In October, the Coalition for Collision Repair Excellence (theCCRE) held its annual Summit Conference and Seminar Series, considered by those attending to be the best learning experience to date. Tallied responses by attendees indicated a 96% very positive approval rating, most saying it exceeded their expectations, most also indicating they planned on attending CCRE’s Seminar Series scheduled for October 2008. Held at Nashua, New Hampshire’s Crown Plaza Hotel, surrounded by thousands of trees at the peak of their flaming multicolored beauty, the best and most profitable independent minds in the collision industry convened.

The quality of information dispensed in this two intense days of real-life enlightenment enabled its intended purpose of encouraging attendees to re-analyze the way they conduct business. The purpose was to provide the pertinent information that empowers individual shops to take back control of their business from outside entities.

Over the past years CCRE has presented their Conference and Seminar Series, somewhat like the 3M ARMS (Automotive Repair Management System) seminars of years ago, updated to 21st century situations, helping shop owners and managers learn how to conduct business profitably and ethically in spite of other entities’ imposed cost and service-cutting policies.

How Did We Get Here And Where Are We Going? was the foundational power-point presentation taught by CCRE president and long-time collision shop owner Tony Lombardozzi. Speaking from decades of personal experience, Lombardozzi convincingly reasoned that collision repairers must understand how this industry arrived at its present ever-encompassing morass of seeking to snuff out shop profitability, before we can find our way out. Times have changed, and shops that will remain in business will be those that meet their obligations and the expectations of their true customer – the vehicle owner. He also discussed billing in dollars as opposed to hours and the fact that no third party should control your business practices.

Making Materials A Profit Center was the seminar presented by CCRE sponsor-member Bob Collins of Wreck Check Assessments of Boston, with years of experience in profitably managing collision shops. Collins convincingly detailed how distant from reality is the antiquated dollars-times-paint hours “multiplier” system that most all shops still use in an ever-failing attempt to account for paint and materials. The many thousands of dollars of reimbursement that shops let slip through the cracks by using the “multiplier calculation system” only inspires insurers to further deflate the number of hours involved in refinishing operations (“blend-in-panel” being one such).