John Yoswick is a freelance automotive writer based in Portland, Oregon, who has been writing about the collision industry since 1988. He is the editor of the weekly CRASH Network (for a free 4-week trial subscription, visit www.CrashNetwork.com).
He can be contacted at john@crashnetwork.com
Matthew and Marcia Seebachan are a Texas couple who, in the fall of 2017, were awarded $42 million by a jury in a lawsuit against a Dallas-area dealership body shop over auto accident injuries they said were exacerbated by faulty prior collision repairs made to their vehicle.
The Collision Industry Conference (CIC) Data Access, Privacy and Security Committee in April continued its ongoing discussion related to auto body shop estimates resulting in entries on vehicle history reports.
Research into the accuracy of the blend time formula commonly used in the industry is among the projects the Society of Collision Repair Specialists (SCRS) has on its docket, the association reported at an open board meeting held in April in Oklahoma City.
Trainer and consultant Mike Anderson’s idea wasn’t new, but his implementation of it has had some significant impact for the industry.
The Database Enhancement Gateway (DEG) is a website, initially created by three national trade associations---the Alliance of Automotive Service Providers (AASP), the Automotive Service Association (ASA) and the Society of Collision Repair Specialists (SCRS)---that enables anyone to submit inquiries about labor times or operations in any of three estimating systems, and to see the information providers' responses to these inquiries.
Collision repairers have for some time been saying changes they are seeing within their business point to a need for insurers to adjust their key performance indicators (KPIs) metrics for direct repair claims.
As new automaker electric vehicle models---or pledges of new EVs on the horizon---get announced almost weekly, a recent industry survey found three out of four auto body shops nationally have never included a fee on their estimates or invoices for recharging an electric vehicle.
California-based employment law attorney Corey King discussed a variety of topics during the Collision Industry Conference (CIC) held earlier this year: company drug and alcohol policies, stocking up on COVID tests and “service animals” in the workplace.
A presentation at the Collision Industry Conference (CIC) earlier this year included a number of examples of vehicle repairs that could easily be done incorrectly if a technician makes presumptions about the process based on past experience rather than carefully following the OEM procedures.
The Collision Industry Conference (CIC) is a quarterly forum that brings together collision repairers, insurers, automakers, vendors and other industry segment participant for presentations and panel discussions on a variety of issues.
The importance of proper ADAS calibrations was a key focus as the Society of Collision Repair Specialists (SCRS) brought collision repairers and automakers together at an event in Las Vegas during the SEMA Show.
A Collison Industry Conference (CIC) committee presentation earlier this year confirmed parts supply chain issues continue to plague collision repairers.
Nick Dominato, a senior vice president at asTech, said he believes collision repairers should be prepared for automakers to broaden their ADAS calibration requirements.
A national survey of collision repairers in the final two months of 2021 found well over half of shops (58%) expected their full-year sales to outpace 2020, with nearly one in five shops predicting they would end 2021 with a year over year increase of 20% or more.