If there was one key message at a recent gathering of auto recyclers from around the country it was that shops and insurers want an easy and reliable way to know exactly what to expect when sourcing used parts. 

Lubrano

"The bottom line is if you don't use these standard [parts and damage descriptions], the insurance industry is not going to see your inventory data," Mary Lou Lubrano of CCC Information Services told recyclers at the recent Automotive Recyclers Association (ARA) Mid-Year Business Development Conference in Las Vegas. "It's that simple. There's a lot of other really good reasons to use the standards, but the bottom line is, if you don't do it, they're not going to see your parts and you're not going to sell them."

Lubrano's presentation came during a day-long set of seminars that while focused on recyclers also could offer collision repair shops a glimpse of the future.

Don Porter, a property and casualty claims consultant with State Farm, kicked off the morning with a session outlining his company's interest in increasing the amount of salvage parts used in repairs - and what he believes individual recyclers and the industry as a whole can do to increase their sales of parts for use in collision repair.

Based on his company's numbers, recycled parts as a percentage of total parts sales has remained stagnant - at between 12 and 13

Porter

percent - from 2003 through 2005, while the aftermarket segment is rebounding to reach a similar market share (after declining to a low of 9.2 percent in 2000).

Porter said in order to increase the use of recycled parts, an automated approach to sourcing those parts is necessary, to provide immediate availability and condition information and to reduce the number of contacts to individual recyclers by shops and insurers. Convincing shops to use more of the parts, he said, will require helping shops identify "best in class" recyclers that use systems to ensure on-time delivery of the correct part in the described condition.

During her session, Lubrano described some of the standards ARA committees have developed that the association believes can help accomplish some of what Porter was calling for.

Lubrano said the only way buyers "see" recyclers' product is through written descriptions. Buyers will gravitate, she said, to those whose descriptions are "honest, accurate, objective, consistent and standardized." Without such descriptions, she said, returns that costs both buyer and seller time and money increase, and neither insurers nor collision repair shops will tolerate that.

She detailed four standards recyclers should understand and be using - and that shops and insurers should begin to expect and demand. All are available at www.a-r-a.org/standardsandcodes.htm.

Parts description guidelines

This details how a part should be described (including standardized abbreviations) in terms of origin, condition and options. It lists the order in which these items should be included in the description.