October 2012 Southwest Edition

Eleanor Kitzman, commissioner of theTexas Department of Insurance, is being

accused of having abias toward insur-ance companies asthe result of remov-ing consumer pro-tections in healthinsurance rules, at-tending a campaignfundraiser held byan insurer, and for

suggesting that the Texas Windstorm In-surance Association increase premiums.Her accusers include lawmakers, con-sumer advocacy groups and the TexasMedical Association, according to re-ports in the Texas Tribune.

Kitzman, who was appointed toher position, worked in the insuranceindustry for more than 20 years, but

the article said that she believes theknowledge and experience she gainedfrom her years in insurance help herin her position as insurance commis-sioner.

“I have friends who work in theinsurance industry, but that’s not howI make decisions,” Kitzman told theTexas Tribune.

“There are many senators, Re-publican and Democratic, that areconcerned that she’s a little too pro-insurance company,” said Sen. BobDeuell, R-Greenville, who chairs theSenate Nominations Committee.

Now Kitzman’s TDI is expectedto join with Texas prosecutors in con-ducting a criminal investigation intoallegations that State Farm pocketedone billion dollars that should have

See Commissioner Kitzman, Page 36

‘Is TDI Commissioner Kitzman Biased towardsInsurers?,’ State Farm Investigated

CommissionerEleanor Kitzman

If you thought regular shop ownershipwas tough, try flipping cars for a liv-ing! Discovery Channel’s new one-hour series, Texas Car Wars, travelsdeep in the heart of Texas and into thefast-paced world of auto-flipping. Fourextremely competitive auto body

shops engage in full-on bidding warsto find the most valuable jalopies andturn them into resell jackpots. The neweight-episode, one-hour series pre-miered on Sept. 6.

Austin, TX—one of the car auc-tion hot spots of the US—is where thejunk cars of yesteryear get a last

chance to hit the road. The world ofauto-flipping is a risky business andthe stakes are high as each auto bodyshop faces off in auction showdowns.The teams only have 10 minutes to dothe most basic inspection, but they arenot allowed to start the cars. Will thecars have workable engines? Will thebuyers discover a hidden gem? Or willthey go broke before they even reachtheir auto garage? Watch as one man’sjunk truly becomes another man’streasure.

Texas Car Wars follows the bid-ding wars between four Texan autoshops that are known for their fear-lessness at each auction. Watch as theyeach take very different approaches toauto-flipping. Watch which garagemade the most money in each episodeas they flip junk cars into one-of-a-kind automobiles.

Discovery Channel’s New ‘Texas Car Wars’

A consumer advocate study fromTexas “strongly supports” the notionsthat shopping around for an auto in-surance policy can produce savings fora policyholder and that the longer apolicyholder stays with a company, thestronger the likelihood they’ll be pay-ing more than they should.

A policyholder who stays with thesame company for more than eightyears, according to estimates from the

study produced by the Office of PublicInsurance Counsel (OPIC), could save19 percent on annual premiums whenswitching insurers.

“This study supports what wehave believed for a long time,” OPICexecutive director Deeia Beck said ina statement. “Consumers must shoptheir policies to ensure they aren’toverpaying for insurance.”

Insurers Likely to Overcharge Long-TermCustomers Says Texas Study

See Texas Car Wars, Page 46

See Long Term Insurance, Page 46

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

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

Carbon fiber is emerging as apractical and cost-competitive alterna-tive for mid-volume production cars,previously used only in exclusive low-volume vehicles like the Corvette ZR1pictured. Plasan Carbon Compositesbased in VT and owned by PlasanSasa, an Israeli defense contractor, willbe producing carbon panels for a mid-volume production vehicle as early asJanuary 2013 from its locations inWestern Michigan. This means that byearly 2013, body shops could betasked with carbon fiber repairs.

“It will be the first time that car-bon fiber has been used this exten-sively on a base production caranywhere in the world,” said Gary

Lownsdale, Chief Technology Offi-cer of Plasan Carbon Composites. Thekey enabler for this up to 50,000-units-per-year vehicle application isPlasan’s patented Pressure Press pro-cessing technology.

A secrecy agreement preventsPlasan officials from naming the ve-hicle or the automaker, but detailsabout the vehicle will emerge soon.January 2013 marks the start of body

See Carbon Fiber, 4

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

SouthwestEdition

TexasOklahomaLouisiana

New Mexico YEARS www.autobodynews.com

313131ww.autobodynews.comww

VOL. 30 ISSUE 10OCTOBER 2012

Presorted StandardUS Postage

PAIDSan Bernardino, CA

Permit #2244

P.O. BOX 1516, CARLSBAD, CA 92018

Change Service Requested

2 OCTOBER 2012 AUTOBODY NEWS | www.autobodynews.com

Acura of AustinAcura of Austin Honda of FriscoHonda of Frisco

Parts Manager: Chris EdgarPhone 972-731-3175Toll Free 866-442-2711Fax [email protected]

Wholesale Parts Specialist:John Raygo » 512-401-5976Watts 800-575-3553Parts 512-401-5976Fax [email protected]

��iiiiiiiiiissssssss BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrraaaaaaaannnnndddd SSSSSSStttttaaaaaaannnnnndddddddsssssss ffffffffffoooorrrrrrrrrr SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSaaaaaaaaaaaavvvviiiiiinnnnnnnnnggggggggsss�is Brand Stands for Savings�is Brand Stands for Savings

• Over $400,000 Parts Inventory• 15,000 Parts in Stock• Trained Experienced Crew• In State Next Day Shipping w/Quick Local Delivery• Great Discounts

• Over $600,000 Parts Inventory• 11,000 Parts in Stock• Trained Wholesale Crew: Mario, Phillip• In State Next Day Shipping w/Quick Local Delivery• Great Discounts

Hours: Monday - Friday 7 am - 7 pmSaturday 8 am - 5 pm • Sunday Closed

Hours: Monday - Friday 7 am - 8 pmSaturday 7:30 am - 5:30 pm • Sunday Closed

Honda of IrvingHonda of Irving

Parts Manager: Dan ZieberPhone 972-790-6008Toll Free 800-492-4464Fax [email protected]

• Over $1,000,000 Parts Inventory• 17,000 Parts in Stock• Trained Wholesale Crew: Gary, Marie, Jim• In State Next Day Shipping w/Quick Local Delivery• Great Discounts


Acura of PlanoAcura of Plano

Wholesale Parts Specialist:Doug Grajczyk » 972-964-6044972-964-6000Fax [email protected]



Nissan of HoustonNissan of Houston

Parts Manager: Dick GrahamPhone 800-231-9657Fax [email protected]

• Over 1.3 Million Parts Inventory• 28,000 Parts• Trained Experienced Crew• Texas & Louisiana Next Day Shipping• Great Discounts


Honda of HoustonHonda of Houston

Parts Manager:Robert QuinteroPhone 800-444-1263Fax [email protected]

• Over $1,000,000 Parts Inventory• 100,000 Parts in Stock• Trained Experienced Crew• Texas & Louisiana Next Day Shipping w/Quick Local Delivery• Great Discounts


Lincoln of PlanoLincoln of Plano

Parts Manager: John KeithPhone 972-964-5000Fax [email protected]


Hours: Monday - Friday 7 am - 6 pmSaturday 7:30 am - 4 pm • Sunday Closed

GENUINE SERVICE & PARTS

Welcome to

www.davidmcdavid.comwww.davidmcdavid.com

Visit our E-Store:Estore.mcdavidnissan.com

Participating in Collision LinkParticipating in Collision Link

Participating in Collision Link




SouthwestPublisher & Editor: Jeremy Hayhurst

General Manager: Barbara DaviesAssistant Editor: Melanie AndersonContributing Writers: Tom Franklin, John Yoswick, Janet Chaney, Toby Chess,David Brown, Rich Evans, Ed Attanasio, Chasidy SiskAdvertising Sales: Joe Momber, Sean Hartman, Jay Lukes (800) 699-8251Sales Assistant: Kristy NavarroArt Director: Rodolfo Garcia

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

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

A Frame Spray Booths . . . . . . . . . . . 4BASF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7BMW Wholesale Parts Dealers . . . . 46CCC Information Services . . . . . . . 15Cebotech, Inc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16Chief Automotive. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35Chevyland . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40Classic BMW. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39Classifieds. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54Dallas Dodge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56David McDavid Auto Group . . . . . . . 2Dent Tools Direct USA . . . . . . . . . . 14Don Carlton Auto Group. . . . . . . . . 37Equalizer Industries . . . . . . . . . . . . 11Extractor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8Finnegan Chrysler-Jeep-Dodge . . . 27Ford Wholesale Parts DealersTX, OK, LA, NM. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Fowler I-240 Chrysler-Jeep-Dodge. 23Garmat USA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16GM Wholesale Parts Dealers . . . . . 48H & S Autoshot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25Haydell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34Honda-Acura Wholesale PartsDealers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28-29

Huffines Hyundai Plano . . . . . . . . . 36Hyundai Wholesale Parts Dealers . 49Intertape Polymer Group . . . . . . . . 33Kia Motors Wholesale Parts Dealers. 45Lee Supply, Inc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18LKQ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55Malco. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Mattei. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9Mazda Wholesale Parts Dealers . . . 51Mercedes-Benz of Oklahoma City . 32Mike Calvert Toyota. . . . . . . . . . . . . 22Mitchell International. . . . . . . . . . . . 19Mitsubishi Wholesale Parts Dealers. 53MOPAR Wholesale Parts Dealers . . 43North Freeway Hyundai . . . . . . . . . 44OE Reman. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31PCL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20PreFab Ads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6Ray Huffines Chevrolet . . . . . . . . . . . 5Reliable Automotive Equipment . . . 26Reliable Chevrolet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47Replica Plastics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47River Oaks Chrysler-Jeep-Dodge-Ram. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

SATA Spray Equipment . . . . . . . . . 24Scoggin-Dickey Buick . . . . . . . . . . 38Silver Sails. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18Solution Finish . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50South Pointe Chrysler-Jeep-Dodge. 10Summit Software Solutions, Inc . . . 21Toyota of Fort Worth . . . . . . . . . . . . 40Toyota of Laredo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42Toyota Wholesale Parts Dealers . . . 52Valspar Automotive . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17Volkswagen Wholesale PartsDealers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

Volvo Wholesale Parts Dealers . . . . 51Wanda Refinish . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13Young Chevrolet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

Inde

xofAdvertisers

REGIONAL‘Is Texas Insurance Commissioner KitzmanBiased towards Insurers?’ NewspaperAsks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

ASA Speaks to NWLCRA RegardingPartsTrader Pilot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Discovery Channel’s ‘Texas Car Wars’ . . . . . . 1Higher Rates Kick In for Texas High-RiskAuto Insurance (TAIPA) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Insurers Likely to Overcharge Long-TermCustomers Says Texas Study . . . . . . . . . 1

More Charges Filed Against Former OKInsurance Agent. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

New Texas Toll Road Opening in NovemberWill Allow 85 Miles Per Hour Speed Limit . 6

NM Court Upholds $10M Award . . . . . . . . 4NWLCRA Hosted Paint Meeting . . . . . . . . . 6Shop Owner Nets $3.4 Million in PaintContract Lawsuit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

WreckCheck Mobile App for ConsumersHelps Coordinate Accident Procedures. . 4

COLUMNISTSAttanasio: What You Don’t Know aboutSEO Can Cost You . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

Evans: Building Body Molds from Plugsis No Easy Task . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

Franklin: Information Mining for Profit . . . . 48Rich Evans’ SEMA Appearance Schedule . 51Sisk: DuPont Performance Coatings,A Big Change but Much Stays in Place. 38

Yoswick: Shops Can Put News, TrendsRelated to Insurers to Good Use. . . . . . 52

NATIONAL2012 Memorial Scholarship RecipientNamed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

2012 SEMA Show Provides ExpansiveActivities for Collision RepairProfessionals. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

8th Company Pleads Guilty in AutoIndustry Price Fixing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

A Little Piece of ‘57 Chevy Blue Heavento Debut at SEMA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

AAIA Releases 2012 Digital Repair TrendsReport . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

AASP-MA and CCRE to Host EducationalSeminars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

AASP-MA Talked Parts Procurementat State Meeting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Allstate Reveals Best Drivers . . . . . . . . . . 48ASA Issues Timeline for State Farm toProve PartsTrader Benefit. . . . . . . . . . . 11

ASRW Adds Auto Body RepairersAssembly Oct. 10 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

ASRW Announces Content, Speakersfor Industry Forum, Oct. 12 . . . . . . . . . 18

ASRW Hosts 2nd Annual MSOSymposium Oct. 12. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42ASRW Parties at the Mardi Gras Worldin New Orleans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Attract Customers with a Clean Shop:

10 Tips to a Pristine Look . . . . . . . . . . 47Automaker, OEM and Recall News . . . . . . . 30Body Shop Move Enforced by Judgefor PA Route 29 Expansion. . . . . . . . . . 26

CAA Sends Legislative Alert and Callto Action . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

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

Carlyle to Buy DuPont’s Auto PaintBusiness for Nearly $5 Billion . . . . . . . 39

Connecticut Association Voices AlarmAbout PartsTrader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

Copart Gives $15,000 to CREF forscholarships, grants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

CREF Raises $55K at Golf Event . . . . . . . 12CREF Reception at SEMA Invites Allwith RSVP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

CREF’s Free Industry Classes forStudents at NACE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Go Where Your Customers Are—You’llFind Them Online. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Gunder’s Has 15 Insurers PayingNew Labor Rate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Hertz Buys Dollar Thrifty . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12Is New Vehicle Technology EndangeringYour Business? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

Mississippi Collision Repair AssociationPlans to Expand to the North and South. 35

Mitchell’s Industry Trends Report:Auto Physical Damage Edition . . . . . . . 19

NABA Survey Shows OEM Parts StillMajority in Use . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

NABC Golf Event Fundraiser OpensOnline Registration. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

New IIHS Test Aims to Improve FrontalCollision . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

NHTSA Finalizes Airbag Rule . . . . . . . . . . 48NJ Shop Owner Goes Round and Roundwith State Farm on MaterialReimbursements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

PartsTrader will Come to Chicago Market’s450 State Farm Select Service Shopsin December . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

Recipient of Emil Stanley Merit Awardis Announced . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

SCRS Presents International Perspectiveon Parts Procurement . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Service King Gives $10,000 for StudentScholarships . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

Shop That Helped Bullied Teen Inspiredto Start a New ‘Pay it Forward’ Program. 9

Silver Sails Paints Launches in USA . . . . . 40The Georgia Collision Industry AssociationDiscusses PartsTrader with George Avery. 12

Use myAAPEX to Connect with Exhibitorsbefore Show . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

Van Tuyl Group Joins NABC as NewDiamond Member . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

WMABA Hosted PartsTrader Meetingsin Two Locations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Women Prefer Sedans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

Contents

www.autobodynews.com | OCTOBER 2012 AUTOBODY NEWS 3

PartsTrader Updates in this IssuePages 11, 12, 20, 31, 49, 54

Autobody News wants to know what readers inTexas, Oklahoma, Louisiana and New Mexicohave to say about the industry in your region.

Stop by our booth (#N924) at ASRW(NACE-CARS) during the Expo and tell us!

We’ll pass the information along in future issues.


Complete Packages from $5995

COMPLETE PACKAGE: Booth Fan & Motor, Controls, Exhaust Duct & Much More

www.Aframe-Paint-Booth.com

Prices valid on

orders receivedby 10/15/12!

877-338-3006

101-C No. Greenville Ave #606Allen, Texas 75002

[email protected]

Restrictions Apply. See website for details. O!er valid on booth packages only. Not valid combined with other o!ers. Limited time o!er while supplies last. Financing available WAC.

Free iPad2 with 14X10X26 or larger packages.

Truck Booths

Packages starting at $10,995

WreckCheck Mobile App for ConsumersHelps Coordinate Procedures in OKThe Oklahoma Insurance Departmentis highlighting a new tool to help driv-ers who are involved in a crash.

According to the OklahomaHighway Safety Office, more than69,000 wrecks occur every year inOklahoma. However, according to aJuly 2012 survey from the NationalAssociation of Insurance Commis-sioners (NAIC), many Americans donot know what steps to take or basicinformation to share—or not share—after an accident. They may even puttheir identities and safety at risk bysharing too much personal informa-tion.

“The last thing you’re probablythinking about after a crash is protect-ing your privacy,” says Oklahoma In-surance Commissioner John D.Doak. “Understanding what informa-tion to share will help keep you safeafter an accident and decrease someof the challenges of filing a claim lateron. The WreckCheck app will take theguesswork out of what information togive after a crash.”

The recent NAIC survey re-vealed consumers were unsure aboutauto accident best practices, such aswhen to call the police or what per-sonal information to exchange with

the other driver after an accident.Consumers generally need only sharetheir names and correct vehicle insur-ance information, which should in-clude the phone numbers of insuranceproviders. Sharing additional personalinformation, such as driver’s licensenumbers, phone numbers and homeaddresses, puts consumers, their prop-erty and their safety at risk.

Nearly 40% of respondents feltthey should share their driver’s li-censes, 25% of consumers wouldshare their home addresses, and al-most 30% of drivers think they are re-quired to share their personal phonenumbers. Close to 20% believe theonly reason to call the police after anaccident is if someone is injured.

The new WreckCheck mobileapplication from the NAIC outlineswhat to do immediately following anauto accident and takes usersthrough a step-by-step process tocreate their own accident report. Italso makes it easy to capture photosand document the necessary infor-mation to file an insurance claim.The app is free and available forboth iPhone® and Android® smart-phone users. The download is nowavailable at www.oid.ok.gov.

Higher Rates Kick In for Texas High-RiskAuto Insurance (TAIPA)Regulators announced in May that theTexas Automobile Insurance Plan As-sociation (TAIPA), the state-run cov-erage program for high-risk motorists,would be increasing overall rates by24.1 percent.

The program offers private pas-senger auto policies for motorists whohave been turned away by other in-surers because of traffic violations orincidents on their driving record.

Most of the increase is to bodily in-jury liability coverage, which increasedby 31.9 percent overall. Overall rates forproperty damage liability coverage in-creased by 20 percent overall.

The average base rate, dependingon location, for a policy with mini-mum bodily injury and property dam-age liability is $578 under the newrate structure, with premiums varyingbetween $289 and $2,459 dependingon driver class and location.

To qualify for TAIPA, the pro-gram requires a motorist to have beenrejected by at least two other insurers.The program offers a maximum of$60,000 in bodily injury coverage peraccident and $25,000 in property dam-age coverage. It also offers optionalpersonal injury protection up to $2,500and UM/UIM coverage matching lia-

bility limits.TAIPA has seen a smaller num-

ber of drivers enrolling in the programover the past half-decade, with thepool of TAIPA enrollees shrinking 37percent between 2005 and 2011.

In 2011, almost 7,400 driverswere enrolled under TAIPA, but thatnumber was nearly 16 percent lessthan in 2010, according to the Associ-ation’s annual report. There were alsofewer applications, the volume ofwhich fell almost 14 percent.

The New Mexico Court of Appeals hasupheld $10 million in punitive dam-ages for the family and estate of an Al-buquerque man killed by a drunkendriver in 2003. The court recently ruledthere was enough evidence to supportthe damages against the parent com-pany of an Albuquerque conveniencestore known as Alameda Meteor. A ve-hicle driven by store maintenanceworker Dean Durand crashed intoDaniel Gutierrez, who was stoppedon his motorcycle at an intersection.Gutierrez later died. The court saidMeteor knew Durand drank on the job.

NM Court Upholds $10M Award

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

New IIHS Test Improvementin Frontal Collisions

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

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

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

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

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

NABA Survey Shows OEMParts Still Majority in Use


Call UsFor Your SaturnParts Also.

WATS:800-955-6282Parts Direct:972-202-2300Hours: Monday - Friday 7 to 7 Saturday from 8 to 5

• 9 Salesmen• Over $2 Million Genuine GM Parts• 7 Delivery Trucks• Extensive GM Collision Parts Inventory• Free Delivery within Texas (call for details)• GM Engines and Transmissions at truck load pricing (call for details)

Ray Hu!nesChevroletPlano, TX

• We “Meet or Beat” aftermarket pricing. Ask your salesman about “Bump the Competition” and “GM Outlet Shop”.• Cycle time costs you money. Let our huge GM collision inventory work to your advantage.• Online ordering through OEConnection (call for details)

Collision Centers & Body Shops


A former insurance agent in CreekCounty, OK, has been charged withfour additional felonies after an in-vestigation by the Oklahoma Insur-ance Department (OID). DonnaParrick, of Depew, is charged withtwo counts of Exploitation of an Eld-erly Person and two counts of Em-bezzlement.

The OID suspended Parrick’s li-cense after she was first charged withembezzlement in June. In two sepa-rate cases, Parrick allegedly acceptedpremium payments from elderlyclients, but never purchased thepromised coverage, the insurance de-partment said. Parrick is nowcharged with ten felonies in CreekCounty.

In July, another victim was dis-covered — a 74-year old womanwhom Parrick had allegedly receiveda quote on behalf of but had neverpurchased the policy. As a result, thevictim’s husband’s business had goneuninsured for months.

In a similar case, a 79-year-oldwoman had been making monthlypayments to Parrick since April,2011. But once again, the policy did-n’t exist. Both victims knew Parrickpersonally and paid her by check.

More Charges Filed AgainstFormer OK Insurance AgentThe Texas Transportation Commis-

sion has approved a speed limit of 85mph for a 41–mile toll road betweentwo of the state's largest metropolitanareas —the Interstate 35 corridor be-tween Austin and San Antonio. Thenew toll road is scheduled to open inNovember.

Opponents say the higher speedlimit will give people leeway to driveenough faster.

“If you’re looking at an 85 mphspeed limit, we could possibly seedrivers going 95 to 100 miles perhour,” said Sandra Helin, president ofthe Southwestern Insurance Informa-tion Service, in an interview with theLos Angeles Times in June. “Whenyou get to those speeds, your accidentsare going to be a lot worse. You’regoing to have a lot more fatalities,”she said.

A spokesman for the nonprofitInsurance Institute for HighwaySafety agrees. “The research is clearthat when speed limits go up, fatalitiesgo up,” said Russ Rader. “You getthere faster but the trade-off is morecrashes and more highway deaths.”

A 2009 report in the AmericanJournal of Public Health, cited by theAP, studied traffic fatalities in the U.S.from 1995 to 2005 and found that

more than 12,500 deaths were attrib-utable to increases in speed limits onall kinds of roads.

The study also said that ruralhighways showed a 9.1% increase infatalities on roads where speed limitswere raised, but did not cite specificnumbers in those instances.

For most highways in the U.S.,the maximum speed is 75 mph. Somehighways in West Texas and Utahhave 80 mph speed limits.

The Texas Legislature last yearapproved 85 mph limits for some newstretches of road. The strip of toll roadrunning from Austin to Seguin, about35 miles northeast of San Antonio,will be the first to allow that speedwhen it opens in November.

The Texas Transportation Com-mission, which is appointed by Gov.Rick Perry, approved the 85 mphspeed limit at a public meeting onAug. 30. Commissioners would notcomment on their decision.

The state contract with the tolloperator allows the state to collect a$67 million up-front cash payment ora percentage of the toll profits in thefuture if the speed limit is 80 mph orlower. At 85 mph, the cash paymentballoons to $100 million or a higherpercentage of toll revenues.

Texas Department of Transporta-tion spokeswoman Veronica Beyersaid, “We must continue to look forinnovative ways to generate revenueand be good stewards of taxpayer dol-lars.”

Agency officials had previouslysaid they would study the toll road’stopography, the speeds that most driv-ers were reaching, and the safety ofaccess points and cross sections beforeapproving the 85 mph speed limit.

“Safety is our top priority andtests have shown the designated speedis a safe one,” Beyer said.

During his daily commute fromRound Rock, north of Austin, to hisjob in San Antonio, Steve Marcysometimes uses another part of the tollroad. The section he drives now has an80 mph speed limit. Marcy said he'dbe comfortable driving 85, but wouldbe concerned about others driving ve-hicles that are not in good condition.

“A tire blowout (at 85 mph) couldbe a big hazard,” Marcy said.

Toll prices have not yet been setfor the new section. Marcy predictedthe higher speed limit would attractnew drivers, but said most may notthink it's worth paying the tolls.

“For most people I talk to, it’s acost issue,” Marcy said.

New Texas Toll Road Opening in November Will Allow 85 Miles Per Hour Speed Limit

“15 and Counting,” answers Ray Gun-der. “That’s how many insurers, sincethis past August, have seen fit to payour revised labor rates rather than to tryand legally defeat what we deem to be‘reasonable and necessary!’”

Gunder went on to state: “It’sbeen a busy fewweeks, and while14 of the 15 insur-ers conceded with-out so much as awhimper, InfinityInsurance needed abit of persuasion.With the help of

our legal counsel, Attorney BrentGeohagan’s representation of Gun-der’s Auto Center, Inc., they too cameto the right conclusion and are payingour new labor rates for body and refin-ishing, as well as an elevated labor ratefor frame/unibody repair. Of coursethey are also paying applicable legalfees and costs for the lawsuit as well.”

Gunder has 12 current lawsuitspending against State Farm, Allstate,USAA and GEICO for their failure topay “reasonable and necessary” al-lowances for labor and materials and

five lawsuits against the insurers forlabor rates alone.

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

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

“Like many, I suppose, I’d forgot-ten what it was like to operate my busi-ness without other’s telling me what Icould and couldn’t do.”

Gunder’s Has 15 Insurers Paying New Labor Rate

Ray Gunder

The Northwest Louisiana CollisionRepair Association met Sept. 11 atLouisiana Technical College. DickMcDaniel, with CAR-O-Liner &Garmat Paint Booth Equipment, wasthe guest speaker. His presentationincluded basic paint booth mainte-nance, trouble shooting problems,and conditions for proper booth op-eration.

NWLCRA Hosted Paint Meeting


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Clark Plucinski

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

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

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

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

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

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


NO BeltsNO GearsNO Bearings to maintain

or wear out

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiirrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooommmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppprrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrreeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeesssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssoooooooooooooooooooooooooorrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrsssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnncccccccccccccccccccccccccccoooooooooooooooooooommmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnlllllllllllllllllllllllyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuupppppppppppppppppppppppppppeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeerrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrriiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiioooooooooooooooooooorrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr Our compressors are not so

energy bill and our 10 yearAirend Warranty keeps yourwallet every day of theFat

week - not just on Tuesday

, but plenty on your Big Easy

NACE Booth N1010

www.matteicomp.comPh: 410-521-7020

for more info.

A shop that repaired and restored abullied student’s car received so manyemails, cards and phone calls thankingthem for what they did, that the autobody shop is inspired to do it all overagain for another deserving individual.

“I wanna pay it forward everyyear so we’re calling it operation payit forward and once a year we’re goingto overhaul a deserving person’s car,”says Richard Henegar Jr, a managerat Quality Auto Paint and Body inRoanoke, VA.

In August, a bullied gay teenmade headline national news when theauto body shop repaired his Volkswa-gen for free and prompted a commu-nity to take action.

The Radford University student’scar was vandalized four times, once athome and three times on-campus, withanti-gay slurs and death threats.

For several months, college stu-dent Jordan Addison had to drive hiscar with its windows bashed in and thewords “die fag” keyed into his door.Addison said no matter how hard hetried, he couldn’t get rid of the slursentirely.

“The first time there were somehomophobic slurs keyed into the sideof it,” said Addison. “Then the secondtime I had ‘die’ keyed into it. The low-

est estimate I got just to fix the dam-age to the doors was like $2,500, andfor a college student that’s a lot ofmoney.”

Henegar heard about Addison’scar and teamed up with 10 other busi-nesses to repair the car and added onseveral extras.

Henegar said he was shockedwhen he first saw Addison’s trashedcar. The student had tried unsuccess-fully to hide the slurs with spray paintand because he couldn’t afford newtires, had fitted several mismatchedpair to his axles.

“Once I saw the vandalism thatwas done to it, I said, ‘That’s uncalledfor. We’re gonna fix your car. That’sthe least we can do,’” said Henegar.

“We don’t take kindly to discrim-ination of any sort here,” Henegarsaids. “I was bullied in high schooland a little bit in the service and I sawan opportunity to help somebody out.”

Henegar and fellow volunteersspent 100 hours and over $10,000adding a new scratch-resistant paintjob, new tires, tinted windows, a newstereo, and a new security system toAddison’s 1999 Volkswagen.

The $10,000 worth of extras wereprovided by ten local businesses: PartsUnlimited, Advance Auto Parts,

Moon’s Auto Body, Rice Toyota, Val’sAutomotive, The Rod Shop, B&C Ex-terminating, Twists & Turns, AJ’sLandscaping and Sunnybrook AutoSpa.

The effort came together in be-ginning of August. Addison was givena small, red Fiat thanks in part to anEnterprise car rental agency for thetwo weeks of repairs. At that point,Henegar had only told Addison thathis door would be repaired. Workingat night after hours and on weekends,Henegar and his team repaired thedamaged car, inviting Addison back inAugust 20 for his big surprise.

“I was entirely speechless,” thestudent told the Daily News. “I justwalked around saying, ‘Oh, my God,this is not my car. It just restored myfaith, my good faith, in people.”

Henegar and Addison appearedon the 10th season premiere of theEllen show where Ellen DeGeneresrepeatedly plugged Quality Auto Paintand Body and had her star guests,Pink, Patrick Demsey and gymnasticOlympic gold medalists film an all-star commercial for the shop. As anadditional surprise, CoverGirl Cos-metics gave both men $25,000 each asa gift “for sharing their story and beinga good example to the rest of us.”

Shop That Helped Bullied Teen Inspired to Start a New ‘Pay it Forward’ Program

Automotive Service and Repair Week(ASRW) introduces the “Auto BodyRepairers Assembly.” This new spe-cial event is limited strictly to quali-fied collision repairers and will takeplace Wednesday, Oct. 10, from 4:45p.m. to 6:45 p.m. at the Morial Con-vention Center in New Orleans. Ad-mission is complimentary for repairprofessionals, and registration isavailable online for the event.

The urgent need for collision re-pairers to have a forum to openly dis-cuss their issues amongst their peerswas brought to the attention of ASRWorganizers by repair community lead-ers across the industry. In response,the Auto Body Repairers Assemblywas created as an inaugural event andhosted as a natural extension of theactivities that take place duringASRW. Depending upon repairer re-sponse and interest, future events willbe scheduled and the assembly willbecome an ongoing venue for repair-ers to ensure their voice is heard.

“Like other organizations, re-pairers need their place to openly dis-cuss issues important to them withoutfilters and having to be politicallycorrect,” said Scott Biggs, AssuredPerformance Network CEO.

ASRW Adds Auto Body Repairers Assembly Oct. 10


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

The ASA issued this statementon August 22:

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

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

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

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

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

when answers were available.Previously published, ASA’s

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

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

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

ASA Issues Timeline for State Farm to Prove PartsTrader BenefitThe Washington Metropolitan AutoBody Association (WMABA) hostedtwo meetings Sept. 19 in Virginia andMaryland to discuss issues related toState Farm Insurance’s parts procure-ment program through PartsTrader.

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

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

WMABA Hosted PartsTraderMeetings in Two Locations


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

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

In response to another letterHarvey wrote dated July 10, StateFarm stated that it believed the bestopportunity to provide him with amore complete understanding oftheir survey was to facilitate a one-

on-one discussion between him andtheir estimatics leadership in NewJersey.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

AAIA Releases 2012 DigitalRepair Trends Report

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

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

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

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

“Now you have an opportunity tohear first-hand about PartsTraderfrom State Farm’s own George Avery.Mr. Avery has agreed to be the fea-tured speaker at the September 20th

GCIA meeting. If you don’t attend butone GCIA meeting this year, this isthe one.”

This meeting is open to all collisionrepair professionals and industry sup-porting vendor representatives. Cost is$10 (member/$20-non-member). Mem-bers may pay at the door and check orcash is accepted.

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

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

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

George Avery

Hertz will acquire Dollar Thriftyafter years of back and forth negoti-ations.

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

Each of the two companies’boards has unanimously approvedthe transaction.

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

Hertz chairman and chief exec-utive officer Mark Frissora said,“We are pleased to have finallyreached an agreement with DollarThrifty after a lengthy—but worth-while—pursuit. We have always be-lieved that a combination withDollar Thrifty is the best strategicoption for both companies. Thetransaction provides Hertz instantscale with two new, well-establishedbrands with airport concession in-frastructure in the mid-tier valuesegment.”

Hertz Buys Dollar Thrifty

“PPG is privileged to support the in-dustry’s future through events of thiskind,” said Domenic Brusco, PPGAutomotive Refinish, senior manager,industry relations. “This is the thirdconsecutive year we’ve co-hosted theCollision Repair Education Founda-

tion’s industry fundraiser, and it’s re-warding to see more funds raised eachyear to assist collision students withtheir educational opportunities. This isa great display of how the industry cancome together to support its upcomingworkforce.”

CREF Raises $55K at Golf Event Sponsored by PPG


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

panel production at Plasan’s new200,000-sq-ft facility in Walker, MI.

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

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

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

Carbon fiber allows for signifi-cant mass reduction while containing

costs through part consolidation, lowercapital investment, simplified assem-bly process and other life cycle sav-ings such as reduced warranty costsand leaner supply chain.

Carbon fiber’s production appli-cations have included roofs, hoods, andother Class A surfaces on low-volumesports cars. But the upcoming globalproduction vehicle will have 75% of itsbody (including the hood, fenders, androof) comprised of carbon fiber.

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

By using this Total Systems CostApproach in the design process,Plasan is bringing carbon fiber to mid-volume production vehicles includinghybrids, crossovers, and sedans.

What began in aerospace andmoved to the racetrack, is now beingused at Plasan and introduced to vol-ume production. Through automotive-specific materials, increased efficiencyin carbon fiber processing methods andreduction in direct labor requirements,Plasan is rethinking carbon fiber.

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

The novel pressure press tech-nology shatters the 90 minutes neededby Plasan to mold a body panel withautoclave processing. Materials pro-cessing time with the pressure press isa 17-min machine cycle.

“It took us about a year and a halfto synthesize fully the process of whathappens inside the autoclave. Butonce we were able to find out exactlywhat happens physically and chemi-cally inside the autoclave at discreettime increments, that enabled us toplot a whole new thermal dynamiccurve and a whole new pressure curvewith our patented pressure press tech-nology,” said Lownsdale.

A provisional patent addresses theentire process while eight separatepending patents involve Plasan as wellas the equipment provider Globe Ma-chine Manufacturing Co. of Tacoma,WA.

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

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

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

“The density of the carbon fibercomponents is the same as our currentautoclave production parts,” Lowns-

Continued from Cover

Carbon Fiber

See Carbon Fiber, Page 35


Come see us atSEMA

Booth #10753

Very soon, the doors of the 2012SEMA Show opens to automotiveindustry professionals all over theglobe. Earlybird pricing for showadmission and registration for theSociety of Collision Repair Special-ists’ (SCRS) Repairer Driven Edu-cation (RDE) series is still availableuntil October 15th. Now is the per-fect opportunity to plan out your tripto Las Vegas! Experience the pre-mier automotive trade event in theworld while taking advantage of allthe networking opportunities and ed-ucation classes offered by SCRS andother collision industry organiza-tions at the SEMA Show.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

2012 SEMA Show Provides Expansive Activities for Collision Repair Professionals

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

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

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

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

Nippon Seiki manufacturesmany auto parts, including instrumentpanel clusters.

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

8th Company Pleads Guiltyin Auto Industry Price Fixing

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


Weather Protectis a clear self adhesive product with UV inhibitors. It protects the inside of vehicles from rain, snow,

dust, dirt, sun, etc. from entering the vehicle.

714-894-3959www.leesupplyinc.com

www.silversails-paints.com

JOBBERS WANTED

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

Read all our RegionalEditions Online at:

www.autobodynews.com

by Greg Horn, Vice President ofIndustry Relations, Mitchell International

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


Mitchell’s Industry Trends Report: Auto Physical Damage Edition

Average Appraisal Values, ACVs and Age | Collision Coverage*

Avg. Veh Age

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

$12,698 $13,205

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

$0

$2,000

$4,000

$6,000

$8,000

$10,000

$12,000

$14,000

$16,000

Q4 20096.34

Q2 20106.22

Q4 20106.62

Q2 20116.50

Q4 20116.92

Q2 20126.81

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

$0

$200

$400

$600

$800

$1,000

$1,200

$1,400

$1,600

2011Q1 2011Q2 2011Q3 2011Q4 2012Q1

Avg Parts Dollars Avg Labor Dollars Avg Paint and Materials


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

by Melanie Anderson

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

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

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

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

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

The bottom line, according to Ter-lep, is that body shop owners need to bewhere their customers are, and they’re

online, engaging in Facebook, Twitter,YouTube, LinkedIn and Google+.

“Shops have no choice. They haveto market their businesses to youngercustomers digitally,” Terlep said. And

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

Although many customers preferto receive status notifications by text,email is still the most powerful digital

marketing tool, says Terlep. Use youremail marketing for education, brand-ing, special promotions and coupons.“But, don’t spam your customers—give them value,” he says, such as tipsto car care. Build your customer data-base by collecting your customer emailaddresses. Of the group in Rancho Cu-camonga that evening, only three shopscollected email addresses from theircustomers. But all three reported theyhad no problem asking for or receivingemail addresses. One shop uses a formthat asks for a customer’s email addressright beneath the name—it’s the secondquestion on the form. Terlep cites a sta-tistic that more than 80% of consumersprefer to be marketed to via email. Ac-cording to Stan Rapp, the father of di-rect email marketing, an email addressis worth $118 to business.

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

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

Do you know if your website isdoing its job? Utilize Google Analytics

to find out. It’s free and tells you howyour website is performing. Anotherimportant aspect is to ensure your web-site has optimal search engine results.When a potential customer Googles‘auto body repair’ in your area, will


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

Special Limited Time Offer for AUTOBODY NEWS Readers:

FREE Marketing Auditand Report when you

mention this ad or Bringit to our NACE booth N1701

or SEMA booth 10812or SEMA bbooth 1008120

$395 ValuePlus 10% Off Your

1st Order.

Find out How Your Shop can Capture, Service and Retain More Customers, Revenue and Profits

through Digital Marketing.

“Guid

Call Us Today1.888.377.2661

Send Us an [email protected]

Visit our Websitewww.emarketingsherpas.com

See You’ll Find Them, Page 32

Go Where Your Customers Are—You’ll Find Them Online

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

Frank Terlep

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

by Melanie Anderson

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

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

On Aug. 30, a federal jury unani-mously found BASF and FinishMas-ter guilty of fraud and breach ofwarranty to paint supplied to CustomCar Crafters, awarding the shop puni-tive damages of $1.5 million fromBASF and $750,000 from FinishMas-ter. Custom Car Crafter’s was alsoawarded $1.5 million in compensatorydamages.

The legal troubles began in 2010when the paint companies sued Cus-tom Car Crafters for breach of a paintcontract. Wood quickly countersued.The court also found that BASF suf-fered as a result of the shop’s breachof contract and they were awarded$176,000. Additionally, the jurorsfound that the body shop failed toprove that its failure to pay Finish-Master liquidated damages was ex-cused, awarding $100,000 in damagesto FinishMaster.

Custom Car Crafters will net $3.4million.

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

Custom Car Crafters was obligedto follow the paint instructions tomaintain the BASF and FinishMasterwarranty on cars they painted, butWood said in the Texas climate, thepaint would not dry in a timely fash-ion or sometimes not at all. In courtdocuments, the paint was described asresulting in “seediness, bubbling, fisheyes, side casting, dye back and de-lamination, among other problems.”Wood said he notified BASF and Fin-ishMaster in a timely fashion about

the defective paint and instructionsand of the severe impact these defectswere having on his business. In re-sponse, BASF and FinishMaster

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

According to court documents,while at the training course in Califor-nia, a BASF instructor informedWood that BASF and FinishMaster’straining and instructions were inap-propriate for the Texas heat and hu-midity and that no proper manualexisted for that region. The BASF in-structor also told Wood that BASF andFinishMaster failed to sell him thecorrect supplies and additives. After ayear of struggling with the paint,Wood claims the companies admittedthere was not a set 2:1 formula for thepaint. After repeated failed efforts, theshop acted to mitigate its damages byterminating its contract, halting use ofthe BASF and FinishMaster Paint, andobtaining the paint that was necessaryfor the shop to conduct its business.Wood said he tried to return the paintand materials back to the paint com-panies but that they refused to collectthem.

Wood noted that as a result of thedefective paint and its instructions, hisshops had to repaint 565 vehicles andthat it incurred costs in excess of$100,000 for labor and materials andanother $100,00 for rental cars during

repainting. Wood expects these coststo increase as additional vehicles arereturned for repainting under theirlifetime warranties.

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

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

Wood said the defective paintcaused his business to suffer from lossof earnings and profits, loss of earn-ing capacity, damage to reputation,loss of staff, out-of-pocket costs and

costs of storing the paint when thecompanies refused to take it back.

Wood also said BASF and Finish-Master told him if he switched to 90-line he could end his previous PPGpaint contract without penalty. Woodsaid he still had to pay $73,000 toPPG.

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

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

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

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

Shop Owner Nets $3.4 Million in Paint Contract Lawsuit


MIKE CALVERT TOYOTA

• Overnight Delivery in Most Areas of TX & LA • Volume Discounts• One-Stop Shopping

2333 S. Loop West • Houston, TX 77054

untspping

www.mikecalverttoyota.com

(713) 558-8131

(713) 558-8272Fax

Local

Toll Free

1-800-527-5368Download at www.CollisionLink.com

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

by Ed Attanasio

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

We all know how a restored carcan go from sitting in a backyard to be-coming a beautiful piece of automotiveart, but it doesn’t happen by chance. Inthis case, it took a pair of masterpainters/artists like Tom and MitchKelly from Kelly & Sons CrazyPainters in southern California to take

this 1957 Chevrolet and convert it intoa highly-collectible one-of-a-kindshowroom gem. When the Kellys fi-nally complete this current project andunveil it at this year’s SEMA show,

there will be more thanjust a few “oohs!” and“aahs!” along the way.There may be someoutstanding reviewsand maybe even amagazine cover in thisclassic vehicle’s im-mediate future.

The history behindthis vehicle and Tomand Mitch’s role in thestory goes back severalyears, Mitch Kelly ex-plained. “This car wassitting right next to myhouse for the longest

time. It belonged to my neighbor’s fa-ther. I was looking at it one day and Ithought, hey—let’s buy this car and fixit up for SEMA. That way, when mydad and I are standing there at the PPGbooth [Kelly’s main sponsor], it willgive people something to look at andsomething we can talk about. My

neighbor agreed to the sale, so westarted working on it.”

With more than 200 hours ofwork into “Blue Heaven,” Tom andMitch are thrilled about how the carwill look when com-pleted and ready forthe SEMA floor. “It’sgoing to get some at-tention, that’s forsure,” Mitch said.“The plan is to keep itand show it for at leastthe next year. Unlesssomeone makes me acrazy offer on the car,I want to keep it, be-cause we’re so proudof it and the work thatwent into it.”

Some notable en-hancements to his ’57 Chevy includeCrazy Paint’s signature “surprisegraphics,” which appear underneaththe car’s hood on the engine firewall,Mitch explained. “When people seethis car, they want to look at the en-gine,” Mitch said. “So, we’re givingthem something new and different tolook at when the hood’s up. It just adds

a different look and is a conversationstarter. We’re always searching forways to make our cars stand out, anddoing things like unexpected graphicsis one way to achieve that.”

Here are the details of the build,explained by Mitch in a Reader’s Di-gest-style. “We used PPG Envirobaseand their 280 primer, as well as theirECS-27 Black Envirobase sealer. TheEnvirobase is easy to apply and we’readept at using it. The finished productis superior and I love this PPG blue.”

When Mitch took possession of


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

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

“Blue Heaven” will soon be a shining blue star for Kelly & SonsCrazy Painters and their sponsors at SEMA

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

Companies that Tom and MitchKelly want to thank for contributing their products and time to building

their 1957 Chevy BlueDream include ClassicPerformance Productsin Anaheim , CA, thatprovided the A-arms,power steering brakes,gas tank and front sus-pension; AmericanRacing for wheels,called the Burnout se-ries; Quick Cutsanders distributed byAll-American ToolCorp., in Orting, WA;SATA Spray Guns;Kaeser air compres-

sors; sandpaper fromSurf Prep; and waxes,polishes, and cleanersfrom Mothers Polishin Huntington Beach,CA. By collaboratingwith their sponsoringcompanies and usingtheir best-of-the-bestproducts, Tom andMitch Kelly canbuild a vehicle likethis amazing 1957Chevy.

“Without our spon-sors, we’d be left hanging. With their helpand their top-tier products, we’re able tocreate an amazing vehi-cle,” Mitch said. “Wescored with this build,because now we have avery unique finishedproduct and somethingwe’re anxious to showat SEMA.”

On the morning ofSEMA’s opening day,(Tuesday, October 30)“Blue Heaven” will besitting under a CoversDirect car cover atSATA’s booth (#10609),

awaiting an unveiling that will take placebetween 10–11 a.m. At that same time,SATA will be displaying their new SA-TAjet 4000 B Camouflage spray guns,Mitch said. “No one is going to see thisvehicle until we pull that cover off of it,so if you’re there, stop by and get the firstlook at this car.”

Tom and Mitch Kelly will bothbe on hand to display their artworkand sign posters at SEMA’s PPGbooth (#24501) every day during theentire show, Kelly said. “Come see allof the PPG products we used on thisbeautiful classic car. It’s our SEMAsurprise and we’re obviously veryproud of it!”


www.hsautoshot.com

NEW UNI-7600 STUD BUDDY

IF YOU OWN A STUD WELDER, YOU NEED A STUD BUDDY

• Reduces panel repair time, thereby increasing your profitability• Allows for sensitive control of pull, reduces over pulling• Quick and easy multi pulls across a large repair area• Make your stud welder more versatile• Quality material and construction• Simple, functional design• Fast, and easy to use• Affordable

Tel.: 1-888-677-3798 Fax: (905) 873-2813

BUDDY

NOT AVALIABLE

YET

COMINGSOON

SIMPLY A BETTER TOOL!

Bring us your ideas

and we’ll take them to the shopNACE (#1311)

SEMA (#10876)

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

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

Tom Kelly holding the concept rendering of “Blue Heaven”

In a legal battle that involved a bodyshop owner, his former attorney, thePennsylvania Department of Trans-portation and the expansion of Route28, a judge recently ruled that WilliamLieberth Sr., 56, owner of an auto re-pair shop on Route 28, must agree to aPennDOT settlement, pay his formerattorney and vacate his North Sidebusiness by Oct. 1.

Lieberth said he plans to appeal.In an interview with the PittsburghPost-Gazette, he said he is prepared todie for his building. After the orderwas issued, Leiberth said he plannedto continue to fight for his building andthat he would consider it an honor todie for it. He did not elaborate on whatthat meant but said, “I’m pure Germandescent. We know how to fight. I amfully prepared, if I have to.”

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

Lieberth ignored a letter he re-ceived from PennDOT in July tellinghim he must vacate his building byAug. 6. Lieberth has owned and oper-

ated Allegheny Auto Body since 1976.He said he ignored the vacate noticebecause he had nowhere to move hisbusiness.

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

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

Lieberth owns the last businesslocated along the north side of the

Route 28 expansion construction areaand refused to leave after receiving anorder to vacate the property on EastOhio Street.

He insisted that he never agreedto a $245,000 settlement with Pen-nDOT to give up his business for thewidening project. Allegheny AutoBody sits just 10 feet from the road.

Lieberth fired his attorney Aug.22, saying he did not agree to the$245,000 settlement with 30% due tothe attorney and a move-out date ofOct. 1. Lieberth also said he shouldnot have to pay his attorney.

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

According to Lieberth’s former at-torney, his client agreed to a $245,000payment plus $3,500 in interest. In ad-dition, he was able to extend the dateLieberth must vacate the property fromthe end of July to Oct. 1.

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

Lieberth was admonished by

Judge McCarthy who ordered him towait his turn.

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

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

“The whole gross amount, includ-ing moving fees and possibly attorneyfees, I can gross here in two years,”Lieberth said. “They aren’t doing meany favors.”

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

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

Lieberth’s main concern is that hehas no place to move his business. “I


RAE is North America’s premier supplier of Wielander+Schill equipment, the most globally recognized name in collision repair with the most OEM approvals.

OEM approved systems and products are the “preferred choice” for use in collision repair because the system or products have already been pre-screened by the car manufacturer.

Reliable Automotive Equipment, inc.

raeStart Fixing“The RightWay”

NACEbooth#828

SEMA booth#11271

www.raeservice.com

Call Us:732.495.7900Fax: 732.495.7904

58 Leonardville Rd., Belford, NJ 07718 www.facebook.com/reliableautomotiveequipment

Body Shop Move Enforced by Judge for PA Route 29 Expansion

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

have nowhere to go,” he said. “They’retrying to force me to accept this settle-ment, and I said no.”

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

“I have nowhere to go, that’s themain thing,” Lieberth said, addingthat he wants to remain in the vicinityof his current address, visible to hiscustomer base and separate from thecompetition of other auto repairshops.

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

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

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

PennDOT has said that the con-struction phase requiring the propertyoccupied by Lieberth’s auto bodyshop will begin in late 2013 and becompleted in 2014.

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

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

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

PennDOT paid Lieberth $115,000in estimated just compensation for hisproperty in November 2011, includ-ing liens.


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


®

+++


Bankston HondaLewisv i l le

800-344-8611972-219-0021

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

Benson HondaSan Antonio

800-727-8705210-340-0831

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


Honda Cars of McKinneyMcKinney

800-786-9579972-569-4222


Honda of BurlesonBur leson

888-682-3965817-782-8735


Honda of FriscoFr isco

866-442-2711972-731-3176

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

Honda of San MarcosSan Marcos

866-392-1313512-392-1313


McDavid Honda of HoustonHouston

800-444-1263713-941-0400Dept. Hours: M-F [email protected]

Russell & Smith HondaHouston

800-833-0180713-663-4266


Wholesale Parts DirectAust in

800-234-4441512-458-2910Dept. Hours: M-F 8-6

[email protected]

Don Carlton HondaTulsa

800-722-2379918-622-9670

Dept. Hours: M-Sat [email protected]

Joe Marina HondaTulsa

800-722-0520918-491-0110


Superior HondaHarvey

800-943-4227504-368-5687

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

Walker HondaAlexandr ia

318-448-8255318-445-6677

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

Showcase HondaPhoenix , AZ

800-537-8236602-230-7306

Dept. Hours: M-F 7-7; Sat 8-5; Sun [email protected]

TEXAS TEXAS TEXAS LOUISIANA

The Honda and Acura Dealers Listed Here are Subscribers:HONDA

LOUISIANA

TEXAS TEXAS OKLAHOMA LOUISIANA

ACURA

Champion AcuraGul f Freeway

800-749-6227713-371-4700


David McDavid AcuraAust in

800-575-3553512-401-5976


David McDavid AcuraPlano

972-964-6044Dept. Hours: M-F 7-7; Sat [email protected]

Gillman AcuraHouston

800-288-9180281-209-4214Dept. Hours: M-F 7-6

[email protected]

Mac Churchill AcuraFort Worth

888-824-9634817-806-0571


Sterling McCall AcuraHouston

713-596-2337713-596-2338

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

Don Carlton Acuraof TulsaTulsa

888-550-7278918-664-2300

Dept. Hours: M-Sat [email protected]

Acura of Baton RougeBaton Rouge

866-733-2861225-756-6166


Walker AcuraMetai r ie

800-359-8555504-465-8555


LOUISIANA

NEW MEXICOOKLAHOMA

www.autobodynews.comwww.autobodynews.com

AUTOMAKER, OEM, AND RECALLAUTOMAKER, OEM, AND RECALL

, ,, , ,R OEMR OEMR, OEMAUTOMAKER, OEM, OAUTOMAKER, OEM,AUTOMAKER, OEM,AUTOMAKER, OEM, OAU OM R AU OM R AUTOMAKER AUTOMAKER, OEM,O AUTOMAKER, OEM,AUTOMAKER, OEM,AUTOMAKER, OEM,O , , M M M,U U U M M MR R R E E EE E E K K K M M M T T T K K K A A A A A A E E KE A A A AK AK AK MA MA MA U U U M M MM M M R K K K O O O AUTOMAKER, OEM, DDNNNNA DDDDANDANDDDNNNNAAAAANANDNNDDAND A C EC C R L A C EC R R R C C C RE RE R R R L L L L L L A A A E E E CA CA AL AL LL LL L L R RECALLAUTOMAKER, OEM, AND RECALL

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


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

GM Halts Chevy Volt Production

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

SCRS Presents International Perspective on Parts Procurement

David Newton RossAustralia

Rex CrowtherNew Zealand

Trophy Nissan Mesquite 800-876-7696Fax: 972-279-9574 [email protected]

Russell & Smith Ford Houston 800-392-1983Fax: 713-664-0965 [email protected]

TEXASGullo Ford Conroe 936-756-8860Fax: 936-441-1031 [email protected]

Mac Haik Ford Lincoln Houston 713-932-5050Fax: 713-932-5044 [email protected]

Bankston Nissan of Irving 1500 E. Airport Freeway Irving, TX, 75062 972.438.4848 [email protected]

LOUISIANALamarque Ford 504-443-2141Fax: 504-463-1283 [email protected]

OKLAHOMAUnited Ford PDC Tulsa 800-800-9001Fax: 800-676-8509 [email protected]

.com

ellsmith.com

m

OE Reman parts are different and a far better value!

Step 1 Scan the QR code and watch our video.

Step 2 Place an order with one of these fine distributors and experience the difference.• Competitively priced• Limited lifetime warranty• Only NEW factory original parts

• NEVER in a wreck or taken off a wreck!• Refinished, NOT reconditioned = best value for alternative part• Why settle for recycled or reconditioned when you can use refinished?

www.oeremandirect.com

SICK & TIRED of DEALING with AFTERMARKET, RECYCLED and RECONDITIONED PARTS?

w


O K L A H O M A

Mercedes-Benz of Oklahoma CityNationwide Toll Free

1-800-657-2582(405) 272-1737 FAX

Drop Ship Available

WHOLESALE COLLISION PARTSWHOLESALE COLLISION PARTS

Quali!edMercedes-Benz

Parts Prosare available now.

Pictured:2006

SL600Roadster

your shop show up on the first page?Rarely, will someone go to page 2 ofthe search. For this reasons, shopsshould be frequently updating andchanging their website. Another rea-son: “You have between 5–15 secondsto capture their attention,” Terlep says.Terlep suggests shops hire an SEO(search engine optimizations) consult-ant to make sure their site is found.

Another good use of your websiteis to incorporate positive reviews andtestimonials because 82% of con-sumers select a repair facility basedon customer reviews and ratings.

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

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

Most people have accidents every7–10 years. Do your customers re-member you? Your customer is yourcustomer because they had a negativeevent occur in their life. It was a hugedisruption to their daily routine. Mostpeople just want to forget and moveon. And they are probably forgettingwhere they had their car repaired. Be-cause of a customer’s tendency to for-get, Terlep says this is why body shopsneed to be continually marketing totheir existing and future customers.Terlep strongly advises shops to offerservices other than collision repair sotheir customers won’t forget them be-tween accidents. Offer these servicesas coupons in your email campaigns.

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

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

1. Your website

2. Online advertising—Pay Per Click

3. A powerful digital marketing database

4. An email marketing and retention platform

5. A text based marketing and retention system

6. An automated unsold estimate follow up and sales

system

7. 24/7 connectivity to consumers smart phones

8. Social media tools and techniques

9. Validated customer reviews and ratings

10. Digital ads, promotions and e-coupons

11. A customer loyalty and retention system

12. Reputation management system

at www.autobodynews.com

Register Your Email for Our

Free Twice Monthly NewsletterFree Twice Monthly NewsletterFree Twice Monthly Newsletter

Continued from Page 21

You’ll Find Them


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

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

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

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

About the EventsASRW is scheduled for Oct. 10-13 atthe Morial Convention Center in New

Orleans, LA, and includes the Inter-national Autobody Congress & Expo-sition (NACE) and the Congress ofAutomotive Repair & Service(CARS), which makes it the indus-try’s leading event for dedicated pro-fessionals to conduct business,network and engage in industry is-sues.

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

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

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

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

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

“It was important for the Na-tional Auto Body Council to make itas easy as possible for interested par-ties to sign up for participation as wellas sponsorship, and these newchanges to our website make that areality,” said NABC FundraisingCommittee Co-Chair David Merrellof PartsTrader. “We again expect theevent to sell out and remain excitedto promote the positive image of theindustry.”

The Annual Golf EventFundraiser will again take place at theTahquitz Creek Golf Resort in PalmSprings, CA, in conjunction with theNABC’s open board meeting, whichwill take place the previous day, Jan.22. The event is open to both individ-uals and teams, and will be playedusing a four-person scramble format.

NABC Golf Event FundraiserOpens Online Registration

The Automotive Management Insti-tute (AMI) and the AutomotiveService Association (ASA) have an-nounced that Ben Rouw, generalmanager for Steele’s Collision &Glass, Monticello, MN, is the recip-ient of this year’s Emil Stanley MeritAward.

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

Rouw has worked in the auto-motive and collision repair industryfor more than 19 years. He is currentlycompleting the necessary require-ments to earn the Institute’s Accred-ited Automotive Manager (AAM)designation. When not working in theshop, he contributes his time to vari-ous community and industry organi-zations.

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

Recipient of Emil StanleyMerit Award is Announced

The Mississippi Collision Repair As-sociation met Aug. 20 to discuss howshops can collect the balance on shortpaid claims. Attorney Melvin Pace ex-plained how by having vehicle ownerssign Power of Attorneys to give shopsthe right to make repair decisions andcollect all money owed for repairs. Thenewly revived association has plans toexpand in north and south Mississippi.The next meeting will be held in Gulf-port, MS, on Sept. 20 and the Octobermeeting will be held in north Missis-sippi.

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

“We will have the membershipvote on having a statewide meeting/con-vention annually.” The MCRA recentlysubmitted a survey to their membership,addressing training, database providers,warranties, paint booths and other is-sues. The questions on the survey in-cluded:

“Do you use the procedure pagesto prepare estimates?” Every shop an-swered ‘yes.’

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

The conclusion was 100% in thatevery shop intends to be paid for all therequired performed procedures. Notone shop identified a procedure theydid not expect to be paid for.

“This association intends to seekfair treatment for its members from theinsurance industry,” Mosley said. “Wewill no longer sit back and have an in-dustry tell the member shops ‘I won’tpay this because you’re the only one inthis market area asking to be paid.’This is a deceptive tactic used to inti-mate or scare a small business and itwill not be tolerated any longer. Not inMississippi, anyhow.

“The member shops are growingand are learning we can stand togetherunited in a cause while competing forbusiness in a fair manner. More shopowners are realizing we are not ene-mies because we seek the same cus-tomer. As allies, we have a powerfulvoice. Our voice is being heard.”

dale said. “Weight savings for all ofthe components will be similar towhat was achieved on the currentChevrolet Corvette and SRT Viperproduction programs.”

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

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

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

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

“We’re processing carbon fiberwith a breakthrough piece of tech-nology. It’s not RTM (resin transfer

molding), and it’s not autoclave. It’ssomething entirely new. Our 10-yearplan calls for the development ofbreakthrough technology every threeyears. This is just the first of what’sto come,” said Lownsdale.

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

CLASS A Body PanelsFendersHood AssembliesSpoilersDeck Lid AssembliesDoor Panel & inner partsRocker MoldingsRoof AssembliesSplittersLift gatesRear Wings/Spoilers

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



Carbon FiberMississippi Collision Repair AssociationPlans to Expand to the North and South

gone to pay claims after 2008’s Hurri-cane Ike, and at least one legislator isasking the state insurance departmentto look into the matter as well.

According to state officials, theTravis County District Attorney’s Of-fice has been collecting informationfor several months related to claim de-nials by State Farm Lloyd’s—the in-surer’s unit in Texas—following Ike.

Allegations of claims mishandlinghas led to hundreds of lawsuits againstthe insurer, the state’s largest writer ofhomeowners’ coverage. Some lawsuitshave been settled but others remainoutstanding, including a multimilliondollar class-action lawsuit against StateFarm that alleges fraud in adjusting pri-marily roof claims after the hurricanefour years ago.

State Farm spokesman Phil Sup-ple says the insurer “strongly dis-putes” the accusations and is workingwith authorities in their investigation.

“We are proud of our response toHurricane Ike,” continues an emailedstatement from Supple. “To date, wehave paid more than $1.5 billion—

much of which went to repair or re-place roofs.”

State Sen. Rodney Ellis hasasked the Texas Department of Insur-ance to once again look into the alle-gations and work with the TravisCounty District Attorney’s office.

In a letter to Insurance Commis-sioner Kitzman, Ellis refers to a letterhe wrote to her a year ago regarding“serious concerns” related to StateFarm’s “handling of Ike claims con-cerning roof shingles that were liftedor unsealed as a result of hurricane-force winds.”

Kitzman wrote back to Ellis andsaid her office has shared informationwith authorities. She says the depart-ment received four complaints in2009 related to State Farm’s refusal toapprove roof replacements for liftedshingles. The complaints were han-dled and the file was closed in De-cember 2010, writes Kitzman, whotook over as commissioner in July2011.

However, the commissioner says,“Given the severity of the accusationsmade by the district attorney, [the in-surance department] is carefully con-sidering its options for furtherregulatory action in this matter.”

Earlier this month State FarmLloyd’s said it filed for a 20 percentaverage statewide homeowners’ in-surance rate increase due to the vol-ume, and the escalating cost, of claimsin Texas.

The insurer says roofing costshave risen 86.4 percent since 2007.

The new rates will go into effectNov. 1 for new customers and Dec. 1for existing customers.

This latest rate hike is on top ofanother increase earlier this year. Thecumulative increase will be 31.5%—more than $400 more out of pocket—for the average State Farm customer.

State Farm has drastically in-creased deductibles on its customers.So, while the company is increasingrates, it is also reducing coverage.

State Farm has refused to complywith a 2003 state order to lower itsrates and refund overcharges. A panelof judges in Austin are currently re-viewing the decade-long legal dispute.


Local: 972-202-2200Fax: 972-202-2195

800 955 53888888888888888880000000000000000-999999995555555555555555-55555555333333338888888888888888800-955-5388Toll Free:

Mon-Fri 7am - 7pm • Sat 8am - 5pm

• Wholesale Collision Specialist• One of the Largest Inventories in the State• Free Delivery to TX, OK, LA

HYUNDAI PLANO

HYUNDAI

909 Coit Rd., Plano, TX 75075

Young ChevroletYoung ChevroletYoung ChevroletParts for Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC, Oldsmobile, Pontiac

• Same day shipping until 5:30 EST• Next-day air until 4:30 EST• 4.2 million inventory

Toll Free: 800-451-0108

Direct: 214-328-8381Fax (main): 214-328-6675

Fax (wholesale): 214-328-0716

Main: 214-328-9111, Opt. 5

Genuine GM Parts at Genuine GM PricesWe want your business!

9301 E. R.L. Thornton Fwy, Dallas, TX

[email protected]

Camaro

• 60,000 part numbers• 13 parts pros eager to serve you• 15 radio-dispatched trucks

• 97,000 square-foot warehouse


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

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

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

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

Service King Gives $10,000for Student Scholarships

Follow us on Twitter:@autobodynews

Accept no Substitutes!


9777 S. Memorial Dr. Tulsa OK 74133 4905 S. Memorial Dr. Tulsa, OK 74145 4141 S Memorial Dr. Tulsa, OK 74145

800-627-0705918-665-6905 Fax 888-550-7278918-627-6457 Fax 800-722-2379918-392-9665 Fax

www.doncarltonhyundai.com

Parts Hours:Mon-Sat.

7:00am - 6pm

Parts Manager:Michael [email protected]

Don Carlton HYUNDAI OF TULSA

Don Carlton ACURA OF TULSA

Don CarltonHONDA OF TULSA

Largest inventory Nightly deliveries

www.doncarltonacura.com


7:00am - 6pm

Parts Manager:Diane [email protected]

www.doncarltonhonda.com


7:00am - 6pm

Parts Manager:Garry [email protected]

Knowledgeable staffFirst class service

Excellent service Competitive pricing

Member of the Tulsa Parts ConnectionMember of the Tulsa Parts ConnectionMember of the Tulsa Parts Connection Member of the Tulsa Parts ConnectionMember of the Tulsa Parts ConnectionMember of the Tulsa Parts Connection Member of the Tulsa Parts ConnectionMember of the Tulsa Parts ConnectionMember of the Tulsa Parts Connection

The Automotive Aftermarket Prod-ucts Expo (AAPEX) launched thisyear’s myAAPEX for buyers onAug. 30.

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

To start using this importantnetworking service, visit myAAPEXon the AAPEX website and enteryour email and badge number as thepassword. Your badge number wasprovided on your badge confirma-tion email. You must be a registeredbuyer to use myAAPEX.

AAPEX runs October 29—No-vember 1 in Las Vegas.

Use myAAPEX to Connectwith Exhibitors before Show

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

Kinney has worked in the colli-sion industry for more than 10 yearsand is currently completing the neces-sary requirements to earn the Insti-tute’s Accredited Automotive Manager(AAM) designation. When not work-ing in the shop, she contributes time tovarious community and industry or-ganizations.

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

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

2012 Memorial ScholarshipRecipient Named

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

The ‘Three Days to TransformYour Body Shop’ series will cover re-pair authorization vs. repair contracts,job costing, ROI and interpretation oflegal documents. The three Saturdaysessions are spread over a 10-weekperiod and will take place at the BestWestern Royal Plaza Hotel of Marl-borough from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

“The CCRE has made a name foritself over the years as a group of con-sultants who work diligently to helpshops be the best they can be,” saidAASP-MA President Rick Starbard.“As with past CCRE educational of-ferings, this series of seminars has beenmet with rave reviews in locations suchas Cleveland, Philadelphia and Birm-ingham, AL. We knew there was an in-credible value in the information beingpresented in these seminars, but the re-ality is that many repairers can’t affordto spend extra time away from the shoptraveling. So we worked with CCRE todevelop a plan and bring these greatseminars right to AASP-MA members’own backyards.”

The series is offered for $495 to

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

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

By the end of the three sessions,attendees will gain a new perspectiveon running a successful, independentshop; a blueprint for putting appropri-ate administrative and operating pro-cedures in place; and the legaldocuments needed to comply specifi-cally with Massachusetts laws andregulations that can be used every day.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


THE PROFESSIONAL CHOICE FOR GENUINETHE PROFESSIONAL CHOICE FOR GENUINE

5901 Spur 327 • Lubbock, TX 79424

GM PARTSGM PARTSGM PARTSManufacturer recommended parts are an important part of maintaining your vehicle’s optimum performance.We offer the same high quality parts your vehicle was built with and we keep a large inventory of these genuine parts in stock at all times.

BUICK LACROSSE

SALES:MON-FRI 7:30 am-6:30 pmSAT 8:30 am-12:30 pm

TOLL FREE: 800-888-4251DIRECT: 806-798-4103FAX: 806-798-4086

www.sdparts.com

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

with Chasidy Rae SiskCompany Connections

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

Mike Bennett

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

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


(214) 778-2814(214) 778-2814Fax:Fax:(800) 865-4269(800) 865-4269

Habla EspañolHabla Español

Mitch MitchellSandy PriesmeyerJavier Perez

Mitch MitchellSandy PriesmeyerJavier Perez

6800 Dallas Pkwy., Plano, TX 75024www.classicbmw.com

Monday - Friday 7am - 7pm / No Deliveries on Saturday

Classic BMW

Classic BMW

www.classicbmw.com800-865-4269

Call us for all your parts needs

Original BMW Parts & Accessories

Our parts team has 350+ years ofcollective experience with 200+of those BMW specific

We’re the Only BMW Dealer toreceive two shipments daily toboth an authorized and certifiedcollision repair center

We stock almost $2 million dollarsworth of Original BMW Parts

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

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

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

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

Group AG in October to seek buyersfor the unit.

Kullman told investors in De-cember that she would give the busi-ness, which has the company’snarrowest profit margin, a chance tomeet company targets. DuPont’s long-term goals for coatings included salesrising by 3% to 5% annually, thesmallest targeted rise among the com-pany’s eight divisions.

The DuPont deal will close in thefirst quarter of 2013, subject to regu-latory approvals, the companies said.It would be the largest in the coatingsindustry globally in at least a decade,according to data compiled byBloomberg. The next biggest was PPGIndustries Inc. (PPG)’s 2.2 billion-euro ($2.76 billion) acquisition of Sig-maKalon Group BV in 2008.

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

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

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

DuPont became an auto-paintsindustry leader with its $1.9 billion ac-quisition of Herberts GmbH from Ger-many’s Hoechst GmbH in 1999.DuPont cut 1,500 coatings jobs andshut factories in Europe seven yearslater after the business failed toachieve financial targets.

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

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

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

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


For Your Next Repair Pick Only Original

TOYOTA PARTS!

HOURS:Mon. - Fri. 7am - 7pm / Sat. 7am - 5pm

9001 Camp Bowie W. • Fort Worth, TX 76116

[email protected]

Call Us Today!

866-295-8384817-916-1557Fax

817-560-3649PartsHotline

• 70+ Years Combined Parts Team Experience• 70+ Years Combined Parts Team Experience• Volume Discounts• Volume Discounts• 70+ Years Combined Parts Team Experience• Volume Discounts

Y ex R p r c On y O ginalY Next Repair Pick Only Origi al

TOYOTA OF FORT WORTHTOYOTA OF FORT WORTHTOYOTA OF FORT WORTHGM PARTS? You’re in good hands.? You’re in goooooooooooodddddddddd hands.

ChevylandChevylandChevylandChevylandChevylandChevyland

Largest Inventory inLargest Inventory inTri-State Area!

Largest Inventory inTri-State Area!

WE DELIVER TO TX, OK and LA.

NEED

800-551-8189(318) 425-3417 - (318) 425-1705 Fax

Bud NelsonOutside Sales

Skeeter RaneyOutside Sales

7500 Youree Dr.,Shreveport, LA 71037

www.chevyland.com

Order in by 5pm,Arrives Next Day7:00am - 6:00pm M-F

Online Parts Look-upsJeral Lawler, Parts Mgr.We price match!Call for quote.

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

“Copart is proud to support theefforts of the Collision Repair Educa-tion Foundation as this organizationcontinues its on-going educationalwork. It is critical that there be in-vestments in collision school pro-grams and most importantly,investments in the next generation ofcollision repair industry professionals.We are happy to do our part to ensurethe industry thrives and grows,” notedCopart CEO Jay Adair.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Yin Fan has received several In-ternational Standards certifications,

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

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

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

For more information www.sil-versails-paints.com.

e-mail:[email protected]

800-699-8251

To advertisecall Advertising Sales at:

www.autobodynews.com

To advertisecall Advertising Sales at:


Use Genuine Ford Parts for your customers late model Ford, Lincoln

and Mercury vehicles.

You're always guaranteedthat they will �t right the

�rst time, every time.

Take it to the End Zone.

with our Genuine Ford Parts

s la

Youha

Ta

customers

Yt

Call your local Authorized Ford Wholesaler today!

ine Ford Parts for your ate model Ford Lincoln

nus la

Use Gencustomers

When it comes to Ford Genuine Parts,go with a winning team.

Bob Tomes Ford,Lincoln, Mercury

McKINNEY

800-792-1155214-544-5081

214-544-5194 Fax

Casa Ford, LincolnEL PASO

915-490-8437915-775-8259 [email protected]

Champion FordGulf Freeway

HOUSTON

Wholesale Direct800-388-4005713-371-4111

713-371-4101 Faxwww.fordparts.com/champion

Five Star FordNORTH RICHLAND HILLS

Wholesale Direct800-895-7827817-577-2781

817-577-0558 Faxwww.5starford.com

Gene Messer Ford,Mazda, Lincoln, Mercury

AMARILLO

Wholesale Direct806-355-7417

806-352-9604 [email protected]/genemesser

Gullo FordCONROE

936-756-8860800-404-7781 WATTS936-441-1031 [email protected]

Helfman FordSTAFFORD

800-634-8008281-240-0642 [email protected]

www.fordparts.com/helfman

Joe Myers FordHOUSTON

800-533-3609713-482-5000

713-744-3253 [email protected]

Kinsel FordBEAUMONT


866-339-7711 Fax

Mac Haik Ford,Lincoln

GEORGETOWN/AUSTIN

800-804-4423512-930-6345 [email protected]

www.fordparts.com/machaikflm

McRee FordDICKINSON

281-337-1529281-534-2009 Fax

[email protected]

Russell & SmithFord

HOUSTON

800-392-1983713-663-4222 Direct713-664-0965 Fax

[email protected]

Sewell Ford LincolnODESSA

800-592-4762432-498-0434 Direct432-498-0283 Fax

[email protected]

Tommie VaughnMotorsHOUSTON

800-944-4415713-869-4755

713-293-4309 Faxwww.tommievaughn.com

Waxahachie FordWAXAHACHIE

972-825-4578 Direct972-825-4576 [email protected]

Bob Moore FordOKLAHOMA CITY

877-831-4183405-246-2393


United Ford PDCTULSA


800-676-8509 [email protected]/unitedford

www.unitedford.com

These dealers are Genuine Ford Parts wholesale specialists.TEXAS

Lamarque FordKENNER

888-882-0577504-443-2141


www.lamarque.com

OKLAHOMA

Make us your one-stop shop today!

LOUISIANA

OKLAHOMA

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

2:45 p.m.–3:15 p.m. NetworkingBreak

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

4:30 p.m.–4:45 p.m. ClosingComments

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

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

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


• Toyota Star Elite Dealer• Free Delivery to All of Texas• Free Toyota Electronic Parts Catalogue for our Wholesale Customers

Call Toll Free:

888-818-5176Fax Your Order:956-718-4234

Parts Dept. Hours:Monday - Friday: 7:30am - 6pmSaturday: 8:30am - 5pm

of LAREDO

Parts DMonday

Toyota

ASRW Hosts 2nd Annual MSO Symposium October 12

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“First off, you need to refreshand add new content to your site peri-odically, because otherwise you’remissing a wide range of SEO advan-tages over your competitors. We ana-lyze approximately 50 body shops’websites every month, and one of thethings we see is that many of themhave been sitting dormant for way toolong. I find sites that haven’t beenchanged in 8–12 years, in some cases.If you don’t change with the times,you get left behind and you can loseyour ranking fairly quickly.”

Claypool offered three quick tipsabout how to improve your SEO.“First, you need to add new contentall the time, because the search en-gines are attracted to original, freshcontent. You also need to make sure

that your keywords are the best youcan have. There are free tools fromGoogle available to help you in deter-mining that. And lastly, you shouldconstantly be looking around to get in-volved in new things like GooglePlaces for Business, mobile apps andemerging social media.”

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

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

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

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


The right part makes the difference.

Fax: 832.446.4081866.645.498613915 I45 North • Houston, TX 77090

Hours: Mon-Fri 7am-6pm; Sat 7.30am-4pm

wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww.ww.ww.w.ww.ww.www.wwww nonononooonononononononnononortrtrtrtrtrtrtrtrrttrttr hfhfhfhfhfhfhfhfhhfhfhfhffhfhhhfrererererererererereereeewewewewewewewwweweweweweewayyayaayayayayayayyyyyayayyyyyayayayyyayayyayayayyyyayayayyayayayayaa hyhyhhyhyhyhyhyhyhyhhyhyhyhyhyhyhyhyhyhyhyhyhyhhhyhyhyhyyyyhyyyhyhyhyyhyhyyununununuununnunununununuununuununuuunnnnunnunnnnnnununnnunuunddadadaddaddadadadaddaddadddaddaddddddddaaadaddadaaaaaadaaadadaadadaaaaiiiiiiii.i.ii..i.i.iiiii....i.i.ii..ii..iii..cococcocoocccococococococcccoccocccccommmmmmmmmmmmmwww.northfreewayhyundai.com

• N.L.S. Delivery • Genuine Hyundai OEM Parts •• Helpful Sta! • 30+ Years Experience •

North Freeway Hyundai

with Ed Attanasio

Social Media for Shops

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

What You Don’t Know about SEO Can Cost You

[email protected] us!write us!write us!

Give us your opinion on matters affecting the industry.

w


LOUISIANAKia of Baton Rouge

Baton Rouge5740 Siegen Lane

(225) 490-8000(225) 490-8014 Fax

OKLAHOMAFerguson Advantage

ImportsBroken Arrow

800-880-8815(918) 317-6280 Fax

Open M-F 7:00am - 6:00pm

TEXASArcher Kia

Houston1-888-983-1425(281) 983-1437 Fax

Capitol Kia13573 North US Hwy 183

Austin(512) 583-1900(512) 583-1899 Fax7:30am - 6:00pm M-F

Central KiaIrving

(972) 257-7602(972) 257-7650 Fax

M-F 7:30-7:00, Sat 8:00-5:00

Central KiaPlano

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

De Montrond KiaHouston

Wats 1-800-392-6704(281) 872-3909

(281) 872-3914 Fax

Fredy KiaHouston

Toll Free 800-883-1933Direct (713) 941-3600(713) 947-8053 Fax7:00am - 6:00pm M-F

7:00am - 12:00 Noon SatFree local delivery Free DSI shipping

Huffines Kia DentonDenton

940-321-2504(940) 497-2920 Fax

M-F 7:00-7:00, Sat 8:00-5:00Local Delivery Available

www.Huffines.net

Huffines Kia McKinneyMcKinney

469-525-4450(469) 525-4459 Fax

M-F 7:00-7:00, Sat 8:00-5:00Local Delivery Available

www.Huffines.net

Moritz KiaHurst

(877) 651-4542(817) 595-8325 Fax

Southwest Kia39650 LBJ Freeway South

DallasToll Free 888-544-9249

Direct (972) 616-0069(972) 421-0294 Fax

M-F 7:30-6:00, Sat 8:30-5:00

Precise fit and finish, easyinstallation and a limitedwarranty direct from KIA

— all genuine advantagesof genuine KIA parts. Your

local KIA retailer has all theparts you need.


Original BMW Parts

bmwusa.com

BMW of San AntonioSan Antonio(210) 732-7121(800) 880-1430

BMW of DallasDallas(800) 245-7269(972) 241-3953 Fax

BMW of Houston NorthHouston(888) 215-7431(281) 875-4021 Fax

Classic BMWPlano(214) 778-2673 Direct Wholesale(214) 778-2674 Direct Wholesale(214) 778-2814 Fax

Texas

BMW of TulsaTulsa(800) 331-3996(918) 665-1360 Fax

Oklahoma

You only get one chance at the first repair.Original Thought #78

Sandia BMWAlbuquerque(800) 642-2697(505) 217-0289 Fax

New Mexico

• Original BMW Parts& Accessories

Led by husband-wife team Beepand Holley, Barrett Auto Care willmake fellow bidders think twice ifthey think this team is a sweet “Maand Pop” shop.

Josh Rodriguez, the owner ofhis home backyard-based RodriguezRod & Cycle, admits to lacking afancy garage, but he always hits theright price with daring car revamps.

Ken, Sarah, Mike and Marty,the team behind Atomic Garage, maybe the rookies, but their lack in carauction experience is overshadowedby their big personalities and confi-dence.

Finally, the kingpins of car auc-tions, Frank (nightclubs owner),Dennis and ‘Big Block’ of Old SkoolKustoms, have the guts and the bigbucks to always nab the best bids andhighest car resales.

Texas Car Wars is produced forDiscovery Channel by Megalomedia,and Jonathan Nowzardan serves asExecutive Producer. Discovery Chan-nel Executive Producer is CraigCoffman with Tara Hunter.


Texas Car Wars

The average policyholder at aninsurer for up to two years usuallywon’t realize any savings fromswitching, according to OPIC pro-jections, but a policyholder at an in-surer between two and three yearscan see average savings of 5.2 per-cent. That figure increases with everyyear a policyholder is at a company,peaking at 19 percent for a customerat an insurer between eight and nineyears.

The OPIC notes that customerswho insure both their cars and homewith the same company may have toinsure both with the new company inorder to realize those savings.

High Retention Rates Mean Many Cus-tomers Could Be OverpayingSeveral studies back the fact that in-surers hold very high retention ratesfor their policyholders, which couldmean that consumers are missing outon savings.

A July report from J.D. Powerand Associates showed a split trend:The portion of consumers shopping

for auto coverage hit its lowest pointin five years, but those who did shoparound switched providers at an all-time high rate.

That study found the averageshopper switching their auto coveragecarrier saved $359.

A 2010 study from Deloittefound that 4 out of 10 auto policy-holders were with their insurer formore than a decade and that 6 out of10 of policyholders “rarely or nevershop their policy for a better deal.”

The OPIC study highlighted sev-eral reasons it believed contributed topolicyholders’ long stays with an in-surer, including how arduous theshopping process can be—especiallyfor those with multiple policy lines—and relatively high satisfaction ratesacross major insurers.

An Advantage for ShoppersBut when they do shop, consumershave a chance at savings.

A quote comparison generatedby OPIC and state regulators showeda large range of auto policy prices,from a high quote of $886 to lowquote of $223 for a motorist whowants to get car insurance in Texasfrom a “middle class ZIP code innorth Austin.”

As a result of the high retentionrates, fierce competition for the smallpool of available consumers leadsmany insurers to offer deals to attractnew business even at a short-termloss, according to OPIC.

But after the initial honeymoonperiod at the beginning of a policy,rates may slowly start to rise and wipeout the initial savings.

“We encourage all policyholdersto frequently test the market by seek-ing quotes. There is no downside,”OPIC stated in the report. “Even pol-icyholders who have been with a com-pany just a short time can often realizelarge savings.”


Long Term Insurance

at www.autobodynews.com

Register Your Email for Our

Free Twice Monthly NewsletterFree Twice Monthly NewsletterFree Twice Monthly Newsletter

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Attract Customers with a Clean Shop: 10 Tips to a Pristine Look


800 N. Central Expy.Richardson, TX 75080

Find Your GM Parts Here!

866.754.3244Fax: 972.952.8151

Please call or fax your inquiries today!

www.reliableGMparts.com

Parts Department Hours:Mon. - Fri. 7:30am - 6:30pm

Sat. 8am - 5pm

• Highly Competitive Discounts• Se Habla Español

• Genuine GM Parts• Free Delivery

RELIABLECHEVROLET

THE NORTH TEXAS CHEVY STORE

I've written about ways to use the cus-tomer information form to build busi-ness many times, but I still comeacross estimators who either expectfront desk people to handle it and thenignore it, or just capture the minimuminfo about the vehicle and insurancecompany. Somehow many estimatorssimply don't understand the value ofthis form as a sales and profit tool.Perhaps an estimator's boss, the shopowner or manager, foolishly pays es-timators a flat rate with no meaning-ful incentive to increase businessvolume and profits, but even estima-tors I know who are paid incentivesstill fail to use the form intelligently. Ihave to conclude they simply don'tgrasp the real meaning or value of thisform.

This form may be one of the mostvaluable of all forms in a shop! Usedproperly it can open the door to busi-ness and family referrals, providemany ways to make a customer a cus-tomer for life, and a wealth of ways toclose the sale. In addition to the obvi-ous questions like family and chil-dren's birthdays, anniversaries, andother key events, a good info sheetasks for business or employer info andany company vehicle info. A lazy esti-mator will expect front desk people tocapture as much info as they can, but asmart estimator seizes the opportunityto talk with the customer and fill in theform for him or her. A smart ownersends out birthday, anniversary andholiday greetings, but a smarter esti-

mator gets to ask about other familymembers and associates and their ve-hicles. This is a perfect time to offer afamily or company discount or free carwash or detail to bring in other familymembers or business associates.

While all of this should be stan-dard customer sales mining, there isan even more important sales use forthis form. With the sluggish economy,vehicles are being kept longer. One es-timate is now eleven years on average.This means that people keeping theirvehicles longer may not be addingcollision coverage to their auto insur-ance. This has increased the volumeof self-pay jobs to what may be 20percent or more for many shops. Un-fortunately if the estimator hasn't usedthe info form to see if it's an insurancepay or self-pay job, he or she mightwrite an estimate that assumes an in-surance level of payment to restore thevehicle to pre-accident condition. Ifthe estimator knows it will be a self-pay job, he or she will usually ask thecustomer just how much restoration isdesired and how much the person'sbudget will bear. Knowing there is alimited budget, an estimator may sug-gest used or aftermarket parts andother cost-saving measures.

I spoke to one estimator recentlywho told me most self-pay jobs werevery low-priced minor repairs thatprobably cost more to process thanthey were worth. I asked if this wasalways true, and he had to admit thatoccasionally they would get a self-pay

job worth many thousands of dollars.He had to admit that a couple of thesejobs would compensate for a greatmany low or no-profit jobs and that itwas probably still worth while to takethe time to do the self-pays when theycame along. Once again, the customerinformation form could be a key toprofitable self-pay. When faced with athousand-dollar deductible, evensome insurance-covered damagemight be profitably converted to self-pay. Most people know that if theyhave the insurance company pay forrepairs, there is a fair chance their pre-mium will rise. A repair job in the$2000 range with a $1000 deductiblecould easily be a wash if the probabil-ity of a premium rate increase is fac-tored in. And if the job becameself-pay, once again the estimatorcould show the customer ways theycould reduce the cost of the repair(without reducing the shop's profit).

The low-budget self-pay indica-

tion on the form is just one heads-upadvantage for the estimator. A moreprofitable opportunity might be sug-gested for more affluent types. Somecustomers might choose to replace anexternal part with a more cosmeticallyappealing part and be willing to payfor an upgrade. Pinstriping, graphics,clear-bra or other paint-related add-ons might be suggested. Motherstransporting children or pets might bein the market for additional safetyitems or restraints. Truck ownersmight be interested in any number ofadd-ons. Handicapped people couldbe looking for a specific upgrade likea power running board. A careful read-ing of the form can reveal many pos-sibilities before even looking at thevehicle. Handled properly, the cus-tomer information form can be a win-dow into the customer's mind. Thatlittle bit of information mining couldturn into some gold mining for theshop.


OOUURR PPAARRTTSS IINN TTHHEE TTRRAAIINNEEDD HHAANNDDSS OOFF AA PPRROOFFEESSSSIIOONNAALLTogether it’s a Masterpiece!TT

GM PartsGM PartsFinish Second to None. s a MaMaM sterprpiece!Finish Second to None.

Texas

Ray Huffines ChevroletPLANO

800-955-6282972-202-2300

972-596-5571 FaxMon.-Fri. 7-7; Sat. 8-5

Call Us For Your Saturn Parts Also.

Reliable ChevroletRICHARDSON

866-754-3244972-952-8151 Fax

Mon.-Fri. 7:30-6:30; Sat. 8-5www.reliableGMparts.com

Louisiana

Banner ChevroletNEW ORLEANS

800-477-8603504-242-4624

504-253-8490 Faxwww.bannerauto.com

Information Mining for Profit

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 many busi-nesses. He can be reached at (323) 871-6862 or at [email protected]. See Tom’s columns at www.autobodynews.com under Columnists > Franklin

The best drivers in the country, ac-cording to Allstate, are in SiouxFalls, SD, and Boise, ID, where theaverage driver will suffer a colli-sion only every 13.8 years. Pre-sumably these are bad areas inwhich to own a collision facility.They may also offer the best insur-ance rates for non-rural residents inthe US.

The best place on the list, intheory, for a collision facility isWashington, DC, where the aver-age driver can expect to need a re-pair every 4.7 years, 112% of thenational average of approximately10 years.

Allstate Reveals Best DriversThe National Highway TrafficSafety Administration (NHTSA)has extended its rule for retrofittingon-off switches on vehicle airbags,according to an announcementfrom the Automotive Service As-sociation (ASA). NHTSA’s currentregulation allows automobile deal-ers and repair businesses to installretrofit on-off switches for airbagsin vehicles made prior to Sept. 1,2012. The agency’s new rule ex-tends the ability to retrofit vehicleairbag on-off switches for threemore years through Sept. 1, 2015,according to the ASA. The rule iseffective immediately.

NHTSA Finalizes Airbag Rule

The Auto Body Association of Con-necticut (ABAC) released this follow-ing statement, taking a position onState Farm's PartsTrader program:

The ABAC stands with our brotherand sister organizations across the coun-try decrying State Farm’s PartsTraderprogram. The endeavor is a wolf insheep’s clothing. It is bad for repairers,part manufacturers, and most impor-tantly, consumers. The only two enter-prises in place to profit – and profithandsomely – are State Farm Insuranceand PartsTrader.

PartsTrader is a web-based, colli-sion part sourcing, quoting and orderingsystem. According to its website, “Part-sTrader is a tool to improve the collisionreplacement parts sourcing, quoting andordering process. We are not a parts re-tailer. We facilitate the matching of col-lision repairers with replacement partssuppliers.”

Currently, PartsTrader is open onlyto State Farm Select Service repairersand parts suppliers nominated by SelectService repairers. According to Part-sTrader, however, its long-term goal isto make PartsTrader available to the en-tire U.S. collision repair industry.

The idea, as we see it, is to hood-

wink the part suppliers and repairersinto negotiating away their respectiveprofit margins in the name of greaterprofits for State Farm. Despite the pro-gram being sold as a benefit to repair-ers and consumers, it quite clearlybenefits neither. There are already pro-grams in place to ensure competitivepricing. What PartsTrader does is infusea grossly inefficient process at the ex-pense of the repairers and OEM ven-dors. Thus, not only is the programredundant, it is also inefficient. What ismore, insurers simply cannot continueto draw profits from an already besiegedindustry without further affecting qual-ity and safety. It just can’t happen. Sim-ilar to what is happening in the healthcare market, the insurer model of per-petually taking in more premiums,while perpetually finding new ways topay less on claims, is fundamentallycorrupting both industries.

If State Farm and PartsTrader aresuccessful in penetrating the entire U.S.parts market, State Farm will find itselfflush with new profits hot off the backsof repairers, retailers and consumers. Itwill not take long for the likes of All-state, Progressive, GEICO and others tofollow suit. History and experience

have taught us that any time an insurerendeavors to “improve” the auto bodyindustry, bad things happen. Instead offocusing on the business of insurance,State Farm has, once again, taken itupon itself to meddle with the collisionrepair industry for its own selfish moti-vations. Insurers should not be involvedin collision repair decisions, collisionrepair standards, setting pricing on re-pairs or establishing a new system forthe sale and distribution of auto parts.None of this relates to the business ofinsurance.

Members of the ABAC and othersacross the country have unsuccessfullysought to secure the contractual docu-ments detailing the specifics of this planand respective rights and duties of StateFarm, PartsTrader and the participatingauto body shops. As with any programof this scope and degree, the devil is un-doubtedly in the details. Seeing as theauto body industry had no say in this en-deavor, the specifics are being keptfrom us, and because we know StateFarm’s history of selfishly interfering inour industry, we can only presume thatwhat we do not yet know is even worsethan what we already know. All of thefacts, not just those selected by State

Farm and PartsTrader, should be on thetable.

The ABAC surveyed all of its sup-porting OEM vendors to ask a simplequestion: Do you intend on participat-ing in PartsTrader? For many of the rea-sons articulated in this press release,every OEM vendor, all 76 of them, saidthey will not. Not one OEM vendor saidit would agree to participate in Part-sTrader. Indeed, we are unaware of anyOEM vendor in Connecticut who in-tends on participating.

Given the origin of the PartsTraderprogram, State Farm’s apparent objec-tives, the obvious inefficiencies andharms caused by the program, togetherwith the litany of problems already ex-perienced and highlighted by industryleaders across the country, the ABACfelt it imperative to interject its voiceinto the national debate. For all of theaforementioned reasons, we write tostrongly oppose the PartsTrader pro-gram. Further, in light of the long-termdamage this program will likely causeour industry, we are respectfully en-couraging those of you who have notyet weighed in on this debate to care-fully examine the pilot program andvoice your opinions.


See these Hyundai dealers below for all your collision parts needs!

QUALITY IS ALL WE THINK ABOUT. THAT

AND QUALITY.

Hyundai Genesis 2012

OKLAHOMATEXAS

Hub HyundaiHOUSTON

800-856-2212281-955-2311 Fax

Mon-Fri 7:30am - 6pmSat 8am - 3pm

[email protected]

Allen SamuelsHyundai

NORTH RICHLAND HILLS800-888-2079817-589-7882 Fax

Mon-Fri 7am - 7pmSat 7am - 4pm

[email protected]

Automax HyundaiNORMAN

866-619-6406405-364-3307405-364-6504 Fax


Van HyundaiCARROLLTON

972-512-4200972-512-4202 Fax


[email protected]

Don CarltonHyundai of Tulsa

TULSA800-627-0705918-622-2843 Fax

Mon-Sat 7am - [email protected]

www.doncarlton.com

James WoodHyundaiDECATUR

940-627-4607940-627-4653 FaxMon-Fri 7:30am - 5:30pm

[email protected]

Connecticut Association Voices Alarm About PartsTrader

This month’s column is Part 2 of myJune column about building a juniormotor sport body for a motor sport ve-hicle for an 11-year-old driver.

You can read or download it atwww.autobodynews.com in my columnssection if you missed it.

In the last column, I talked aboutbuilding the plug to make a mold. Aswe left it, I was creating the plug form.I was working to get the plug com-pleted so it was totally true to where Iwas satisfied enough to make a mold.Doing body work is one thing, butmaking a plug and going to a mold is

just repeating steps and you can’t evensee the light at the end of the tunnel. Iam totally exhausted from it. The hun-dreds, almost thousands, of hours I’veput into it just to get a part. After youget a mold made, it’s amazing how youcan put out a part every 30–35 hours,after the hundreds of hours I spentmaking the mold. So, there are re-wards at the end of it—to make thatpart in that short amount of time andget exactly all the details you wanted.

Getting back to the plug, I left it at400 grit. I did a wet sand after primer-ing: 80 grit, 150 grit, with 400 grit, thenI’m ready for sealer. Next, I wipe itdown with carbon wax twice, then comeback with a release agent that I spray on.Then, I mask all the areas off, to breakthis down into a form of how everythingcomes apart to get the body out. Wemark off a section of the car—the roof,

hood and trunk is one section. I make aflange using a fiberglass 1/8 inch sheet,two inches wide. This flange is wherewe are going to bolt this mold together.Then we’re going to use locating but-tons along the top to keep everything to-gether. We use clay, hot glue, and woodto give it structure. Then I come backwith FBS brown tape that allows me todraw out my lines, tape two inches, thencome back and glue blocks of wood allthe way down where I put the tape. ThenI cut and make a flange that goes all theway around that perimeter. After I dothat, then I wax everything once again,

use release agent, then put tooling gelcoat down. Any cracks or imperfectionsare filled with clay, like sculpturing.Then, we’re gonna lay mat down anduse cloth and a Squeegee to get all theair bubbles out, then pull off the clothand let that cure. We also use a paste,too, to get down in the corners where thecloth might not sink down and pull up.

We do that once, then we comeback the next day and grind every-thing, put another mat down, anothercloth, and do it again for a total of fivetimes. That way, you have a total of al-most a half inch of thickness.

After we finish that, we tear off theflange, we go to the left and right side ofthe car and make another part and do thesame thing: the wax, the tooling gel coat,the mat, the cloth, the same process.

Then we go to the rear of the carand do the same thing, plus the wheel

wells, the rocker, the rear part of thebumper. There are 14 pieces to the moldby the time I am done. That’s hundredsof hours just to make this one mold.

Then I have to build a frame be-cause the mold is so heavy. I have tobuild the frame while the mold is con-nected to the plug to make it even. Ibuild the frame out of thick gauge 2x4square tubing, then we mount casterson it, connect supporting bars, andthen take it off, finish welding it, andturn it upside down. Next we take themold off the plug, clean it up withwater, then bolt it together. After that,

we repeat the process of cleaning themold, putting it all together, sandingdown the imperfections on the moldwith 400 grit to make sure its allsmooth, then we go back and waxeverything, put release agent, gel coat(not tooling gel coat), then repeat thesame process on all the pieces. I’musing mat and cloth to get air bubblesout and make it stronger. Then I comeback with some reinforcing 5mm Cor-mat which will fill up with resin toadd density to flat areas. The next day,I come back and put everything to-


Building Body Molds from Plugs is No Easy Task

Custom Cornerwith Rich Evans

On Creative Marketingwith Thomas Franklin

Action Countswith Lee Amaradio Jr.

with Sheila LoftusYour Turn

Opinions Countwith Dick Strom

Shop Showcasewith Janet Chaney

Industry Overviewwith Janet Chaney

Industry Interviewwith Janet Chaney


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

See No Easy Task, Page 54


Your Source for Wholesale Volvo Parts

Right Part. Right Price.Right Now.

Trust your order to the collision parts specialists at these fine Dealers

volvo Genuine parts

Texas

Volvo of DallasDALLAS

800-498-7402972-963-9750

972-963-9749 Fax

Genuine Mazda parts are specifically designed, engineered and tested for Mazda vehicles. Customers and repair professionals prefer the quality and satisfaction that only comes from genuine Mazda parts.

Ingram Park Mazda6980 NW Loop 410San Antonio

800-580-7278Direct 210-681-6018Fax 210-543-0739

Kinsel MazdaBeaumont

800-454-6735Fax 409-923-5856

Give your customers what they deserve... The Best.

TEXAS

Order your Genuine Mazda Parts from one of these parts specialists in your area.

RX-8 2012

Rich’s SEMA Appearance ScheduleSEMA 2012 is approaching faster thanwe could expect. As we all know, theSpecialty Equipment Market Associationis the biggest automotive show of theyear. I am totally looking forward to itand I wanted to give you the low-downon what Rich Evans Designs has beendoing and how we are gearing up forSEMA.

On Tuesday, October 30 at 1 p.m. inthe FBS Booth #11177, we will be un-veiling the project we built in Canada, a2004 H2 Hummer which was built in 10days on our new show World Wide CarBuilding. We will have all nine buildersfrom the U.S. there, as well as the teamfrom Curtis Customs in Canada.

At 3 p.m. in the Wyotech Booth#12073, we will be unveiling our sec-ond project from the recent build inCanada, which was also filmed forWorld Wide Car Building. The secondvehicle we built is a 1954 panel truck.

We will have scissor reels playingin both booths with highlights from thefilming.

Please stop by and say hello at any

of the following scheduled celebrity ap-pearances:Tuesday, October 309:30-10 am: Solution Finish Booth#1304312:30-1: FBS Booth#11177 (before the un-veiling of the H2 Hum-mer)2:15-2:45: WyotechBooth #12073 (beforethe unveiling of the 1954panel truck)3:30: MGP Booth#481074-4:30 pm.: SolutionFinish Booth #13043

Wednesday, October 319:30-10 a.m.: SolutionFinish Booth #1304312:30-1: FBS Booth#111772:15-2:45: Wyotech Booth #120733-3:30: MGP Booth #481074-4:30 Solution Finish Booth #130434:30-5 FBS Booth #11177

Thursday, November 19:30-10: Solution Finish Booth #1304312:30-1: FBS Booth #111772:15-2:45: Wyotech Booth #12073

3-3:30: MGP Booth#481074-4:30: Solution FinishBooth #130434:30-5: FBS Booth#11177

Friday, November 29:30-10: Solution FinishBooth #1304312:30-1: FBS Booth#111772:15 - 2:45: WyotechBooth #120733-3:30: MGP Booth#481074-4:30: Solution FinishBooth #13043

I also will be participating in acelebrity build, the 2012 HRIA PinewoodDerby display of the race cars, located inHot Rod Alley at HRIA Booth. I’ll be com-

peting against other celebrity car buildersto build and race a pinewood derby car tobenefit two charities, Child Help and Vic-tory Junction Camp. I’ve competed in thisrace the past three years and have comein 2nd place. Come by and see my rocketcar!

I also wanted to mention two an-nouncements regarding Solution Finish.

First is a new product line calledRich Evans DIY kit, a complete packagefor the do-it-yourselfer. It includes every-thing needed to completely restore plas-tic, vinyl, rubber on any vehicle withoutneeding to scrounge around looking forthe professional items that are essentialfor getting the same results as masterdetailers.

Secondly, Solution Finish has madea major breakthrough in the formulizationof its gray fusion, a restoring product thatis the first of its kind. This product allowsyou to restore gray bumpers and trim toa better than new condition with one ap-plication, and it removes tiger striping.Check it out in action at Booth #13043.

See ya at SEMA!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Feds still considering regulationThe role of financial institutions inthe economic meltdown from whichthe U.S. is still struggling to recoverhas helped keep federal regulationof the insurance industry on thetable.

A recent report released by theTroubled Asset Relief Program(TARP) states that American Interna-tional Group (AIG, now selling autoinsurance as “21st Century”) is still inneed of “effective, comprehensiveand rigorous” regulation to ensurehistory does not repeat itself at the in-

surance giant. The report notes thatfour years after a $161 federal billionbailout of AIG, there is currently nodesignated federal regulator of thecompany.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Long-standing parts-related lawsuitcomes to an endA federal court in California hastossed out class action and individual

lawsuits against Allstate, GEICO,State Farm and Liberty Mutual, say-ing the plaintiffs in the case failed toprovide an admissible method for de-termining which replacement parts areinferior.

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

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

The expert witness for the plain-tiffs was Allen Wood, a retired Cali-fornia Bureau of Automotive Repair(BAR) investigator who subsequentlywas executive director of the Collision

Repair Association of California.Wood argued that six non-OEM partcategories and four salvage part cate-gories are ‘inferior’ and have at least a25% probability of ‘significantly less-ening’ the quality of vehicle repairs(in terms of ‘safety, fit and structuralintegrity’).

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

Allstate again ranks best and worstdriversAllstate’s annual ranking of the 200largest U.S. cities in terms of how fre-quently drivers are apt to file a claim


THESE DEALERS ARE GENUINE WHOLESALE PARTS SPECIALISTS.

TEXAS

Sterling McCall ToyotaHOUSTON

800-231-1440713-270-3942 FaxMonday - Friday 7am - 7pm

Saturday 7am - 4pm

Freeman Toyota ScionHURST

888-628-7626817-287-5349 FaxMon. - Fri. 7am - 7pm;Sat. 8am - 3pm

[email protected]

Toyota of LaredoLAREDO

888-818-5176956-718-4234 FaxMon. - Fri. 7:30am - 6pm;Sat. 8:30am - 5pm

www.toyotaoflaredo.com

Toyota of Fort WorthFORT WORTH

817-560-3649817-916-1557 FaxMon. - Fri. 7am - 7pm;Sat. 7am - 5pm

www.toyotaoffortworth.com

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

with Ed Attanasio

Shop and Product Showcase

with Ed Attanasio

Shop Showcase

with Ed Attanasio

Social Media for Shops

with Erica SchroederShop Showcase

The Right Causewith Mike Causey


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

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

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

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

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

In addition to Washington, citieswhere drivers average under six yearsbetween claims are Newark, NJ;Glendale, CA; and Baltimore, MD. Tosee the full list, see: tinyurl.com/cx2dz75.

Insurers should sell more cover-age, not less. A recent claims satisfac-tion report by J.D. Power andAssociates found that insurers are bet-ter off selling policyholders broadercoverage with lower deductiblesrather than lower-priced policies with

more limitations and higher de-ductibles.

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

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

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

The article encourages consumersto choose a “top-rated insurer” ratherthan one that costs less but “may costyou more overall by low-balling lossestimates, forcing the repair shop tocut corners and making you pay extrafor OEM parts if you choose themover cheaper knock-offs.” Go here toread the article: http://tinyurl.com/cjspd4k.

Growth of telematics spurs concernsAs Allstate, Progressive, State Farmand The Hartford continue to ex-pand availability of their policy dis-counts based on use of data fromin-car monitoring systems, manyconsumers continue to voice privacyconcerns.

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

“There are concerns that insur-ers might penalize drivers for fac-tors outside of their control,” shesaid. “One example might be charg-ing more to a customer for their oc-cupation that forces them to drive atnight.”

An insurance industry blog thisfall quoted a Deloitte Consulting ana-lyst who believes even many gooddrivers have privacy concerns thatmake them unwilling to provide datato an auto insurer through telematicsjust to save $100. The consultant ar-gues that insurers may miss out if theyjust presume these drivers “havesomething to hide.”


Genuine Mitsubishi Replacement Crash Parts are closeat hand through the following quality dealerships.Exceptional customer service, wide selection of in-stockparts and the experience necessary to ensureyour repairs proceed smoothly.

Parts You Need.People You Trust.

2012 Lancer Sportback

TEXAS OKLAHOMA

Don HerringMitsubishi - Irving866-375-4074(469) 443-1872 Fax#3 Volume Parts Dept.

in the Nation.$600,000 Inventory.

Cable MitsubishiOKLAHOMA CITY

866-751-1055405-787-6582(405) 789-8500 Fax

West LoopMitsubishi

SAN ANTONIO

800-224-1968(210) 681-4583 FaxM-F 7:30 am - 6:00 pm#1 Volume Dealer in

All of [email protected]

WANT EVERYWANT EVERYJOB TO BE AJOB TO BE ABANG-UP JOB?BANG-UP JOB?

WANT EVERYJOB TO BE ABANG-UP JOB?These dealers are Genuine VWParts Wholesale Specialists.

WE WANT TO BE YOUR SOURCE FOR REAL VOLKSWAGEN PARTS.With your skill and our parts, every collision repair will be a bang-up job. And that will add up to more repeat business for both of us. Call your order in today.

CableVolkswagen

OKLAHOMA CITY1-800-522-6793FAX: 405-789-3317

FowlerVolkswagen

NORMAN1-877-737-6986FAX: 405-310-3719

www.fowlervw.com

BoardwalkVolkswagenRICHARDSON

1-800-777-9047FAX: 214-453-5055

www.vwoncentral.com

Texas Oklahoma

According to Market Insight Corpo-ration, although still popular withU.S. female auto shoppers, prefer-ence for the “Crossover” bodystyles have been decreasing as“Sedan” body styles are becomingincreasingly popular. This insight isbased on thousands of female autoshoppers visiting MyProductAdvi-sor.com from Jan. 1, 2012 to July31, 2012. In July, the midsize sedanwas the single most popular bodystyle among U.S. female shoppersafter beginning the year behind thecompact and midsize crossoverbody styles.

The top 5 most preferred bodystyles by US female shoppers inJuly were as follows:1. Midsize sedan2. Compact crossover 3. Midsize crossover4. Compact sedan5. Large sedan

Preference for body styles isnot uniform by age for U.S. femaleauto shoppers. The four categoriesof sedans were most preferredamong all body styles by the 18-24age group in the first half of 2012.Compact and medium crossovershad the highest preference for the35-49 age group during the sametime period.

Women Prefer Sedans

gether, using paste, cut out strips ofmat, connect everything together, boltthe mold together. Three or four hoursafter that, we’re ready to pull it apart.Then I spend five hours cleaningeverything. Finally I’m donewith the first Rich Evans-de-signed motor sports body. Thisdoesn’t count all the acces-sories… the wings, scoops, sidescoops, front bumper, etc.

Seems like now I am get-ting away from parts and add-ons. Now I’m making completebodies. Who would have fig-ured?

I have major respect forguys who are building molds out there.It’s a whole different task. Props to theguys who are making molds day inand out, because as a car builder, youcan see daylight at the end of the tun-nel. But in this field, you don’t evenknow how many sand strokes youneed to get to the end.

I’m excited about the project and tosee it on the track in full motion. ThenI can sit back and enjoy.

The body is ready to sand down,seal and paint, and it’s ready to go.I’ve got scribe marks to cut the doorsout, and scribe marks for the hood andthe deck lid. The whole idea is for thisto look like a real car featured in themotor sport world. Stay tuned to seewhere this car will be seen and what

it’s going to be doing on the track.Follow me on Rich Evans Designs

on Facebook, RichEvansDesigns.com,BuilditwithRichEvans.com, and Hunt-ingBeachBodyWorks.com.

Thanks to all my sponsors, with ashout-out to FBS, a title sponsor ofWorld Wide Car Building, and myother sponsors listed on my website.

See ya at SEMA. It’s a greatmonth to be around automobiles.


AUTOBODY MARKETPLACE

WHEELS AMERICANine Locations in the USA!

888-4-FIX-RIM$109 to repair with this ad

www.fixrim.com

• Thousands of OEM Remanufactured Wheels in Stock

• Lifetime Guarantee• CNC Quality• Powder Coated

102

J and I Autobody Repair1517 W. Main St.

La Porte, TX 77571

• Fully Operational• Good Traffic Location

• Storage Lot• Owner Retiring• Asking $65,000

• Building Is For Lease

Body Shop Business FOR SALE

E-MAIL [email protected]


No Easy Task

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

State Farm selected Chicago asthe next location for its pilot due to thecity’s size, which will allow the com-pany to test the program on a largerscale, Luedke said. Roughly 450 Se-lect Service shops exist in Chicago,

while the other four markets wherethe pilot is currently active have about150 participating shops combined,less those who dropped the program.

“The reason we’re doing this isbecause that market is such a big met-ropolitan area. We want to test the scaleand technology of the program in alarger metropolitan area,” Luedke said.“That allows us to scale the programand the technology in that unique en-vironment. Obviously, Tucson andBirmingham are good size metropoli-tan areas, but Chicago is much largerso we want to do it there.”

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

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

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

October 2012 Southwest Edition

Documents

Transcript of October 2012 Southwest Edition