MSCRA Expands to Create Gulf State Collision Association, Includes Louisiana and Alabama Collision Repairers
On July 9, Executive Director Josh Kent announced that the Mississippi Collision Repair Association will be accepting members from Louisiana and Alabama as the trade group updates its name to the Gulf States Collision Association. “We’re just adding in two states, similar to when we formed the Carolinas Collision Association from the North Carolina and South Carolina groups,” Kent explained.
“We’ve wanted to do this for a while. We needed some new blood,” Kent continued. “I was put in contact with a shop in Alabama, and they were excited to join the association right away. Then, I got in touch with a group of shops in Baton Rouge who are joining as well. To us, rebranding was the best decision we could make, and we’re excited to move forward as the Gulf States Collision Association, a great name proposed by I-CAR’s Tom McFinch.”
Although both states were previously home to fairly active collision repair associations, neither group has been active in recent years, and Kent is looking forward to providing auto body professionals in LA and AL with the educational opportunities that their neighboring state has enjoyed under his leadership. “We’ll bounce around some training classes in each state, and we’ll revamp the board to include repairers from all three locations,” he said.
More information about the Gulf States Collision Association is available at gulfstatescollisionassociation.com. Anyone interested in joining the group can contact Josh Kent at [email protected].
The Gulf States Collision Association will collaborate with the Carolinas Collision Association and the Tennessee Collision Repairs Association in hosting the Southeast Collision Conference, scheduled for Feb. 3-5, 2022, at the Gateway Conference Center in Richburg, SC. According to a recent press release from CCA, “Southeast Collision Conference is a 3-day conference open to all collision industry professionals and will contain numerous educational classes, presentations and a trade show. Hear from some of the industry’s biggest names as they present on topics to help you! Classes will be held by Mike Anderson, Erica Eversman, Mark Olson, Dave Luehr and many more. You do not want to miss this opportunity to learn, network, and experience the cutting edge information in our rapidly changing industry.”
For more information, or to register, for the Southeast Collision Conference, visit southeastcollisionconference.com/.
