it was clear the gauge was notresponding, so I broke out the gaugesimulator and hooked it up to the fuelgauge. Even with the tester adjustedto 160 ohms (full tank reading) itnever budged off of empty. GotchaWaldo! You’re in the instrument clus-ter… aha! Got ya this time for sure yaskinny little twerp!

I got the new cluster approved andinstalled it the next day. I hooked up tothe scanner, checked that all the pro-gramming needed was done. That’stypical stuff… mileage, tire size, etc …not a big deal (with the right scanner,an IDS in this case or the dealer partsdepartment can set most of it up for youwhen you order it. Actual program-ming needs vary from year to year, sobe careful to follow all manufacturer’sdirections). I was so convinced that Ihad this one I didn’t think I needed torecheck my work, so I was in for a sur-prise when the gas gauge didn’t moveright away. I’ve seen this before. It cantake a minute or two, or up to 20 min-utes if the key was on while filling upthe tank. I didn’t recall turning the keyon when I was installing the new clus-ter, but by the time I had the van off thelift and backed out of the shop thegauge was working. Done, problemsolved. Waldo, you’re out-of-here!

Boy was I wrong. Seems oldWaldo had to come back just a fewdays later. The gauge is back onempty again just as it did with the firstshop. Now what is he doing? Waldo

is a crafty kind of nerd. Is he messingwith me? I’m about to “go mechanic”on his butt.

Back to the gauge tester again.This time the gauge reacted with everymovement and changed with everysetting I could put it through on thetester. I knew the empty reading onthis tank is around 15 ohms and a fulltank is 160, so I should have a readingsomewhere in between those readingsfrom the tank sender. It was 16 ohms?Oh, come on. Is this tank empty? Igave the tank a couple of knocks withmy knuckle “rap, rap, rap” and askedsheepishly, “You in there, Waldo?”

I got an approval to drop the tankdown to check it further. I could tellthe other shop changed the tank send-ing unit. They had butt-connected thelead together (Gee, ya could have justdisconnected it) but I did notice some-thing rather strange about the sendingunit. The float was bent around thefuel pump and an edge of the bail wastrapped against the actual fuel pumpbracket. Waldo is up to somethinghere, and it’s not the sender.

I grabbed a flashlight and lookeddown in the tank. There inside the tankis the tray that the fuel pump rests in.It’s mainly there as a way to control thesloshing affect of the fuel and to helpgive the gauge a steady reading. Theonly thing was the tray wasn’t stayingin place. It had broken free from thebottom of the tank and was slidingback and forth as the van drove downthe road. “Waldo, you’ve been a verynaughty little fellow,” I said to myself.

The only thing that made senseabout the dash being bad was thatsomebody must have tried to sendvoltage back up the sending wires tothe dash, and it probably knocked thegauge out. It wouldn’t have been hardto do with the gauge and fuel pumpleads all in the same connector. Some-body could have easily (accidently Ihope) crossed the wrong leads, whichcreated another Waldo. While theoriginal Waldo remained in hiding in-side the gas tank the whole time.

Now I just have to tell the cus-tomer where I found him at this time.Great, just great—two Waldo’s in twoplaces in one car. I think I’ll let Waldoexplain this one to the owner himself.

What If You’re Looking for More than One Waldo?

with Rick WhiteShop Management

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Mainstream Media

Automakers’ Actions and Analysisby Autobody News Staff

Shop Showcaseby Autobody News Staff

with Ed AttanasioShop and Product Showcase

with Ed AttanasioConsumer Callout

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with Erica SchroederShop Snapshot

This is a new story by Scott “Gonzo” Weaver as posted on his website, www.gonzostoolbox.com.Gonzo has been serving the Tulsa area at Superior Auto Electric for over 27 years. See his book“Hey Look! I Found The Loose Nut”, which provides a Good Laugh for Mechanics of Any Age.The book is available at amazon.com. Contact Gonzo at [email protected].

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Airbrush Artist JoAnn Bortles is Writing Her Seventh Painting Bookby Erica Schroeder

Airbrush artist JoAnn Bortles, whoowns Crazy Horse Custom Painting,and lives in Waxhaw, NC, started air-

brushing her art onto motorcycles as ateen in the seventies on a dare. A life-long interest in art led her to Parson’sSchool of Design in New York City,but she eventually had to return to

suburban Connecticut to help out herparents. She had taken welding classesin high school and became a certifiedwelder after returning home. Sheworked various factory jobs for thenext few years until the words “Ifyou’re such a hotshot artist, why don’tyou try and paint my bike tank?”jolted her into the world of custompainting.

Her painting career really tookoff after the unexpected death of afriend in 1993. Her friend David hadalways pushed JoAnn to take herpainting to the next level, saying sheshould be more serious about her tal-

ent. After he passed away unexpect-edly JoAnn decided to honor hismemory by taking a crack at becom-ing a professional custom painter. Soshe moved to Florida, which then, asnow, was a hot spot for custom paint-ing and honed her craft.

“Being around all these greatpainters made me really want to upmy game,” said JoAnn. While inFlorida JoAnn met and married herhusband (now ex-) and they moved toWaxhaw in 1996. When she got toNorth Carolina, JoAnn realized it wasa totally different game and since shewas relatively unknown in the areashe had a hard time finding peoplewho would let her paint their cars.

“Those first years in North Car-olina were pretty rough,” said JoAnn.She painted hot rods, motorcycles,boats, just about anything she could.

Then in 1998 JoAnn showed sixmotorcycles she painted at theEasyriders Bike Show in Charlotte,NC. The six bikes took home the sixtop trophies, including Best of Show.This got the attention of one of theEasyriders Magazine editors and hetold her if she did well at their showin Columbus, OH, that the magazinewould do a feature story on her.JoAnn’s Stevie Ray Vaughan tribute

bike won Second Place Bestof Show at the Columbusshow, so the magazine did thearticle on her.

The publicity from the arti-cle and her awards at Char-lotte attracted many morecustomers and was a turningpoint for her career. JoAnnwas featured in (and wrote herown articles for) SouthernLiving, Easyriders, VTwin,Street Rodder, Hot Rod,American Iron, Ironworks,

Hot Bike, VQ, and many other maga-zines.

She has also written no fewerthan six books on custom paintingwith publisher Motorbooks. Her firstbook “How to Custom Paint YourMotorcycle” was published in 2005.JoAnn is currently working on herseventh book with SATA SprayEquipment, to be titled The CompleteGuide to Automotive Painting: FromPrep to Final Coat, which will havea heavy focus on waterborne paintingtechniques, using PPG’s Envirobasewaterborne paints in particular.

The book is slated to come out

in 2013 and will have two main sec-tions. The first half will focus onvehicle restoration from plastic re-pairs to sheet metal to body restora-tion. JoAnn’s welding andbodywork background will shapethis how-to section. The second half

will focus on custom painting usingboth waterborne and solvent tech-niques. One of the main projects inthe book will be restoring a 1967Firebird that has been waiting forattention for 20 years.

The car is “pretty rough” saysJoAnn, but by the end of the year shewill have the car restored completely.

The book will detail this process andJoAnn hopes it will show her readershow manageable a big project can beif approached with the right attitude

and processes. The goal is tomake the book answer anyquestion about bodywork,painting and custom work.The book will be availablethrough all SATA jobbersworldwide in addition tobeing sold on Amazon,Barnes and Noble and otherbooksellers.

JoAnn started using PPGpaints in 1995, and she saysshe couldn’t be happier with

their products.“PPG is without a doubt the most

user-friendly product I’ve ever used,”said JoAnn, “And that’s what makes itthe best bargain for painters. The highquality of PPG products actually savepainters time and money. PPG prod-

ucts make my painting lifeeasier.”

JoAnn stands behind herwork and the durability ofPPG’s products with a con-sumer guarantee on her workfor 5 years.

JoAnn also says that of allthe waterborne paints she hasused, PPG paints thesmoothest with the tightestlines. She finds it especiallyunique for painting wood-grain faux finishes. She alsostill uses PPG’s solvent-basedpaints for some applications.

“Whether I’m using solvent or water,I use whatever works best for thepainting situation,” said JoAnn.JoAnn also likes SATA Spray Guns.She recalls first starting out using thecheapest equipment she could find.Then when she met the people atSATA and tried out their products shesaid she realized why you would pay

more to use these guns.“Paint is so expensive,” said

JoAnn, “When the paint is allmixed and you’re ready to gointo the booth, is not the timeto find that you have a prob-lem with your paint gun. Andtime is money. Having goodquality equipment makes allthe difference.”Joann now uses SATA gunsexclusively on her work.

“Using good equipmentchanged the way I work,” said

JoAnn. She is really thankful for someof her other product relationships, in-cluding Evercoat, Gerson, American

See Crazy Horse, Page 36

A close-up of the 1965 Impala SS that JoAnn painted inLas Vegas; this car has taken home several awards forbest flames

The Stevie Ray Vaughan mural JoAnn won 2nd Place Bestof Show with at the Cleveland EasyRiders Show in 1998

The ‘67 Firebird JoAnn is restoring and customizing forher seventh book. This is what the car looks like beforeany work has been done. The after photo will look far dif-ferent. According to JoAnn, many of her projects looksomething like this when she gets started.

A close-up of some burlwood woodgrain Crazy Horsepainted on a ‘46 Ford

JoAnn astride one of her custom creationswith a favorite spray gun, a SATA RP. The bikewon Best Motorcycle Paint of the Year in 2005


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Montana Collision Repair Specialists’ Legislative Recordby Janet Cheney

The Montana Collision Repair Special-ists is an active association that is expe-riencing growth in membership thisyear. The association’s spring meetingis in Great Falls in April. Guest speakerswill be Steve Bullock, Montana Attor-ney General, who recently announcedhis candidacy for Governor, and JesseLaslovich, Chief Counsel for the Mon-tana Securities and Insurance Division,who has announced his candidacy forMontana Attorney General.

This association has a strong leg-islative history. Their most recent leg-islative victory was in 2010 when a billwas passed that ‘prohibits insurers fromdisregarding a cost item identified by anestimating system.’

In October of 2011, Montana StateAuditor, (Insurance Commissioner),

sent an Advisory Memorandum to allProperty and Casualty Insurers doingbusiness in the State of Montana, ad-vising them of the law and stating pos-sible fines.

MCRS Past President, Max Yates,owner of Yates Body Shop in Butte,Montana has served region, HD 74, asState Representative for the last twoyears. Representative Yates has also an-nounced his candidacy to continue hisseat in the State Legislature in 2012/13.For a state as large as Montana, this as-sociation stays very connected throughtelephone calls and email and jobbersupport. Fall and Spring Meetings arewell attended, hosting at least 80 peo-ple. Many shop owners will drive 7-8hours to attend a meeting. Membershipis almost at 100 shops out of about 225in the state. Not bad for a state that hasmore cows than people!

Hyundai Recalling 2011-12 Sonata Hybrids For Rear Seat BeltA recall of 2011–2012 HyundaiSonata Hybrid cars was issued by theU.S. National Highway Traffic SafetyAdministration on March 8. Accord-ing to the report, more than 14,700 ofthe Hyundai hybrid vehicles have rearcenter seat belts which fail to meetfederal safety standards. However,Hyundai believes it doesn’t need to fixthe seat belt issue with all Sonata hy-brids—or notify all affected Sonataowner, as required by the usual federalsafety recall procedures, due to thefact that the issue only affects Sonatahybrids manufactured after December2010.

According to the federal safetyagency claims both the lap and shoul-der portions of the rear center seatbelts disconnect when occupants pressthe 3-point safety belt’s unlock mech-anism—a violation of safety stan-

dards. According to Consumer Re-ports, Hyundai claims it will fix therear center seat belt issue in the ap-proximately 1,633 new Sonata Hy-brids still in dealer’s lots. But thecompany has filed a petition with theagency to not fix the approximately13,095 hybrids already in owners’hands “on the basis that the non-com-pliance described is inconsequential asit relates to motor vehicle safety,” saidthe NHTSA recall notice. UntilNHTSA reviews and denies theHyundai petition, Sonata Hybrid own-ers will not receive any notificationfrom Hyundai that their vehicle mayhave this safety issue and that a fix isavailable. Owners can stay on top offederal safety recalls regarding theirvehicles by subscribing to NHTSA e-mail alerts from the agency’s website:www.SaferCar.gov.

275,000 Subaru Forester SUVs From 2009–2012 Recalled For Rear Seat Belts Failing to Lock ProperlySubaru of America is recalling 275,000Forester vehicles from the 2009 to 2012model years. The models have rear cen-ter seat belt systems which do not meetfederal safety standards and could inhibitthe proper installation of child safetyseats, said the U.S. National HighwayTraffic Safety Administration.

NHTSA also says the automaticlocking retractors in the rear center seatpositions of the recalled Subaru Forestersdo not lock properly. This increases therisk of injury to passengers sitting in thatseat position during a collision. The seatbelt flaw could prevent the proper instal-lation of child safety seats in the rear cen-

ter section of Subaru Forester vehicles.Subaru will notify owners of ForesterSUVs, manufactured from November2007 to March 2012, who may be im-pacted by this federal safety recall inmid-April. Owners will be instructed tobring their recalled Foresters to localdealerships where mechanics there will

replace the rear center seat belt assemblywith a new, modified automatic lockingretractor for free. Consumers can callSubaru’s toll-free customer support line(800-782-2783) regarding the recall cam-paign identification number WQA-37.Consumers can also visit the NHTSAwebsite, www.SaferCar.gov.


Iowa Shop’s Action and Iowa Collision Repair Association, Established in 2005, Starting to be Heard Statewideby Janet Cheney

When Tom O’Mara, an Iowa shopowner, was told by an insurance com-pany that they were only going to payhim $52 an hour, even though his laborrate is $56, he became “mad as heck andwas not going to take it anymore.” Hecalled the vehicle owner and read thestate law to him. The law in Iowa saysthat if the insurer writes an estimate orhas one written for them, and the repaircosts more than the estimate, the insurermust pay the difference. The vehicleowner called the insurer and insisted theypay O’Mara’s bill. Then O’Mara calledthe Iowa Governor’s office repeatedlyuntil he got a face to face meeting withGovernor Terry Branstad. O’Mara hadto convince the governor’s aide first be-fore getting a meeting with the governor.He showed him estimates and letters heclaims revealed insurer threats againsthim, the last three years’ worth of priceincreases he has had to endure, and acopy of the 1963 Consent Decree. “Ihighlighted everything in the ConsentDecree that the insurers agreed not to doanymore,” O’Mara said. “I let themknow this is the third time I’ve given a

copy of the Consent Decree to the Stateof Iowa and asked, ‘What are you goingto do about it? This is still enforceable.”As a result of this meeting, the Governorrequested that the Iowa Department ofInsurance research three business prac-tices in Iowa: collision repair labor rates,steering, and non payment of storage.This was last September.

This story made national news inUSA Today and may have helped opena line of communication between Iowacollision repairers and the governor’soffice.

In only a few years, the ICRA hasbecome an established and recognizedstate organization that supports educa-tion, training, and industry networking.

Sales Tax Reimbursement LegislationDue to the abbreviated legislative ses-sion at the State Capital in Des Moinesin 2011, the ICRA Sales Tax Legislationwas tabled. Representative Tom Sandshas been working closely with ICRAlobbyist Scott Weiser and has commit-ted that this initative will be first in linein the legislative docket in 2012.

In 2008 ICRA stopped the ColorAll franchise from getting licensed to

do business in Des Moines. Color Allis a franchise that promotes collisionrepair work done in a parking lot undera tent. ICRA has been introduced to thelegislative process at the State Capitalin Des Moines, working with the Na-tional Federation of Independent Busi-ness State Manager, Andy Warren.

In December last year, six BoardMembers of the Iowa Collision RepairAssociation (ICRA) met with Iowa In-surance Commissioner, Susan Voss andapproximately twenty representatives ofthe insurance companies. The DOI rec-ognized the association as representa-tive of the collision industry and askedthem to assist with the labor rate surveyin the next 30 days. Against the recom-mendation of the ICRA, a labor rate sur-vey was done in that short period oftime and results have not yet beenposted. This is a work in process and weare looking for a better working rela-

tionship with the DOI and Governor’soffice in Iowa and will move forwardthis year on the Governor’s request.

This association is hosting theMidwest Auto Body Trade Show,March 28 at Prairie Meadows, in theDes Moines area. Admission is free,there are management, technical train-ing, and product demos. Over 50 ven-dors are participating. We are veryexcited about this event. It is going tohave great product displays and lots ofshow specials and door prizes.

Most Iowa Community CollegeCollision Repair programs will alsohave booths and bring their students tothe show. Also, three of our dealershipmembers are bringing hot new cars tothe show room floor. Admission is freeand the ICRA is anticipating a greatand enthusiastic crowd.

For more information contact:www.iowacra.com



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by John Yoswick

Looking for tips, tools and resourcesto help your business, defend your po-sitions or do your part for the indus-try? Here’s a collection of links tosites, documents and information youmay find interesting and useful.

— Motor Information Systems hasreleased a revised edition of its Guide toEstimating (http://tinyurl.com/7zhbvr3),its explanation of what is and is not in-cluded in its estimating labor times (thesystem used by CCC Information Serv-ices). Revisions made in the February2012 version are highlighted in bluewithin the guide.

The new guide, for example, in-dicates that recalibration of the steer-ing angle sensor is not included inMotor labor times. Bumper labortimes are now shown to includelamps when mounted to the bumperbut not include optional equipmentlamps or those not mounted to thebumper. Labor times for fender innerpanels are now shown to includegrinding, filling and smoothingwelded seams up to 150 grit sandpa-per. The guide adds electrical wiringto the list of non-included items onframe labor, steering column over-haul, trunk lid, lift gate and quarterpanel times. Hinge pillar glass andmoldings are now listed as includedin cowl, hinge pillar and dash paneltimes.

— I-CAR has actually loweredthe cost of its online training(http://tinyurl.com/7rsb2sb) to make itcomparable (on an hourly basis) to thefee for its live, classroom training.There are now more than four dozenonline classes available, some vehicle-specific (such as “Ford F-150 FrameReplacement”) and others more gen-eral (such as “MIG Brazing”).

— Although the National High-way Safety Administration (NHTSA)said earlier this year it had found nodiscernable defect that led to two firesin Chevrolet Volts weeks after theycrashed, it is standing by its recom-mendation (http://tinyurl.com/7jd88tu)that shops not store severely-damagedvehicles with a lithium-ion battery in-side or within 50 feet of a structure oranother vehicle.

— Whether or not your shop par-ticipates in State Farm’s “Select Serv-ice” program, it can be interesting tocheck out the program’s revised shoplocator system (http://tinyurl.com/

7yegybx) that policyholders, agents orclaims personnel can use to locate aparticipating shop. Rather than locat-ing shops based solely on proximity,the system now ranks shops based ontheir current performance score fromState Farm (although those scoresaren’t shown on the site). Interest-ingly, only three shops appear on firstpage of search results; users have toclick through to subsequent pages(each of which lists five shops) to seeadditional shops - potentially includ-ing shops that could be much closer totheir home or work than ones higherup on the search results.

— Ask shops about their naggingconcerns about the future, and chancesare they’ll mention the increasingcrash avoidance technology on newvehicles. They probably weren’theartened by the fact that DavidStrickland of the National HighwayTraffic Safety Administration recentlysaid his agency will decide next yearwhether to mandate vehicle-to-vehicle communication technologiesin new cars, which he said could ad-dress up to 80 percent of crash sce-narios

“We have been working on thisnotion for over a decade,” Stricklandsaid, according to the Detroit FreePress. “We really do feel very bullishon the prospect of getting it on theground.”

But those who make a livingbased on auto crashes can take somemeasure of comfort from a recent re-port (http://tinyurl.com/7ujp5ws)from the Highway Data Loss Insti-tute. It says that even with suchmandates, it can take decades beforenew safety features are in 95 percentof vehicles on the road. Accordingto the report, it won’t be until 2016that 95 percent of vehicles havefront airbags, for example, and until2028 for side airbags.

Based on that trajectory, forwardcollision crash avoidance technologywon’t be in 95 percent of registeredvehicles until 2049, the Institute pre-dicts.

— And just in case you want toread more about future vehicle tech-nology, an article (http://tinyurl.com/6s88yp6) in a BBC news magazineasks, “How close are we to a crash-proof car?” It quotes a Volvo techni-cal adviser who says the automakerhas pledged that after 2020, no onewill be killed or seriously injured in

one of the automaker’s new cars.And Wired magazine in February

(http://tinyurl.com/7foslf4) featured afascinating look at the “autonomouscar,” one that essentially drives itself.

— This may come under the sar-castic heading of, “Tell me something Ididn’t know,” but the highly-publicizedreport (http://tinyurl.com/6ukvr4s) re-garding paint and materials compensa-tion methodologies released earlier thisyear also found that while averagecosts for paint and materials havegrown by 50 percent since 2005, theaverage compensation rates paid by in-surers have risen by only 23 percent.

Much of the coverage of thestudy focused on the fact that it foundthat 64 out of 68 industry participantsinterviewed think the current waypaint and materials compensation iscalculated is a poor methodology.Only four people (including represen-tatives of three repairer operations andone estimating system provider) ratedthe current system as “adequate” or“good.” The study concluded the cur-rent system is flawed in part becauseon smaller jobs, repairers do not re-ceive adequate compensation, and forlarge repair jobs, insurers believe ma-terials charges become excessive.

The study, conducted by Rich-field Associates and commissioned byComputerLogic (which produces thePMCLogic paint and materials cost-calculation system), included inter-views with shops, insurers, suppliers,association executives, consultantsand trade publication editors.

—If you’re interested in somedocuments that challenge the insur-ance industry, the Consumer Federa-tion of America issued a report(http://tinyurl.com/6phzony) earlierthis year that says insurance premiumshave become an undue economic bur-den on low- and moderate-incomeAmericans, and that state regulatorsshould do more to help reign in thesecosts.

“What is undeniable is that highauto insurance costs for (these) house-holds either impose a substantial fi-nancial burden or greatly limiteconomic opportunity, especially ac-cess to jobs,” said the report’s authors,who are a former Texas regulator andthe executive director of insurance atthe Consumer Federation of America.

The report suggests loweringminimum liability limits, creatingspecial programs (as has been done

in California and New Jersey) tohelp low-income Americans getcheaper insurance coverage, andeliminating policy pricing elements(such as education level and credithistory) that hurt low-income house-holds.

Meanwhile, another recent reportfrom a coalition of consumer groupssays Insurers overstate their industry’sfinancial losses from natural disastersand otherwise manufacture perceivedcrises to allow them to dramaticallyincrease premiums and profits.

The report (http://tinyurl.com/7t6h8d2) says Americans have for 35years been “victims of this industry’slittle-understood economic cycle, cre-ated by anticompetitive (yet legal) un-derwriting practices, unique andopaque accounting policies and virtu-ally unchecked power when it comesto regulation of insurance rates.”

The report from Americans forInsurance Reform—a project of theCenter for Justice & Democracy atNew York Law School that includesnearly 100 consumer groups—said in-surers are once again using disasterslike Hurricane Irene to end a 5-year“soft market” of stable rates andheavy competition among insurers,and replace it with a “hard market”marked by extreme rate hikes.

Insurers can overstate losses fromdisasters, the report says, because theyare based on estimates of unknown fu-ture claims, which are, during “hardmarkets, wildly exaggerated.”

The study’s authors point outthat insurers make plenty of profit inboth types of markets not throughunderwriting but through investmentof surplus that has been set aside forfuture claims. That surplus has risenby a factor of almost 40, the studystates, and totaled $580 billion in2010.

The report urges governments torequire more data from insurers, gainmore control over rates, and repeal in-surer’s antitrust exemption under theMcCarran-Ferguson Act.

John Yoswick, a freelance writerbased in Portland, Oregon, who hasbeen writing about the automotive in-dustry since 1988, is also the editor ofthe weekly CRASH Network (for a free4-week trial subscription, visitwww.CrashNetwork.com). He can becontacted by email at [email protected].

Helpful Documents, Tools And Information Only a Click Away for Shops

Bobby Alloway loves the color black.Alloway, who has been building andpainting hot rods for years, was namedthe 2011 Autorama Builder of the Yearat the 59th Detroit Autorama earlierthis year. The award was just the latest

in a long series ofcoveted accoladesfor the painter, in-cluding Goodguys’Street Rod andStreet Machine ofthe Year, the DonRidler MemorialAward, America’s

Most Beautiful Roadster, plus count-less others. He was inducted into theRod & Custom Hall of Fame in 2004.

“It s rich, classy and doesn’t‘hurt’ any car,” says Bobby. “No oneever says, ‘that s an ugly color’ whenit s black.”

Some painters avoid black be-cause of its reputation for being un-forgiving in calling attention to eventhe tiniest of flaws. Alloway maintainsthat the prep and painting processshould be the same, regardless ofwhether the car is red, blue, white or

black. What is the secret to his flaw-less finishes? “The key is to not be ina hurry,” says Bobby. “Don’t take anyshortcuts.”

Here are some tips from the mas-ter himself:

Tip 1: “Make sure the car is straightas an arrow,” says Bobby. He followsthis rule religiously regardless of thepaint color.

Tip 2: Choose the right black color.Bobby uses PPG Deltron®, and is cur-rently a big fan of DCC9300 for singlestage work and DBC9700 when usingbasecoat. “It s a rich black,” saysBobby. “It s also friendly to use andisn’t prone to ‘printing’ (the kind ofunwanted imprint that can occur whenyou set a panel aside on a towel orrag).” For clearcoat, Bobby’s processincludes PPG Concept® DCU2002.Where two to three coats of clear arerecommended, Bobby and his teamwill apply additional coats.

Tip 3: Get the fat out (aka any ‘or-ange peel’),” using 600 grit sandpa-

per. “This is where most peoplemake their mistake,” says Bobby.“They’re afraid they’ll remove toomuch material by using the coarsepaper. You want to flatten it out sothat all that’s left is sand scratches.

This is where having five or six coatsof material is essential, since three tofour of them may be sanded off incertain areas.”

Tip 4: Sand single parts or panelsusing sanding blocks of varying sizesand shapes. Alloway’s hot rod shopuses many styles of blocks, but willalso make a new one if needed for theproject. “This doesn’t have to be ex-pensive,” says Bobby, “You can make

them yourself depending on what youneed.”

Tip 5: Sand, sand and sand somemore. Follow the 600 grit with 800,1000, 1200, 1500, 2000 and 2500 grit

sandpaper. Do not skip a sin-gle step! Whereas three to fourdays of sanding might be typ-ical, it is not uncommon for avehicle in Bobby’s shop to besanded for several weeks. TheAlloway process requires aflow coat of DCU2002 whichis sanded and buffed.

For more informationabout Bobby Alloway, please

visit www.allowaysrodshop.com. Formore information about the productsmentioned in this article, please seewww.ppg.com.


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Mexico Implements New Mandatory Auto Insurance LawsTwo of the most popular Mexican des-tinations for US and Canadian touristshave passed new laws recently requir-ing drivers to carry auto liability insur-ance at all times. Baja California Norte(home of destinations such as Tijuana,Ensenada, Rosarito, and San Felipe)and Jalisco (home of destinations suchas Guadalajara, Lake Chapala, andPuerto Vallarta) have passed laws re-quiring that all drivers carry liabilityinsurance. Other states have had simi-lar mandatory auto liability insurancelaws in place for some time.

Derek Kartchner, Vice Presidentof Business Development forhttp://www.mexpro.com said, “We feelthis is a good step towards solving ahuge problem; whether in the US or inMexico uninsured drivers create an un-needed burden at the time of an acci-dent, and cost all drivers more. Weapplaud the states that have taken stepstowards alleviating the number ofuninsured drivers in Mexico, and en-courage other states to do the same.”

Jim Labelle, CEO of IIG said,“While this is an important law, wewould also urge our customers to en-sure they are protecting their own in-terests. Not only should visitors toMexico purchase Mexico Auto Liabil-

ity coverage, but also Comprehensiveand Collision coverage. We encourageall of our customers who drive to Mex-ico to obtain a similar level of cover-age in Mexico that they carry in theUSA or Canada.”

Labelle’s firm has insured over 1million US and Canadian plated vehi-cles since launching its website a littleover ten years ago. Visitors to Mexicocan purchase and print their policies inreal time on http://www.mexpro. com.All policies sold on the site meet thenew state requirements, and manyother optional coverages are availableto ensure that consumers are properlycovered when driving in Mexico.

For more information about theselaws or to purchase a Mexico Auto In-surance policy visit http://www.mex-pro.com or call 1- 888-467-4639.

LKQ Corp. has announced results forits fourth quarter and full year endedDec. 31, 2011. Income for the fourthquarter was $56.1 million, a 36 per-cent increase over the 28 cents pershare reported for 2010. For the fullyear 2011, income from continuingoperations was $210.3 million.

LQK Has Record Results

TopTech Finder Unites PDR Techs with Body Shop ManagersTopTech Finder, an open job market-place bringing together automotive re-pairers and paintless dent repair(PDR) technicians, announces itswebsite is now available at:www.toptechfinder.com. By provid-ing an online search engine to connectautomotive repairers and qualifiedPDR technicians, TopTech Finderputs power and convenience back intothe hands that count. In addition, be-cause of the damaging storms in theSoutheast and Midwest, TopTechFinder is waiving all fees on jobsposted in the month of March by bodyrepair shops in effected states.

TopTech Finder is the vision ofCEO Jeff Herman, who developed theidea to help body repair shops easilyconnect with reputable PDR techni-cians to fix hail damaged vehicles.“When hail storms hit, a shop’s regu-lar PDR resources are often over-whelmed with work. Shops are thenforced to choose from techs who ar-rive at their door, without any knowl-edge of the tech’s reputation, qualityof work, experience, or training.Shops have told me horror storiesabout handing that first customer carover to an unknown tech”, said Her-man. “TopTech Finder solves this

problem by letting repairers investi-gate techs before they hire them.”

Repairers of all types can posttheir PDR jobs for free on the site.They can then search for techs and seetheir online profiles. Tech profilesshow qualifications including experi-ence, training, certifications, and as-sociations. If satisfied, repairers caninvite techs to the job. Conversely,techs can search for and apply forjobs. Body repair shops, retail PDRbusinesses, hail teams and other re-pairers can create their free, no obli-gation account at:www.toptechfinder.com.

Nissan opened up sales for their Leafall-electric vehicle to all states in theUS on March 1, 2012. After the EV'sinitial launch in limited markets atthe end of 2010 and a piecemeal,state-by-state roll out throughout2011, the Nissan Leaf will finally beavailable to order all around the U.S.Nissan sent out a statement saying inpart, “We are officially a 100% elec-tric nation. Look out for an e-mailaround 3/1/12 detailing when youcan order your Nissan Leaf.”

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As a result of overwhelming interestand questions from repairers and con-sultants across the nation, a CollisionIndustry Legal Seminar is being pro-vided for collision repair profession-als by Ray Gunder of Gunder’s AutoCenter and Barrett Smith of AutoDamage Experts (ADE).

This event promises to provide aunique opportunity for many as therehas been a great deal of interest re-garding the success repairers acrossthe country have had in their efforts toaid their customers in the recovery ofthe full costs required for a proper andthorough repair.

Together, Gunder and Smith areco-sponsoring this legal seminar andthe duo’s legal counsel, Brent Geo-hagan, Esquire, will provide an openforum to offer information and to an-swer questions as to how repairersmay improve their businesses andservice to their customers, whilelessening unnecessary interference,encumbrances and potential liabili-ties.

“This will not be the standardtraining on “how to increase work

flow”, “cycle times” or “KPI’s” andsuch,” said Smith, “However, the in-formation gained during this meetingwill likely enable attendees to workmuch more effectively and to betterserve the needs of their customers andtheir businesses through more effi-cient administrative processes whileavoiding unnecessary legal liabilities.This information, properly employed,will likely result in greater profits andreduce operational costs and frustra-tions.”

The intent of this seminar will beto provide information on legal basicsincluding an overview of the muchdiscussed processes involving the“Power of Attorney” and “Assignmentof Proceeds” (aka Assignment of Ben-efits). Answers to attendee’s individ-ual questions as to how it may benefitthem, their business and their cus-tomers will be available along withother topics such as:● Understanding the Repairer’s LegalResponsibilities● Understanding the Customer’sLegal Responsibilities● Understanding the Insurer’s Legal

Responsibilities● Understanding the difference be-tween 1st and 3rd Party Claims forRepairers● Understanding Tortious Interference● Relationship Building Based uponKnowledge and Respect● Recognizing Legal Liabilities andHow to Avoid Them and/or ChannelThem to the Appropriate Parties● How to Turn Potential Liabilitiesinto Significant Profits and ImproveYour Bottom Line.● Making your Repair AuthorizationsLegally Iron-Clad and Profitable● The Importance of Knowing andUnderstanding your State’s Laws andRegulations as They Relate to YourBusiness● Recognizing and Understanding“Unfair Trade Practices” and how toavoid them● Post Repair Inspections…A QualityRepairer’s Best Friend and a Poor Re-pairer’s Nightmare!● Understanding “Diminished Value”and its Benefits to Repairers and TheirCustomers ● Understanding “Federal Anti-Trust

Laws” and What Repairers Can andCannot Discuss Openly Without Fear ● Summary of the March 2012 CCREMeeting held by the PennsylvaniaCollision Trade Guild

This Seminar Will be Open toAll Collision Repair Professionalsand Industry Supporting VendorRepresentatives and will be held atRegal Chevrolet at 925 US Hwy 98South, Lakeland, Florida 33801 onSaturday April 14th, 2012 at 11:00a.m.

To register simply send your e-mail with your full name and com-pany name and contact information to:[email protected] with “AT-TENDING LEGAL SEMINAR” inthe subject line; please feel free to usethe same e-mail address if you haveany questions or need additional in-formation.

Note: If others within your or-ganization will be joining you in at-tending this seminar, please providetheir full name and title so necessaryarrangements and provisions can bearranged. Sandwiches and beverageswill be provided.

Ray Gunder to Sponsor Free Legal Seminar for Collision Repairers in Lakeland, FL

Tape and Meguiar’s.“Just being able to say I work

with these companies is a very hum-bling experience, it shows just how farI have come,” said JoAnn.

JoAnn says her process reallydepends on the vehicle she is work-ing on; she generally creates a pre-work drawing on the computer toshow the client and get their input.Sometimes JoAnn and the customerwill collaborate on the design a bithere, and sometimes the customer is

happy with the initial draw-ing. Then after customer ap-proval she starts painting.JoAnn basically free-handsa lot of the art; sometimesshe uses Art Tool templateson more complicated proj-ects.

“The templates are re-ally a time saver,” saidJoAnn. She often uses acombination of templates, sketchingand free-hand to get the look shewants.

“Custom paint is only as goodas what’s underneath it,” said JoAnn.And in her shop, much of the body-

work and prep are handledby her assistant DavidMalkin.JoAnn has won dozens ofawards for her work, includingPPG’s Top 5 Most Outstand-ing Paint in 2006, Best ofShow and First Place at the2006 Easyriders Bike Show,GoodGuys Shows BestFlames in 2005, Best Paint atthe Boardwalk Show at 2005Daytona Bike Week, Big BearCar Show Best Flames in

2009, Best Painted Motorcycle of theYear in 2005 and 2012, and many otherawards.

JoAnn will attend the SEMAshow this year and will also paint a1932 Ford on Power Block TV’s Mus-cle Car section in the coming weeks.She is also a member of the SEMAAssociation and serves on their SBNSelect Committee.

For more information aboutJoAnn and Crazy Horse CustomPainting, please visit www.crazy-horsepainting.com.

Crazy Horse Custom PaintingPO Box 623Waxhaw, NC [email protected](704) 843-3780


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JoAnn painted this 1939 Ford in 2005 with real fireflames, it was the first real fire paint that she did and itwon PPG's Top 5 Most Outstanding Paint in 2006

JoAnn and her 2004 Crazy Horse Chopper which hasbeen driven hard. The paint job has held up extremelywell, a testiment to the work and product quality

PSE Appoints Guy Barnes asVP, Sales & MarketingPainters Supply & Equipment Co.(PSE) has announced the promotionof O. Guy Bargnes to the position ofsenior vice president, sales and mar-keting effective March 12, 2012.Bargnes has served as vice-presidentof sales and marketing since joiningthe company in June, 2010. “Guy hasbeen instrumental in driving sales andmarket share growth of our automo-tive refinish business,” said PSEPresident, Patrick Mayette. “He hasalso lead PSE’s Learning Center ini-tiative to deliver the best value-addedprograms to our customers.”

Bargnes will be taking on addi-tional responsibility in 2012 leadingthe development of the specialtycoatings group which was recentlyannounced at PSE’s national salesmeeting. He will continue to repre-sent Painters Supply on the followingindustry trade organizations: Auto-motive Aftermarket Industries Asso-ciation (AAIA) where he is PBESChairman until May, 2013, NationalAuto Body Council (NABC) andCollision Industry Conference (CIC).

Prior to joining PSE, Bargnesheld senior level sales and marketingpositions at BASF Corporation.

I want to end this with a couple ofthoughts.You will need to invest in an inverter3 phase spot welders.You will need to invest in obtainingdata for all structural repairs.You will need to invest in Training,You will need to invest to be compet-itive and safe.


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The steel was heated to 1000 degreesFahrenheit for 15 seconds and allowed tocool naturally. A second reading was taken

The strength of the metal dropped to 250 MPa.It lost nearly 50 percent of its strength. This isthe reason why Toyota states in their CRIB#175 -- “Do not use heat for straightening”

A reading of 53.7 or 1380 was observed.Again the part was heated to 800 degreesFahrenheit for 20 seconds

Readings were taken again after the part wasallowed to cool naturally

The reading was 27 or 50 percent less onthe point scale, but was a slightly above600 MPa. Think about this. Fusion weldingtakes place at 2200 degree and this partwas only heated to 800 degrees. Thinkwhat would have happened to the steel if itwas heated to 2200 degrees? It would havelost all of its strength. This is why mostmanufacturers require the cabinreinforcements to be installed at factoryjoints and not sectioned

This “B” pillar reinforcement on a 2010 ToyotaScion is being replaced at the factory joint inthe roof and it is not sectioned


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A small motor oil spill incident at theI-CAR Tech Centre in Appleton, Wis-consin in the spring of 2011 has raisedour awareness of the many considera-tions involved with a material spillinto the environment. What started asan accidental collision between asnowplow and a 55-gallon drum of

waste oil on an adjoining property re-sulted in an experience we wouldnever want to repeat.

There were several steps and de-cisions that had to be made to assureproper cleanup. What was morestressful than what we knew about theincident was what was unknown. Howfar had the spill traveled? Was thegroundwater contaminated? Whatpublic agencies might have to be in-volved? How much was this all goingto cost?

We thought we’d share our expe-rience to perhaps benefit another fa-cility that might encounter a similarincident.

Discovery and Initial StepsThe spill was discovered in mid-Aprilas the snow melted (see Figure 1). A55-gallon drum of motor oil in a park-ing lot near the Tech Centre propertywas damaged by a snowplow duringthe winter. Some 30 gallons of spilledoil was carried off the pavement along

with the melting snow. A rainstormfurther aggravated the situation.

The company that provided thesnow plowing offered to immediatelycome in and dig out all of the contam-inated soil and stone, take it to a locallandfill, and replace it with fresh newmaterial. The offer was put on holdwhile we sought legal and other pro-fessional advice. We were informedthat because we discovered the con-tamination and it was on our property,we were responsible for immediatecontainment to minimize environ-mental impact. We were also respon-sible for addressing possibledownstream contamination.

A local civil engineering and en-vironmental firm was hired to assessthe spill. Their observation showed“visual and olfactory evidence of pe-troleum contamination.” That initialobservation was verified by a coresampling. It was recommended thatwood chips and hay bales be layeredon the visible spill areas in an attemptto contain it (see Figure 2). The engi-neering firm added a ten-foot ab-sorbent boom to the containmentefforts. They were also required to in-form the Wisconsin Department ofNatural Resources Regional SpillsCoordinator.

The Wisconsin Department ofNatural Resources was the only publicagency that had to be involved withthe incident. Numerous photographswere taken of the site, including aerialphotographs. An early concern wasthat the oil had leaked into a ditch con-taining surface water (see Figure 3).Whether the oil had contaminated anygroundwater was unknown untilweeks later.

CleanupA couple weeks after the initial obser-vation, it was agreed that the snowplowing company that first made theoffer to remove the spill would be al-lowed to do so, but only under theguidance and direction of the civil en-gineering and environmental firm.

Excavation began in May. Due tothe electrical and telecommunicationsunderground conflicts, it all had to bedug out by hand (see Figure 4). Nearlysix tons of soil were excavated,

loaded, and sent to a qualified landfill.The depth of the excavation varied,but it was no deeper than 6". By lateMay, the spill was entirely contained.By early June, all affected soil was re-moved. This had to be confirmed byanother round of soil samples.

The final 13-page report by thecivil engineering and environmentalfirm, in color and spiral bound, con-tained the entire testimony since thefirm was hired. An appendix includedall the photos, lab analysis charts, andstatements from everyone involved.The firm’s final observation wassummed up in the statement: “Giventhe amount of oil releasedand the amount of contami-nated material hauled away,the environment has been re-stored to the extent practica-ble.”

The excavated area hadto be backfilled with cleantopsoil and seeded. Thesnow plowing company han-dled all the expenses for thespill cleanup, except for theinitial core sampling that I-CAR had authorized on itsown.

One of the last steps was receiv-ing a final signoff from the WisconsinDepartment of Natural Resources Re-gional Spills Coordinator. That two-page report did not come until weeksafter the final engineering report wasprinted and delivered. The DNR re-port stated that the spill was cleanedup to the extent practicable, and nofurther cleanup is needed. Thegroundwater was not contaminated.The spill had not migrated into thedrainage ditch. It was also noted thatno citations had to be issued in con-nection with the spill. Final landscap-

ing of the area could then begin. Thefinal cost to I-CAR was much lessthan what we had feared.

Suggestions for a Similar IssueIn case a facility encounters a similarissue, we can only suggest beingforthright with the environmental au-thorities. It will do no good to try andhide the incident or ignore the issue.Contact the local agency and ask,“What do I need to do about an out-door oil spill?” Similar to a vehicleowner involved in their first collision,a facility owner doesn’t know what todo when an accident occurs.

We took the initiative to contact thelocal engineering firm to do a coresample. We then asked the firm whatdo we do next? Their advice was totake every effort to contain the spill.Being upfront about the incident is al-ways the best approach.

ConclusionThe affair required us to collaboratewith legal, engineering, and environ-mental firms that we had little or no

contact with previously. As it turnedout, the spill did not contaminate sur-rounding groundwater. It was con-tained and cleaned up in a relativelyshort time. We hope this story of ourexperience will help whatever con-taminant spill situation you may en-counter.

with Kathy Steck-FlynnAutobody CSI

with Dan EspersenALL OEM Information

with Tom McGeeALL OEM Information

with J.R. CarlsonConsumer Callout

Automaker Actions and Announcementswith Jeremy Hayhurst

Autobody Techwith Jeremy Hayhurst

Parts Profileswith Larry Williams

Automaker Actions and Announcementswith Janet Chaney

I-CAR Tech

Amaradio Explains CRAwith Lee Amaradio Jr.

Consumer Callout

The Right Causewith Mike Causey

with Ed AttanasioShop Showcase

Say What?!

This article first appeared in the I-CAR Advantage Online, which is published and distrib-uted free of charge. I-CAR, the Inter-Industry Conference on Auto Collision Repair, is anot-for-profit international training organization that researches and develops qualitytechnical education programs related to collision repair. To learn more about I-CAR, andto subscribe to the free publication, visit http://www.i-car.com.

Oil Spill at the I-CAR Tech Centre in Appleton, WI, Raises Awareness

Figure 1 - The spill was discovered in thespring after the snow melt

Figure 2 - Sawdust and hay bales were firstadded to the site for containment

Figure 3 - There was a fear that the spill hadmigrated into a nearby drainage ditch

Figure 4 - The excavation had to be done by hand due tothe obstructions in the area



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Women’s Industry Network Holds Planning Meeting in LateJanuary, Will Hold Annual Conference in May in Atlanta The Women’s Industry Network(WIN) Board gathered in Dallas, TX,in late January to review the group’sactivities in 2011 and plan for 2012and early 2013.

“This Strategic Planning meetingis a yearly event that we rely on tohelp keep us focused and on-track toachieve the goals we have set out forour organization,” said Board Chair,Victoria Jankowski.

WIN will focus on these primaryareas this year: enhancing the value ofWIN membership and sponsorship;improving WIN’s web and socialmedia presence to provide a more ro-bust communication and educationalvehicle for members and sponsors;forming a Task Force to conduct aneeds analysis on our website and so-cial media presence and make recom-mendations to the Board; increasingindustry visibility of WIN, our activ-ities and our members; providing aWIN presence at strategically signifi-cant industry events; making WINpromotional materials available uponrequest to WIN members who arewilling to represent the organizationat events of importance to them; es-tablishing a more robust operationaland governance structure for the

Board of Directors; refining standardsfor Board nominations and subse-quent executive appointments; refin-ing the WIN nomination process andput additional form around the execu-tive appointments.

“This new executive appoint-ment process will be implemented asthe current term ends and the new onebegins,” said Jankowski.

The 7th Annual WIN Confer-ence, “Be The Change!”, will be heldon May 6-8, 2012 in Atlanta, GA.

Keynote speakers for this annualconference will be Robyn Benincasa,an adventure racer, firefighter andmotivational speaker, and CathyBonner, CEO of Service King Colli-sion Repair Centers. Benincasa willpresent a keynote address titled “Ex-treme Change: Adapt, Overcome &Win As One,” in which she will sharestories of triumph through adversity.Bonner will also present a keynote ad-dress titled “The Ten Commandmentsof Leadership.”

For more details please visitwww.womensindustrynetwork.com.

RBL Products has introduced its Pre-treatment system in the automotive af-termarket. The system is very simple.It consists of a water-based conversioncoating that is applied by wiping ontoa bare metal surface. The product pro-tects against corrosion and promotesadhesion. The directions are simply,you just wipe the pre-treatment ontothe bare metal. Then let it air dry. Theaverage dry time is between 2–5 min-utes. You can then apply primer sur-face directly over the pre-treatment. Itcan be used on Hot and cold rolledmetal, galvanized, stainless steel, alu-minum, and other exotic metals.

The pre-treatment system was de-veloped as a substitute for wash, etch,and epoxy primer. Expensive primersand waiting for 24 hours, as well asadhesion and corrosion issues, are nowa thing of the past.

The pre-treatment system chem-istry was developed and patented byHenkel Corporation. RBL Products re-cently was granted exclusive rights toconvert the technology into pre-satu-rated wipes and markers. Henkel is thelargest pre-treatment company in the

world. The same process is used onevery car produced since World War ll.Every vehicle as soon as it enters thepaint shop is processed by a multi-stage zinc phosphate dip and rinse sys-tem before it enters e-coat and primer.

RBL president, Ron Lipsonstated “The pre-treatment product putsback what was removed from themetal when grinding and sanding oc-curs. Once the industry understandsthe product and how it works it willbecome standard on all bare metal re-pairs. Insurance companies are goingto mandate this product where appli-cable.” For more information visitwww.rblproducts.com.

RBL Products New Pre-Treat System

A bare metal piece treated with the RBL Pre-treatsystem (left) and a non-treated piece (right)



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the procedural and material invoicingas well as Gunder’s legal fees andcosts associated with that caseagainst them. Shortly after that set-tlement, once again, on behalf of hiscustomer, Ray found it necessary tofile yet another lawsuit against thenation’s largest personal auto insurerto compel them to provide reasonablecompensation for necessaryprocesses and related paint and ma-terials. Just moments before goingbefore the judge for the first hearingon the matter, the insurer, throughtheir legal team, agreed to pay the en-tire amount due plus Gunder’s legalfees and costs.

This month, another one ofGunder’s customers was denied con-sideration for the necessary paint re-lated procedures (i.e. prime, blockand feathering aka fill, sand andfeather) and the labor called for tore-set electronics on a customer’s ve-hicle.

Upon the denial, as customary,Ray contacted his customer and ex-

plained the denials and short-pay anddiscussed possible activities to col-lect. Ray’s customer became ex-tremely agitated and immediatelycontacted the State Farm claim rep-resentative and expressed his dismay,both by phone and in writing via e-mail.

After several calls and discus-sions, three days later State Farmcalled the customer to advise thatthey would pay the paint related“Prime Block and Feathering” andrelated materials as well as re-settingthe vehicle’ electronics, including re-setting the programmed stations inthe radio which were noted by Gun-der’s prior to performing the repairwhich required disconnecting thebattery.

The customer, elated wrote thefollowing to Ray; “I am, as al-ways…. totally satisfied with thework Gunder’s did on my Nissan.they make it an art…. and that is pre-cisely why I have been a loyal cus-tomer since about 1976. my largestclaim with Gunders, has been over$48,000.00. I had a new silverCLK55 AMG Mercedes. a worktruck turned in front of me and I hit

him hard. Gunder’s did such a superbjob, that when my lease was up, theMercedes rep couldn’t even tell ithad been wrecked. I most certainlyhope i don’t have another, but if I do,it will go right back to ray Gunder’sbody shop.”

When asked for a comment Raystated: “The customer’s commentssay it all for me. That’s what we’rehere for and that’s all we want todo… serve our customers with thebest possible service and qualityworkmanship we can…it appears wehave met that goal and we’ll continueto do just that and just keep pound-ing that rock!”


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CAPA is announcing that its Valida-tor, Intertek, will be opening anotherCAPA Vehicle Test Fit Center in Cal-ifornia. The new location will be inaddition to CAPA’s Grand Rapids,Michigan facility, the site of CAPA’soriginal Vehicle Test Fit lab.

“CAPA’s Vehicle Test Fit (VTF)program was developed and imple-mented by CAPA in 1999. Whiletoday, CAPA’s unique vehicle test fitprocess has become the industry-ac-cepted test for the quality of after-market parts, it was completelyrevolutionary when we originally in-troduced it,” said Jack Gillis,CAPA’s Executive Director.

“It’s likely that of all CAPA’s ex-tensive Certification requirements, theVTF has played the single most criti-cal role in the universal acceptance ofCAPA Certified parts as truly compa-rable to car company brand parts.”

Andrew Gleason, Intertek’s Op-erations Manager of Automotive Prod-ucts Certification said, “We arecurrently in the process of reviewing anumber of potential locations and willbe making the final decision shortly.”

For more information, pleasevisit www.capacertified.org.

CAPA Announces Plans for NewVehicle Test Fit Lab in California


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OKLAHOMATEXASGene MesserHyundaiLUBBOCK

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UPDATE on Tow-for-Pay Scam, “Evangelist Jerry Bratt” and “Jacqueline Harris”Last month we reported on the tow forpay scam going around and severalmore body shops contacted ABN tothank and update us. The invitationcomes by FAX or from a deaf-services

relay call. The relay call operator willcall you and say a deaf person has needfor your services. Calls have been re-ported in California, Florida and Geor-gia. Some names have changed but the

basic scenario is that their car needs tobe towed from another state to be fixedat your shop. But they need you to paythe tow bill before the car can be deliv-ered. Several shops have received faxes

from someone using the names “Evan-gelist Jerry Bratt” or “Jacqueline Har-ris” repeating the basic scenario sayingthey had an accident in a Cadillac Es-calade on their way to Kansas or to

visit their mother. The fax also asks forthe address of your shop.

For example, Sherry at Califor-nia Auto Body in San Diego, CA, re-ceived a fax from “Jacqueline Harris”

on March 13 stating the same set upas the Jerry Bratt scam. The fax shereceived came from a number with aDallas, TX, area code, but the faxeshave not all come from the same

number or area code. The scammerexpects shops to pay a tow bill over a$1000 and they tell you the “wrecker”will only accept a moneygram. Some-times they also request a credit card.Paula Chipman at GTA Auto Body inChatsworth, CA, received the fax onthe right.

In the deaf or disabled relay ver-sion of the scam, Vivian from Chico,CA, reported that she had received thisscam relay call: “This person had asimilar scenario, they were from mytown traveling to Texas in a 2008 Es-calade and had an accident. After Iasked for the tower’s phone number soI could contact them directly, she dis-connected from the call. When I calledAT&T they said the call was generatedfrom a computer and there was nothingthey could do about it. They could be inanother country. This is not only ascam but a terrible way to use a dis-ability as a means to rip people off.”

Don’t fall prey but alert us if youreceive this fax or are otherwise con-tacted. The reported sending fax num-bers: 202-204-0669, 469-519-0414 and678-250-9047.

trade practices by foreign countries,”said USW President, Leo Gerard.

This letter follows action by theUnited Steelworkers (USW) and oth-ers to identify broad sets of practicesutilized by China to protect its autoparts sector to the disadvantage of itscompetitors. The Congressional letterratifies USW concerns and calls forimmediate action. The USW repre-sents about 850,000 workers in the

United States and Canada in a widevariety of industries, ranging fromglass making to mining, paper, steel,tire and rubber and other manufactur-ing environments.

The United Steelworkers (USW)says that America’s auto parts sectorcontinues to be threatened by unfairlytraded auto parts imports from Chinaand its policies that exclude US prod-ucts from their markets. The USWlauds the 188 members of Congresswho signed the Congressional letter,demonstrating broad political support

by Janet Cheney

The fourth annual Verifacts Automo-tive Fix it Right/Fix It Smart Sympo-sium, was held February 23–24, at thespectacular Laguna Cliffs MarriottResort in Dana Point, California. Thisinvitation-only symposium was at-tended by 350 collision professionalsincluding shop owners, insurers, andrelated industry partners.

Industry veteran Dale Delmegewas Master of Ceremonies for thedayand a half event. In opening the eventDelmege asked if anyone rememberedthe name of Albert Einstein’s mathteacher?” After the expected and silentanswer of ‘no,’ Delmege answered hisown question: “No one remembers hisname, yet he unlocked the intellectualkey that changed the world.”

This simple question set the toneas Delmege invited the attendees tochallenge conventional thought andexplore the future. The internationalline up of speakers and panelists cameprepared to do that.

A most unusual and gratifyingsegment of the Symposium was Veri-facts recognition of other industrieswho have a proven commitment ofquality and excellence.

Dr. David Spong, who retired asPresident of Boeing Aerospace Sup-port, is the only two-time recipient ofthe Malcolm Baldrige National Qual-ity Award, the only formal recognitionof the performance excellence of boththe public and private U.S. organiza-tions, receiving said awards fromPresidents Bill Clinton and George W.Bush. The Baldridge Award is givenby the President of the United States.

Dr. William Buchanan, anOrthopedic Surgeon withKaiser Permanente has beeninstrumental in pursuing con-tinuous improvement in the or-ganization with unprecedentedsuccess. Dr. Buchanan alsoserves as a volunteer on theLos Angeles Sheriff’s Air Res-cue Program. Dr. Buchananbrought a video showing an in-tense display of what the LAAir Rescue people do and how

critical systems and procedures are tothis process of saving lives.

Los Angeles County Sheriff LeeBaca and the Los Angeles Sheriff’sDepartment Aero Bureau were recog-nized for their exemplary AviationSafety Management System.

Verfifacts CEO, Farzam Afshar,recognized these three with the Veri-facts “Role Model and Safety Award.”

Several presentations followed.Negotiate Like the Pros, by AttorneyJohn Patrick Dolan, was informa-tive, uplifting and much fun. Atten-dees participated in a brief ‘survey’identifying certain behavior styles.His message: be Tough, Shrewd andCool Under Pressure. ‘Don’t roll overand play dead—there are other op-tions.’

Fix it Right/Fix it Smart soundslike a simple formula, yet the chal-lenge of the unknown from every in-dustry segment was recognized.Discussion points revolved around thetheme of unprecedented change. Rec-ognizing the ‘firehose’ of informationbeing thrown at the industry and howis this to be assimilated and used ef-fectively, to identifying the balance ofcost containment intersecting withnew technology. As one industry rep-resentative confessed, “we are notsure even where we are going.”

Selected industry partners dis-

played innovative products and wereavailable for education and discussionthroughout the event.

Verifacts CEO, Farzam Afsharand COO, Mark Olson, are co-

founders of thecompany. Theircollective experi-ence brings a highlevel of innovativethought, skills andindustry knowl-edge to VerifactsAutomotive. TheSymposium is a re-flection of their in-dustry message.

This Symposium brought to-gether a collaboration of informationand an amalgam of industry mindsmelded together to work towards theultimate goal of achieving better re-pairs, better processes, better relation-ships. In short, a better industry andVerifacts would say, ‘Exposing Excel-lence in Collision Repair.’

For more information see:www.verifactsauto.com.


Verifacts Symposium Recognizes Achievement, Industry Unknowns, and Negotiation

(l to r) Larry Jeffries, CARSTAR Canada, Stacy BartnikCARSTAR USA, and Farzam Afshar, CEO of Verifacts Au-tomotive at the NABC display

Mark Olson,Verifacts COO, talksabout the smartway to fix a car

(l to r) Jeanne Silver CARSTAR Mundelein,Kristen Felder, Collision Hub, and ShawnCollins of 3M, share a moment at the VerifactsSymposium

Continued from Front Page

Chinese Auto Parts

See Chinese Auto Parts, Page 45


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GM Recalling Some2012 Regal SedansGeneral Motors is recalling about3,633 2012 Buick Regal sedans forparking lights that fail to activate whendrivers turn on the vehicle’s headlightswitch, according to Consumer Re-ports. According to the National High-way Traffic Safety Administration, thisflaw violates U.S. safety standards andmay cause an increased risk of vehiclecollisions due to reduced visibility ofthe Buick car.

NHTSA says the recalled BuickRegal parking light malfunction iscaused by a software programmingerror during the sedans’ manufacturefrom February 2011 to last month. GMwill notify Buick Regal owners af-fected by this safety flaw to bring theircars in to local dealerships where thevehicle’s “body control module” willbe reprogrammed for free.

General Motors is expected tocontact owners of recalled Buicks atthe end of March. However, con-sumers can receive more informationabout this safety recall by calling GM’stoll-free customer support line (800-521-7300) and asking about GM recallnumber 12048 or by visiting theNHTSA website: www.SaferCar.gov.

Infiniti Recalling 2003-04 Infiniti M45 SedansNissan North American has issued arecall of about 8,120 Infiniti M45 lux-ury sedans, according to the NationalHighway Traffic Safety Administra-tion. The agency says the 2003-2004model years of the Infiniti M cars havea flaw that causes the gas gauge to dis-play a higher fuel level than theamount of gas actually in the vehicle’sfuel tank, according to Consumer Re-ports.

NHTSA first investigated re-ported problems with the InfinitiM45’s fuel gauge last December. Andaccording to the latest report fromNHTSA, they traced the issue to afaulty circuit board used in Infinti M45sedans made from March 2002through June 2004.

Nissan is expected to begin noti-fying customers affected by this recallin mid-April. Owners will be in-structed to bring their recalled InfinitiM45 cars to local dealerships wheremechanics will modify the fuel sys-tem’s circuit board for free. For moreinformation, consumers can call Nis-san’s toll-free customer service num-ber (888-327-4236) or visit theNHTSA’s website: www.SaferCar.gov.

Ford Probes 2005-06Ford Taurus ThrottlesA federal probe was launched in Feb-ruary into 2005-06 Ford Taurus sedansby the National Highway TrafficSafety Administration after 14 con-sumer complaints of stuck throttles.

According to NHTSA’s Office ofDefect Investigations (ODI), the ma-jority of consumers have complainedof high engine speeds—up to 4,000RPMs—when shifting the Ford Taurusout of gear and into Park or Neutral.Others have complained of difficultyin slowing or stopping a moving car,according to Consumer Reports.

In some of the cases reported tothe federal safety agency, drivers al-legedly had to shut off the Taurus’ en-gine and/or shift into Neutral in orderto stop the vehicle.

The alleged incidents are believedto be related to the cars’ cruise controlcables—however, engineers with FordMotors and NHTSA’s ODI are work-ing to determine what causes the throt-tle to stick and determine whether abroader recall of the Ford Taurus isnecessary.

Consumers can file a vehiclesafety complaint on NHTSA’s website,www.SaferCar.gov.

Toyota Recalls Another681,000 VehiclesToyota has issued recalls for theirCamry, Venza and Tacoma models,reaching a grand total of 681,000 vehi-cles. According to Consumer Reports,the smaller portion of the recall in-volves 70,500 model year 2009 Cam-rys, and 116,000 Venzas from 2009 to2011. The larger parts of this recall be-longs to the 495,000 Tacoma trucksfrom model years 2005 to early 2009.

The Camry and Venza recall hasto do with the contact-type stop lampswitch; silicon grease may havereached the inside of the switch andcaused an increase in electrical resist-ance. If this occurs, warning lamps onthe instrument panel may be illumi-nated, the vehicle may not start, or theshift lever may not shift from the“Park” position. In some cases, the ve-hicle stop lamps may become inopera-tive. Tacomas may experience frictionbetween the spiral cable and the re-tainer in the steering wheel spiral cableassembly may occur in some vehicles.

Toyota hopes to alert affectedowners in early April. The fix shouldonly require about 30 minutes and willbe done for free at the Toyota deale-ship.

The collision repair industry has toomany body shops. I’m not sure anyonewould seriously dispute that. Thesooner we can rid ourselves of 15,000body shops, the better all of us will be.Yes, it’s true, all of us will be far betteroff. This includes insurance companies,vendors, body shops themselves andconsumers.

How can we make this happen ata faster pace? That may be beyond thelimited scope of this mastermind, butit wouldn’t be an Insider article with-out a recommendation or two, sobuckle up and get ready.

The car manufacturers shouldfurther develop their certificationprograms and join together as onevoice to educate consumers at thepoint of purchase. “If your car is inan accident, you must take it to anOEM Certified Repair Facility toguarantee a proper repair. Takingyour vehicle to a body shop outside

the Certified program could result inan improper repair and compromiseyour safety.”

Sadly, that statement isn’t sometrumped-up idea to scare people. It’s afact and the motoring public should

know that while there are more than35,000 body shops in the country, toosmall a percentage are prepared to re-

pair aluminum, iden-tify substrates, weld“exotic” metals anduse proper-sectioningprocedures.

The complexitiesof today’s vehiclesprovide a significantchallenge to repair-ers. And five yearsfrom now, the 2012vehicles will looklike a Model A doestoday.

U n f o r t u n a t e l y,there aren’t a lot ofpeople who fully un-derstand the implica-

tions. Most industry pundits willprobably tell you that I’m solely re-ferring to the Mom-and-Pop body

shops as being ill-equipped or lackingin necessary repair information. Aucontraire, mon frère…I’m referring toshops that might be just like yours,maybe even most shops. I’m not try-ing to lose readers, just the shops thatare clinging to their outdated businessmodels and procedures like a motherbear to her cub.

And since we aren’t likely tosee car manufacturers creating so-phisticated certification programsthat virtually eliminate the bottom-feeders, there is an alternative. Onethat is probably a little more hu-mane. For the Rhodes Scholars andmy fellow Ivy league compadres, Ioffer you: The Darwin Theory. Yes,a concept so primitive that a cave-man could follow along. Flo?Maybe not.

It’s a simple but effective con-cept. Survival of the fittest is surelythe answer to the ills of this over-pop-


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‘Survival of the Fittest’ Also Applies to Collision Repairers

with Rick WhiteShop Management

with Stefan GesterkampPaint Management

with Gonzo WeaverGonzo’s Toolbox

with Richard ArnoldJobber Journal

with Dale DelmegeAsk Dale

Mainstream Media

Automakers’ Actions and Analysisby Autobody News Staff

Shop Showcaseby Autobody News Staff

with Ed AttanasioShop and Product Showcase

with Ed AttanasioConsumer Callout

with Walter DanalevichShop Strategies for Savings

with The Insurance InsiderInside Insurance

with Ed AttanasioCustom Corner

with Chasidy Rae SiskCompany Connections

with Chasidy Rae SiskNortheast News

with Chasidy Rae SiskShop Showcase

with Erica SchroederShop Showcase

with Erica SchroederShop Snapshot

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

behind intentions to stop China’s pro-tectionist, predatory and illegal tradepractices.

The lawmakers included manyfrom the auto manufacturing states ofthe upper Midwest, which will likelybe important in Obama’s bid for re-election in November.

They said China uses a “vastarray of policies” to give its auto partsproducers an unfair trade advantage.

Those include Chinese limits onimports of foreign auto parts and sub-sidies that drive down the prices autoparts that are made in China, the law-makers said.

“These tactics are working. Chi-nese auto parts exports are rapidlygrowing and have increased almost900 percent since 2000,” the law-makers said.

The appeal follows Obama’s re-cent decision to establish an intera-gency task force to boost U.S.enforcement of trade agreements. Thelawmakers urged Obama “to use allexisting authorities” to protect the

U.S. auto parts sector, but did not out-line a particular course of action.

Advocates have said the admin-istration’s options include bringing acase at the World Trade Organizationor initiating an action under U.S.trade remedy laws that would lead toduties or other restrictions on importsfrom China.

The USW also filed a petitionwith the US government alleging thatthe Chinese government unfairly fa-vors, through subsidies and othertrade measures, its domestic manu-facturers of “green” goods like solarpanels and wind turbines. The peti-tion was filed under a section of UStrade law—Section 301 of the TradeAct of 1974—that was once a strongprotectionist weapon but has basi-cally gone dormant since the adventof the World Trade Organization.

ulated industry. If you are from anarea where deer are prevalent, youmay be able to better relate to mybody shop reduction initiative. Inmany states, deer have become aproblem. There are too many deer andnot enough predators to keep the pop-ulation down. The answer to thatproblem is open season.

How does this relate to bodyshops? I’m not suggesting open sea-son where we shoot the weak andvulnerable. There’s no need to sug-gest that when we have a naturalpredator. Consolidators are the yingto the yang, the french to the fry, andthe predator on the bottom-feedingbody shops.

Thankfully, the mega-mightyshops are slowly and steadily elimi-nating competition from the market-place. It’s a slow, arduous process butone that will ultimately yield the pos-itive result we all seek (even thoughyou may not know you want it),which is fewer shops. Consolidatorsreceive a substantial number of callsevery month from shops looking tosell their businesses. It has become abuyer’s market, and those with capi-tal are licking their chops but patiently

waiting. Why buy today when theprice tomorrow is going to be a littlecheaper? The Mom-and-Pop shopsare dying a slow death, and the longerthey wait to sell, the less they aregoing to get.

Most insurance companies arehappy to see the attrition of shops, al-though the rate of decline is less thandesirable.

This isn’t about eliminating theMom-and-Pop businesses that wewere once the backbone of Americaand still play a big role. It is abouteliminating the undersized deer, theone with a limp and the one that can’tsee very well. By eliminating theweak, the larger, more astute opera-tors can continue to grow at a rapidrate. That will raise the overall qualityand efficiency of shops in this indus-try. The shops that can better serve ourcustomer. Ooops, I mean our mutualcustomer.

The Insider is a corporate-levelexecutive with a Top 10 auto insurerin the U.S.. Got a comment or ques-tion you’d like to see him address in afuture column? Email him at [email protected].


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RX-8 2012


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CARSTAR Expands Salesand Marketing TeamsCARSTAR Auto Body Repair Ex-perts is expanding its corporate lead-ership and service teams to addindustry experience and expertise,naming David B. James as VP ofMarketing and Sharon Mazanec asRegional Service Manager for theMidwest.

James is an award-winningmarketing professional with over15 years of experience leading cor-porate strategy and marketing ini-tiatives. James brings a broadbackground in traditional and on-line marketing.

Joining James on theCARSTAR Team is SharonMazanec, CARSTAR’s MidwestRegional Service Manager.Mazanec comes to CARSTAR withover 25 years experience in the col-lision repair industry and was re-cently named one of 2011’s MostInfluential Women in the CollisionRepair Industry by AkzoNobel.Mazanec has an extensive back-ground in the collision repair indus-try including Allen SamuelsEnterprises and Sterling AutobodyCenters, among other collision re-pair companies in Texas.

Fix Auto Appoints Tim Clark asSenior VP, Insurance ServicesFix Auto USA announced the ap-pointment of Tim Clark, CPCU, assenior vice president of insuranceservices. As a key member of FixAuto USA’s senior managementteam, Clark will be charged withstrengthening Fix Auto’s existing in-surance relationships and implement-ing new strategic partnerships. Inaddition, Clark will oversee the FixAuto insurance services department,including the Fix Full PerformanceClaims Solution (FFPCS) program.

Before joining Fix Auto, Clarkled Performance Claims where hewas instrumental in launching thenetwork management technologyplatform used by four of the top eightU.S. insurers. Prior to PerformanceClaims, Clark was the vice presidentof insurance services at Safelite AutoGlass, where he was responsible fordeveloping Safelite’s claims out-sourcing strategy for extending man-aged claims solutions to Property andCasualty insurers. Clark began his in-surance claims career at Safeco In-surance, holding a variety of fieldmanagement and corporate positionsbefore becoming an elected officer ofthe company.

Guardian Auto Glass LLC an-nounced February 27 it has formed anew company, Guardian Auto GlassBloomington, LLC to acquire the as-sets of Glass Specialty Companybased in Bloomington, Illinois.Guardian Auto Glass provides glassrepair and replacement services forautomobiles, buses, trucks andrecreational vehicles and now hasmore than 75 locations throughoutthe United States. Glass Specialtybegan operations in 1957 and cur-rently provides auto glass replace-ment and repair services frommultiple servicing locations acrossIllinois.

Ron Talley, current CEO ofGlass Specialty will serve as vicepresident and managing partner of thenew company. “We at Glass Spe-cialty are excited to partner withGuardian Auto Glass and look for-ward to expanding our business inIllinois and in adjacent communities,”said Talley.

“Glass Specialty is a well estab-lished business with experienced anddedicated employees,” said MarcTalbert, vice president and managingpartner of Guardian Auto Glass.“This new partnership will provideGuardian Auto Glass the opportunityto expand our footprint.”

Guardian Auto Glass Expands in Bloomington, Illinois

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Autobody News April 2012 Southwest Edition

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