Local news stories affecting the auto body industry in California, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Hawaii, Alaska and Wyoming
Over the past few years our industry has seen a major change regarding the process we use to put the “final touch” on a refinished vehicle. Although once referred to as "Color Sand & Buff", we now more accurately describe this process as "Finish Sand and Polish".
Industry supporters came together to deliver state of the art emergency extrication training to more than 125 emergency service personnel in Las Vegas the week of June 1. 911 Collision Centers, Kent Automotive and Hertz Local Edition hosted the event with Progressive Insurance, Nationwide Insurance and Green Leaf Recyclers providing vehicles.
After working in the casino industry in marketing for 17 years, Reno resident Forrest Bietz decided to make a career change, and he purchased a franchise business, ColorAll Technologies, aimed at providing minor truck and auto body repair and painting -- targeted to car dealerships and fleet operations. Bietz wanted a business that would offer less stress and give him more control over his professional activities.
Unlike traditional auto body repair shops, which focuses only on collision repair, BumperDoc offers a wide variety of cosmetic repair services for automobiles. Their distinctive "one-stop shop" model chooses to recondition (repair) versus replacing parts by all means necessary, which enables customers to save time and money. BumperDoc offers customers 7 other services for their auto appearance needs.
DuPont and D’Angelos, industry leaders in RV Paint and refinishing products manufacturing and distribution, have signed on to help make an ALS-afflicted RV enthusiast’s dream come true.
Collision Repair Association of California (CRA) board members, staff and member shops met with the state department of insurance’s (CDI) legal staff to discuss insurer complaints. See previous meeting story here.
Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner was joined by State Farm’s California Senior Vice President Rand Harbert to announce a $219 million rate reduction for State Farm Mutual Auto Insurance Company policyholders in California on May 14. This represents an average decrease of 8 percent. State Farm policyholders throughout California will be keeping $219 million more of their hard-earned money, thanks to this rate cut,” said Commissioner Poizner. “Since I took office 2007, rates have fallen by nearly $2 billion for California consumers, and it is encouraging that in these tough economic times, the largest auto insurer in the state is passing company savings along to policyholders.”
There has been a great deal of discussion recently about database manipulation. This manipulation can take many forms and exists at the expense of the collision repair industry and the rights of California’s consumers.
There’s an old Arabian proverb that’s become popular with our politicians: “If the camel gets his nose into the tent, his body will soon follow.” The proverb suggests that if the nose enters, step-by-step the whole camel will eventually be inside the tent and the occupant will be shivering on the outside.
Michael Spears, of Collision Authority in Nevada, reports that AB297 passed the Assembly on April 21 and now heads to the Nevada Senate. The vote was 31 yea, 10 Nay, 1 Not Voting. Spears credits an active collision repairer campaign to educate and solicit support from the Assembly.