Positive attitude

CRA has a pro-active agenda. "We are not anti-insurance but we are tired of marginal insurance companies beating up customers and shops. I'm not willing to live with that," Crozat continued. "The goal is to bring insurance companies who take advantage of the system in line with those companies who are good to work with. A level playing field is the objective."

The DOI is another story however. Crozat stated that the DOI is the auto body industry's biggest enemy. "They do not uphold the regulations. It does no good to enact legislation with teeth if the regulatory agency will not enforce them. Someone has to address this problem and force the DOI to uphold existing regulations regarding steering. The process for determining labor rates is disorganized and skewed.

"It is my personal goal to be on a platform with the DOI and confront them about not upholding the regulations," avered Crozat. "I make this promise. DOI is going to change how they do business. It is a state agency that ought to go away. It is a neutered organization, which does not respond to legitimate complaints."

Stand up and be counted

One challenge facing the CRA is establishing a membership that has a commitment to becoming involved. The association is looking for new members "who want to take a stand," said Crozat. "Sheer numbers are not the goal."

Industry professionals who want to become active in the fight to improve the auto body business are encouraged to contact Crozat at (707) 525-3520 about signing on.

"Standing up against bureaucratic institutions such as the DOI takes courage. CRA is going to work hard to educate shops about what is fair and reasonable in the autobody world. The association wants equity for the insurance companies and the shop owners. It is not acceptable to work longer and longer hours for less and less money," said Crozat.

Asked why the group chose to organize under a new banner rather than as part of the well-established California Autobody Association, consultant Wood responded, "We're not trying to be critical of CAA. We're willing to work with them. It seems to us though, on certain issues, they have an inability to respond, an inability to engage. In this group, we're all willing to step up and say, 'This isn't right. We're going to fix it.'"

In response, CAA Executive Director David McClune said, "The California Autobody Association has always engaged in the issues that are important to the collision repair industry and we always will. Over the last 40 years our integrity and statewide accomplishments speak for themselves."