I-CAR leaders, during the training organization’s annual meeting in Orlando, Florida, in late July, openly explained that the past year had been a tough one financially, but also pointed to a number of accomplishments as well as plans for the future that they believe will turn things around for the non-profit.

        In his report at the meeting, for example, I-CAR CEO Tom McGee noted that the mobile “Welding Qualification Tests” program launched last year has seen “positive results.” I-CAR has outfitted a handful of trucks with welding equipment in order to conduct testing at shops and other locations beyond its 120 established testing sites.

        “Nearly 50 percent of the total volume of qualification tests done in fiscal 2007 was done with these units,” McGee said. “This program has been a tremendous asset.”

        McGee said he appeared on “Goss’ Garage,” a segment of the television program “MotorWeek,” last fall to discuss the importance of properly trained technicians and the value to consumers of seeking out a shop with the Gold Class Professionals designation.

        “We’re going to do another broadcast taping (for the program) related to the mobile qualification testing and the importance of proper welding in collision repairs,” McGee said.

        On the international front, McGee said, I-CAR saw an increase in student activity in Canada; I-CAR New Zealand is doing well; and I-CAR is just finishing its first year operating in Australia, where classes are being taught in more venues than projected for the first year.

        McGee said that although live classroom training will remain I-CAR’s primary distribution method, use of its online training library is growing albeit slowly. CollisionTV, a satellite television system in Canada on which I-CAR had been offering classes, has ceased operation, he said, but I-CAR continues to look for alternative ways of bringing classes to students.

        Lastly, McGee pointed to the improved ratings I-CAR received in an annual survey conducted by an industry publication on satisfaction with I-CAR training.

        “Even though we had a very difficult year, I think we are on an upward trend,” McGee concluded.

        The numbers behind that “difficult year” show that “student units” – one unit equals one student taking one I-CAR class – were down 12 percent from the preceding year. Even more dramatically, at just 100,756 student units, it was the lowest student turn-out in more than a dozen years, and just two-thirds the number it had in such peak years as 1997, 1998 and 2002.

        McGee told those gathered in Orlando for the meeting that student numbers rebounded somewhat this past May and June at the end of I-CAR’s fiscal year, but could not make up for the exceptionally weak three months that preceded.

        But unlike prior to 2003 when I-CAR regularly taught more than 130,000 to 160,000 student units annually, the organization no longer solely relies on students for its income. In recent years, I-CAR has begun developing and offering vehicle- and manufacturer-specific training for a number of OEMs.

        Still, the net financial results for the year were not good: a loss of about $1.1 million, I-CAR’s worst financial performance since 1999 when it lost $900,000.

        Incoming I-CAR board chairman John Edelen, an Allstate Insurance executive, expressed support for McGee’s leadership, and said staff and I-CAR’s finance committee have developed a “contingency plan” that will be “activated in 90 days to mitigate further deterioration of our financial condition should we be unable to reverse this adverse revenue trend.”