Chasidy Rae Sisk

Published in New England Automotive Report The collision repair industry has spent years sounding the alarm about the ongoing technician shortage. As shops across the country struggle to find skilled labor, they are investing heavily in recruitment efforts, signing bonuses and outreach to trade schools. And yet, at the same time, a different – and more troubling – trend continues to surface: technicians leaving the industry altogether. Some are trading collision bays for warehouses, while others are opting for jobs in entirely different sectors. The question is no longer merely about how to bring people into the industry – it’s also about how to keep them once they’ve started on their collision…

Published in New England Automotive Report – Thomas Greco Publishing While many question the old adage that “requesting leads to obtaining,” the inverse is almost certainly a universal law: silence ensures you get nothing. If a shop fails to advocate for its own costs, the chances of seeing those funds materialize are essentially zero. The truth of the matter is evidenced by the results of the 2025 “Who Pays for What?” quarterly surveys, provided free to the industry courtesy of CRASH Network and Collision Advice. These surveys explore, track and analyze how billing and negotiation practices vary between shops across the country by examining a variety of “not-included items.” “Our…

Published in New England Automotive Report – Thomas Greco Publishing Something disconcerting is happening in collision repair right now. Drivers are still distracted, cars are still crashing, and traffic violations are actually up, not down. Yet, fewer damaged vehicles seem to be making their way into collision repair shops as claims quietly disappear. Collision claim frequency has declined year-over-year. In the third quarter of 2025 alone, collision coverage claims fell more than 10 percent compared with the previous year, after falling 11 percent the preceding quarter, as reported by the Independent Statistical Service Inc. At first glance, that sounds like good news. Fewer crashes, right? Not exactly. According to industry…

Published in New Jersey Automotive – Thomas Greco Publishing In the moments following an accident – after the sirens fade and the tow truck pulls away – everything shifts from physical damage to paperwork, and this is the moment when trust takes over for most drivers. They have faith that their insurer will handle the details and provide fair compensation; they believe the process will unfold as it’s meant to and their financial interests will be protected. After all, that’s the reason they pay those high insurance premiums year after year. But Wanda Chang* quickly learned that’s not always the case after a June 2025 collision. A seemingly routine claim…

Published in Texas Automotive – Thomas Greco Publishing The moment after a collision is disorienting. Even in minor accidents, the checklist is long and unfamiliar: police reports, insurance calls, repair estimates, rental cars, medical concerns… Most drivers move through the checklist with the assumption that following those steps ensures that everything will work out the way it’s supposed to – the claim is filed, their car gets properly repaired and their insurer pays the bill. But there’s also an assumption that a repaired vehicle signals the end of financial impact. It seems completely reasonable; after all, modern collision repair is remarkably advanced. Skilled technicians, OEM procedures and sophisticated materials can…

Published in AASPMN News – Thomas Greco Publishing Once upon a time, repairing a vehicle felt a lot like driving familiar roads – you knew the turns and recognized the landmarks, so even when something unexpected came up, experience filled in the gaps. You may not have held written directions in your hands, but you knew how to get where you were going. Today, that road is gone. Due to ever-increasing vehicle complexity and the vast variety of systems a car may (or may not) contain, modern vehicle repair feels less like a leisurely Sunday afternoon drive and more like navigating an unfamiliar city during rush hour. The only reliable…

Published in Texas Automotive The scene: a quiet residential street in Katy at 9:40am on August 22, 2025. Adam Alyaseen left home, but less than a half-mile into his journey, he lost control of his 2022 Dodge Challenger R/T and crashed into a fence. But the crash itself wasn’t the worst part; the moment that changed everything for Alyaseen came after the accident – when the tow truck rolled up and disregarded his wishes, leading to a nightmare that has lasted more than six months! Shaken and eager to regroup, he made what most people would assume was a simple request: tow the car to his house. “My home was…

Published in New England Automotive Report “ABC Auto Body provides high-quality repairs.” “DEF Collision Repair is certified with six major manufacturers and offers a lifetime warranty on our work.” “GHI Body Shop delivers superior customer service.” Oh yeah – SO WHAT?! Just about every collision repair facility in your market is probably advertising those exact same things, and when everyone is selling the same features – customer service, quality and warranties – your business ceases to be a specialized service and becomes a commodity. And in the world of commodities, the only way to compete is usually by price or proximity. If you want to stop the “race to the bottom” and…

Published in Texas Automotive Claim counts are down. Bays are quieter. And if the past few years have taught the collision industry anything, it’s this: the next disruption rarely looks like the last one. Diversification isn’t a move of desperation; it’s protection. It’s how shops reinforce their operations before the next crack forms. For many forward-thinking business owners, that means bringing strategic operations like glasswork in-house – tightening control over quality and cycle time and building new revenue streams that make their businesses not just busy, but shatterproof. “Claim counts are down across the country, and with many shops struggling to fill their bays, we need to think outside the…

Published in Texas Automotive – Thomas Greco Publishing You wouldn’t close up shop for the day and leave your doors and windows unlocked, but are you protecting your accounts and data with the same diligence? Cybersecurity threats are on the rise. CDK’s “State of Dealership Cybersecurity 2025” study indicated that 21 percent of dealerships were the victim of a cyberattack in the preceding year with ransomware and email phishing making up the majority of incidents. According to eSentire’s “2025 Year in Review and 2026 Threat Landscape Outlook Report,” published January 15, phishing and malware attacks continue to be a threat, but account compromise rose 389 percent in 2025 over the…

Published in Hammer & Dolly – Thomas Greco Publishing “Ask and you shall receive” – most are familiar with this saying, and although the accuracy of this statement is certainly debateable, its opposite seems to hold true; if you don’t ask, it’s unlikely that you’ll receive. The veracity of this can be seen repeatedly throughout the results of the 2025 “Who Pays for What?” quarterly surveys, provided free to the industry courtesy of CRASH Network and Collision Advice. These surveys explore, track and analyze how billing and negotiation practices vary between shops across the country by examining a variety of “not-included items.” “Our goal has always been to help shops become aware…

Published in AASPMN News – Thomas Greco Publishing A new year has rolled around, and as we begin 2026, the automotive and collision repair industries are facing continued evolutions at a neck-breaking pace. What exactly does 2026 have in store for shops, and how can you navigate the market? It all starts with the vehicles. In recent years, vehicle technology advancements have created challenges across the mechanical and auto body worlds. While federal incentives related to electric vehicles (EVs) expired last year, cooling the demand for these sustainable vehicles, projections still suggest that over a quarter of new passenger vehicle sales could be electric in 2026, necessitating that shops continue…

Published in Texas Automotive – Thomas Greco Publishing To start a fire, it starts with three elements: fuel, oxygen and heat.  ABAT originated in 2014 when pressures – from insurers, rising costs and advancing technology – fueled a need for shops to come together and create a community focused on solving the problems that Texas collision repair facilities face each day.  Since then, the association has found myriad ways to oxygenate Lone Star repairers. From hosting training and networking events to advocating for legislation promoting consumer safety, ABAT has dedicated efforts to refreshing and sustaining repairers through the ups and downs in their businesses. And now it’s time to bring the…

Published in AASPMN News – Thomas Greco Publishing “The automotive and collision repair industries need more young people to choose this career path, but no one wants to repair cars anymore!” If you’ve been involved in this field for any length of time, you’ve surely heard some variation of this complaint, and though there are a multitude of organizations around the country lending their support to this growing dilemma in hopes of alleviating the workforce shortage shops are facing, the majority of these efforts focus the high school and college age groups. But by the time students have reached this stage in their education, many already have a clear vision…

Published in New Jersey Automotive – Thomas Greco Publishing Remember when we were all kids, and sitting around in a circle, we’d whisper a message to the next person over? Bit by bit, that message would get pretty convoluted, and often, the last person in line would convey something that made no sense at all.  That often seems to be the case when dealing with the New Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance’s (DOBI). Yet, while it may feel like a game of “telephone” from a shop perspective, DOBI’s method of conveying insurance companies’ responses is more akin to “repeat after me,” mimicking exactly what the insurer says without any…

Published in Texas Automotive – Thomas Greco Publishing Operating a collision repair facility is similar to a marriage in many ways; both require commitment, communication and resilience, especially when times get tough. As we learned from local and national industry experts, in order to survive and ultimately thrive, shops now must get creative, adjusting strategies and riding the unpredictable waves of economic uncertainty to stay afloat and emerge successfully. After several years of nurturing a heavier workload than normal, the market began shifting downward last year. “Not since the pandemic year of 2020 have so many US shops reported six-month sales and net profit being below the same period a…

Published in Hammer & Dolly – Thomas Greco Publishing Debate has raged between shops and insurers regarding the necessity of performing OEM procedures – particularly when the vehicle manufacturer identifies a procedure as “recommended,” instead of “required.” But does a mere shift in semantics really make that much of a difference? A Scanning Case Study The trajectory taken by scanning requirements provides strong evidence that makes all the difference. It began when multiple vehicle manufacturers took a stand…and started a movement.  Although OEMs began incorporating advanced technology in their vehicles in the 1990s, few position statements were issued about the need for scanning until 2016 when manufacturers began declaring the necessity of…

Published in New Jersey Automotive – Thomas Greco Publishing Meeting any goal begins with setting the goal, establishing steps to achieve it and then monitoring how well those actions help one move toward the objective. Businesses of all types often rely on specific key performance indicators (KPIs) to help them “keep score” and identify needed adjustments. Which KPIs are most important? KPIs can vary widely from industry to industry and even business to business, and while mechanical shops may find it useful to track some of the same KPIs as collision centers, dealerships and other companies, it may be helpful to look at things a little differently.  First, it’s imperative…

Published in New England Automotive Report – Thomas Greco Publishing Gaps, misalignments, improper functioning…every collision repair professional recognizes the likelihood of encountering these challenges when dealing with aftermarket parts instead of OEM parts. Yet, collision repairers often find themselves being pressured to utilize these parts based on third-party payers’ insistence that they are of “like kind and quality.”  A simple Google search for “are aftermarket parts of like kind and quality” yields an AI overview response that reads: “No, aftermarket parts are not inherently of ‘like kind and quality’ as Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) parts; while some aftermarket parts are designed to meet OEM standards, many are not, and their…