“Accidents happen and we often are sitting in a situation where the customer is feeling overly anxious and not able to handle the loss of the vehicle or the cost. This is not the time to put your tough guy face on, rather your sympathy and understanding,” said Fordin, “Many women tell me that the first thing that happens when they bring in their car after an accident is that they get an intimidating person who scares the life out of them.”
She also touched on the often contentious relationship between insurers and repair shops.
“The cost of help is difficult and insurance companies make it almost impossible to do the right job at the right price. We are caught between a rock and a hard place with the cost of insurance, business operations and personnel and the economy has not given us the ability to raise our prices to accommodate,” said Fordin.
As far as an outlook for 2012, she urged shop owners to gird their loins and prepare for another tough year.
“It will be another year to pull in your belts and hang tough. This is an important lesson for all Americans: we got too fat too fast and now we all need a good diet,” said Fordin.
Charles Bryant, Executive Director of the AASP/NJ also looked back at the issues over 2011 with Autobody News. Bryant saw two major issues between insurers and body shops; “Insurers are dictating what they will pay for the services of the Collision Industry, rather than attempting to work with the shop making the repair to negotiate a fair and reasonable amount for the service being provided. Also Insurers have been overstepping their authority by dictating to shop owners on where or from whom to buy parts and or services from and limiting their payment for those parts and or services to an amount that will only cover the cost quoted from the provider recommended by the insurer,” said Bryant.
When Bryant was asked what he thinks 2012 will hold for the industry he said he’d like to see “the Collision Industry reaching the point of ‘Enough is Enough’ and finally standing up against all of the unfair practices that the Insurance Industry has and continues to impose on the Collision Industry.”
Domenico Nigro, owner of Nigro’s Auto Body in Philadelphia, PA, also singled out the insurance industry and some of the issues he has dealt with at his business over the last year.
“Steering is huge, it’s just ridiculous,” said Nigro. He sees insurance companies using careful tactics to steer their customers to their DRP shops.
Nigro hopes that DRPs will get a little more aggresive in the future—”They can’t give the world away to the insurance companies. Yet, we don’t get paid for so many things. We lose so much money with all the insurance company cuts, and they add up,” said Nigro.
He cites the really low caps on paint and materials fees. Even with proper documentation of costs from suppliers insurance companies are still reluctant to pay up.
“Why aren’t shop owners doing the necessary paperwork to get paid what they deserve for paint and materials?” he asked.
He also expressed frustration with insurers cutting costs on a statewide level. According to Nigro when an insurance company doesn’t pay the proper fees and costs for a job they are also cutting down on the state sales tax they pay, which ultimately hurts the state.
He also expressed wanting to see insurers and body shops working together towards the common goal of customer safety in the future.
Nigro also pushes for more industry standards. “Repair vs. replace should be the only item up for discussion between a body shop and an insurer,” he says.
Locally, Nigro also pointed out some issues within Philadelphia.
“How come in Philly no one needs to be certified to fix a car? You need more certification to cut someone’s hair than to repair a car in this city.”
MA Continues Right to Repair Battle
In Massachusetts, the Right to Repair battle continued throughout 2011 without resolution, securing its place as a continued issue in 2012.
“We are very pleased with the growing support for Right to Repair on both the federal and state levels. The momentum building in Congress, coupled with the groundswell of support from voters in Massachusetts, demonstrates how important Right to Repair is to consumers, especially in a tough economy,” said Kathleen Schmatz, president and CEO of the Automotive Aftermarket Industry Association (AAIA), “Right to Repair will help alleviate motorists’ financial burden by ensuring a competitive vehicle repair marketplace, allowing car owners to patronize the repair facility of their choice.”
According to the Right to Repair Coalition, the voter initiative would, for the first time, allow consumers to access all of the non-proprietary repair information required to have their vehicles repaired where they choose, at a new car dealership or an independent shop. The proposed law would level the playing field between the big car manufacturers’ dealerships and independent, neighborhood repair facilities, allowing the latter to finally be able to access the same non-proprietary automobile diagnostic and repair information that is currently only available to the manufacturers’ dealers and their new car dealerships.
Hurricane Season Brings Uninvited Storms and Damage to East Coast
Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee also caused quite a bit of damage to shops on the east coast, something property owners are all-too familiar with.
For example, following Hurricane Irene, Station Auto Body in Newark, DE, was left under 3-1/2 feet of water, according to owner Rob Amadio. Luckily, the shop was able to get out from under the flood waters and returned to normal service shortly after the hurricane passed through. Amadio said they did not experience any recurring flooding in the storms at the end of September.
McBride Auto Body in Woodland Park, NJ, also sustained flood damage due to Hurricane Irene, and owner Joseph Carioti III took advantage of the mandatory cleanup as an opportunity to renovate some parts of his shop. Most of the flood damage occured in the office area of the building, since the shop floor is bare concrete, but parts of the business were under 4-feet of water after Hurricane Irene blew through. Thankfully not all of the cars were flooded during the storm, but the business did lose some tools that got damaged by all the floodwater. McBride’s office area is now better than before Hurricane Irene hit, he told Autobody News.
“The damage done in New Jersey, particularly the northern part of our state, has been devastating for several of our members,” said AASP/NJ Jeff McDowell in September. “We are contacting our members to let them know that AASP/NJ is here for them and willing to help in any way we can.”
