Shop focuses on "safe kids"

At the Pace Auto Group in Huntington, Indiana, for example, looking out for the safety of children has become part of the daily life of the dealership's collision repair center.

"We began by doing bicycle rodeos through the shop just to give something back to the community," said Jeff Rice, manager of the shop. Each child was fitted with a new bicycle helmet after watching a 15-minute video on bike safety. They could then practice their new skills on a fenced-in bicycle "obstacle course" with instructors coaching them on such things as obeying stop signs and watching for cars.

"I think at our first event we gave out about 100 helmets," Rice said. "But we had 300 calls that first year for kids to sign up. So the next year we offered it to 200, and we did that for about four years, giving away 200 bicycle helmets every year."

The shop is now among the most active participants in the "Safe Kids" program, checking for proper installation of child safety seats in cars and replacing seats that are found to have problems.

"We see somewhere between 30 and 40 people a month to do car seat inspections and installations," Rice said. "If the safety seat is bad, we give the parents a brand new seat at no charge."

Some of the funding for the 400 to 500 car seats Pace gives away each year comes from foundation grants and local donations. Becoming certified to participate in the program and train vehicle-owners on proper car seat installation required Rice to attend training over a 5-day period.

The company now has a written policy to inspect all car seats in vehicles that come through the shop.

"Once we've helped a customer get their car seat installed properly or given them a new car seat, they're our customer for life," Rice said. "But the main thing is we're helping to save the lives of kids in our community. It's hard not to feel really good about that."

Helping the image

Sulkala, who leads the National Auto Body Council's efforts to improve the image of the collision industry, says that folks like Tarter, Shelton, Walker, Rice and others involved in such efforts to give back to their community make his job easier.

"They're demonstrating what those of us in the industry know but that we need to make sure the general public sees and understands," Sulkala said. "And that's that this industry is made up of great and kind and generous individuals who through their efforts in their own shops and communities make us a very giving industry."

John Yoswick is a freelance writer based in Portland, Oregon, who has been writing about the automotive industry since 1988.