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The Alamo Chapter will be holding a meeting this coming Thursday, April 21^st!  Jayme Mathis of the BankCard Group will be talking about the different aspects of credit card processing and possibly give us some advice on reading our statements.  The BankCard Group is our TIAA endorsed merchant processor.  Jayme and his group have been a great part of the TIAA program and this presentation should be very informative.

On April 7th, 2011 the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit upheld a lower court’s order granting summary judgment in favor of State Farm Insurance in Gunder’s Auto Center’s claim against the nation’s largest personal auto insurer for slander and tortious interference with a business relationship. (See Autobodynews.com for background.)

To recover for slander in Florida, the claimant must show (1) publication of a false statement; (2) about the plaintiff; (3) to a third party; and (4) damage resulting to plaintiff from the publication.

To state a claim for tortious interference in Florida, the claimant must show (1) the existence of a business relationship; (2) knowledge of the relationship on the part of the defendant; (3) an intentional and unjustified interference by the defendant; and (4) damage from the breach of the relationship.

The court found that,  “although denied by State Farm, we assume the statements allegedly made by State Farm disparaging Gunter’s were made and are untrue. Nonetheless, we agree with the district court that State Farm’s statements were privileged:

The Houston Auto Body Association is asking that members of the collision repair industry in Texas contact their Senators in support of SB 1300, which is up for committee hearing on April 12. SB 1300 will require more disclosure from insurers about their Direct repair Program policies and requirements. Please call and email the State Senators who will decide whether or not SB 1300 will go to the next phase in becoming Law as soon as possible. By making 8 phone calls you will make a difference when the Committee meets tomorrow.

To view the most recent version of SB 1300 please CLICK HERE.

James Brown and many others will be in Austin Tuesday April 12 at 7am to show support for this bill. Give James a call 832-515-9609 if you plan on being there. The latest version of the bill can be seen below. The Texas Department of Insurance is in full support of this bill as well.

Summer time is nearly here and shop owners who are interested in attracting insurance or other referral business may be considering putting on an event. These can vary widely in terms of size and cost. I assisted one dealership owner in creating quite a large event to build business for his body shop. In addition to insurance DRP coordinators, since he did a lot of work for commercial contractors and also local law enforcement, he invited many company owners and managers and also sheriff's department personnel. He put up large umbrellas over picnic tables all along the driveway in front of his body shop work bays. Naturally food and drink vendors were located along there.

Each work bay was converted into a presentation space. By the prep and spray booths, the paint jobber he used set up demos of spray guns, a color-matching photospectrometer, and various paint supply items. The 3-M distributor used a bay to demonstrate special materials for everything from windshield repair to simple repairs on plastic and fiberglass auto parts. Another bay housed a paintless dent removal specialist, and some attendees were provided with small dent removals from their vehicles. An ongoing demonstration of the estimating and management systems was provided in the body shop office. Tours of the entire dealership were given every fifteen minutes.

Shawn Saidi, 48, owns Active Auto Body in Sunnyvale, Calif., a highly successful shop whose motto is “Making Friends by Accident.” It might be a catchy slogan, but Saidi has succeeded in the collision industry not by chance or by accident. He’s the current president of the California Autobody Association’s (CAA) Santa Clara chapter, and has enthusiastically embraced the leadership role, because he wants to make this industry better and help other shops in the process.

Active Auto Body is located in a 13,300 square-foot facility. They fix 75–90 vehicles monthly and have two DRP relationships, from which the company derives approximately 25% off their total business. Saidi works alongside his wife Lisa, who handles payroll and human resources. The shop employs 13 people, including Saidi’s niece Desiree, who works part-time as a receptionist.

Saidi’s journey into collision repair began with his passion for restoring classic cars. “I was relying on body shops to do the body and the paint on these older cars, after I had done all of the mechanical work,” he told Autobody News.

On March 16, 2011 the Society of Collision Repair Specialists (SCRS) held its Annual Awards Banquet at the Crowne Plaza Meadowlands in Secaucus, New Jersey. As always, the highlight of the event was the presentation of the SCRS Industry Awards, through which the Society recognizes those that demonstrate outstanding service and achievement within the collision repair industry.

The Houston Autobody Association (HABA) was honored with the Affiliate Association Award.

The Affiliate Association Award recognizes an SCRS affiliate that exhibits exemplary actions on behalf of the collision repair professional.

The Association of Automotive Service Providers of New Jersey will host their 7th annual AASP-NJ Lou Scoras Memorial Golf Outing on May 23 at the Colonia Country Club.

Lunch will be served at 11:30 and tee-off time will start at 1:00.

The event is dedicated to Lou Scoras of Holmdel Auto Body and part of the proceeds from the outing will go to create a collision industry scholarship fund.

The association is still looking for sponsors for this event, please visit www.aaspnj.org for more information.

The California/Nevada/Arizona Automotive Wholesaler's Association (CAWA) sponsored gubernatorial proclamation that recognized the contributions of the aftermarket industry provides to consumers was passed and signed by Arizona Governor Janice Brewer last month.

State Farm Insurance has already experimented with electronic parts ordering in a few states and has language in its select service agreements (with DRP shops) enabling requiring the computerized parts orders. Now the company  says it wants to "reduce the amount of time and effort needed to search for, source and order all part types," and "to give suppliers a better view of the process, and access to complete parts orders." In a video Click here the Insurer's Gregg McDonald describes a new review tool to allow shops and vendors to provide feedback on the parts ordering experience. "Supplier choice and decisions regarding which parts are best suited for the individual repair will remain in your hands," McDonald tells Select Service shops in the video.

In a letter released on Monday, April 4th, 2011, the Society of Collision Repair Specialists (SCRS) and 26 of its Affiliate Associations requested more stringent interpretation from the ten EPA regional offices across America in regard to exemptions listed in the EPA rule Subpart HHHHHH- National Emissions Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants: Paint Stripping and Miscellaneous Surface Coating Operations at Area Sources (Rule 6H.)

To view a copy of the letter please CLICK HERE.

The letter has been issued just weeks after EPA Region 2 representatives discussed the 6H Rule with the industry at a Collision Industry Conference (CIC) meeting held in Secaucus, New Jersey in March; and provides talking points detailing issues seen in markets across the country stemming specifically from the growing use of 3 oz. paint cups to potentially exempt affected businesses. “Unfortunately, the application of the rule has created a practice where some businesses are claiming to be exempt, by filling 3 oz. cups multiple times while doing traditional collision repair operations, in an attempt to continue to perform the work in an uncontained or mobile environment,” the letter states. “It is our position that an exemption which invalidates pollution controls based solely on the size of tool being used rather than the amount of pollution being generated is ineffective and harmful policy; because the rule is silent on refilling of the 3 oz cups, there exists a continued potential to circumvent the rule.”