Local news stories affecting the auto body industry in California, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Hawaii, Alaska and Wyoming
Cooks Collision Centers recently acquired a new shop in northern California — this one in Fremont, CA. The Fremont acquisition follows recent acquisitions of six locations in southern California.
This acquisition brings Cooks Collision Centers closer to completing its northern California expansion plan, which included further growth into the South Bay area. Cooks now operates 27 collision repair centers throughout northern and southern California.
The 25,000-square-foot, high-tech facility with aluminum room is located at 41041 Albrae Street. It’s conveniently located next to the 880 freeway, and will serve the communities of Fremont, Newark, Union City, Milpitas and San Jose. It was previously owned by Mazi Ghorbani for 30 years and operated under the name EMC Collision.
“My brother Rick and I have enjoyed a friendship and a mutual respect with Mazi for many years,” said Don Wood, co-CEO of Cooks. “When this opportunity became available, we knew it would be a perfect fit for our company culture and customer base.”
A single mother of four children needed a car, and several Moreno Valley, CA, businesses came to her aid, including Ben Clymer’s The Body Shop.
City council members in Poway, CA, have agreed with a study that operations at a body shop will not significantly affect the environment.
Council members voted 5-0 to approve a negative declaration following a review of a 153-page report prepared for the city on operations at Chrome Collision, 13175 Gregg St.
At the August meeting, council members reviewed the findings of contractor Helix Environmental Planning Inc.
Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones will be joined by the Consumer Federation of California, Consumers for Auto Reliability and Safety, and the Automotive Machinists Union at a press conference Weds. Aug. 29 in Sacramento to denounce last-minute, gut and amend efforts to pass bills such as AB 1098 (Assembly Member Curt Hagman) and SB 1460 (Senator Leland Yee). These bills would essentially terminate a 20-year consumer protection standard that would allow insurers—without any checks or balances—to force repair shops to use aftermarket parts on consumers’ automobiles in the event of a collision and shift warranty coverage from insurers to lesser known suppliers or distributors. Additional protections would also be lost or denied to consumers.
Xtreme Makeover Collision owner Joe Mariscal is planning to boost his services with prompt house calls and free quotes.
Mariscal says, “We do what most auto body shops won’t. We make house calls.”
Xtreme Makeover Collision Center goes an extra mile to show care for their customers by lightening the load associated with vehicular accidents.
The CAA has been opposing insurer-sponsored legislation that would weaken long-standing law that provides for fair and reasonable auto body repair practices.
CAA has also opposed legislation that would provide legal presumptions that aftermarket crash parts are equal to OEM crash parts in all instances.
Insurer sponsored bills this year include SB 1460 (Yee) and AB 1098 (Hagman) both failed.
Caliber Collision announced its 8th Arizona acquisition with a grand opening in Tempe.
Further accelerating its growth plans focused on customer needs, Caliber Collision Centers announced today that it has acquired Elite Collision in Tempe, AZ.
The first of a series of measures aimed at regulating buy-here, pay-here dealers in California received a majority vote from an entire legislative chamber. The bills were called strong protections for used-car buyers.
After gaining similar support from various committees, the state's Senate approved AB 1447 on August 23 by a margin of 22-14. The bill's primary sponsor is Assemblyman Mike Feuer.
Now with Senate approval, the Assembly will have one final vote on whether to push AB 1447 on to Gov. Jerry Brown for it to become law. Complete legislative approval must occur before the end of the month, and Brown has until Sept. 30 to sign or veto the measure.
To view a pdf file of this article with photos, click HERE.
Here is the scenario: One afternoon a group of very business-like individuals walk into your shop. Are they getting an estimate? No. Are they selling something? Absolutely not. Or are they here to simply discuss the advantages of waterborne paint? Not likely.
After business cards get exchanged and pleasantries are conveyed, you quickly realize that you’re being inspected by the California Labor Enforcement Task Force (LETF), a team that enforces the state’s labor regulations and cites those companies that don’t adhere to the law. Suddenly, dire thoughts begin darting through your brain. “I know I run an honest shop and we try to adhere to all the laws, but have I forgotten something?” you ask yourself. It’s a frightening moment for any business owner and plenty get cited and fined every month throughout the state for a wide range of offenses.
With more than 50 people in attendance at the Santa Clara County California Autobody Association’s (SCC-CAA) July meeting, five representatives from LETF made presentations and shared information that is designed to help body shops in order to operate within the laws of the state. Consisting of five organizations and a lot of acronyms, LETF includes the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement (DLSE); Division of Occupational Safety & Health (CAL/OSHA); Employment Development Department (EDD); Board of Equalization (BOE); and Bureau of Automotive Repair (BAR).
Industry trade groups went to the California capital to protest the state Department of Insurance’s (CDI) proposed regulations governing auto-body repairs and the use of aftermarket replacement car parts. Officials issued a notice in June (see autobodynews.com) that it was seeking to change state standards of repair and use of aftermarket parts by clarifying insurers’ obligations during the repair process. Officials called it an effort to address “disputes regarding the true cost of repairs of damaged vehicles and the applicable repair standard” that “continue to negatively affect the claims-handling process.”
The Property Casualty Insurers Association of America issued the following news release in response to CDI’s proposed regulations: