News Story
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Seeing Bronze: Maryland Collision Student Places Third at SkillsUSA Nationals
Published in Hammer & Dolly – Thomas Greco Publishing Benjamin Kimbark has SKILLS! Kimbark, a 2024 graduate from the Frederick County Career and Tech Center (FCPS CTC) in Frederick, MD, showcased his talents as a collision repair technician when he took first place in the collision repair competition during the Maryland SkillsUSA State Leadership and Skills Conference, held last April. FCPS CTC Collision Instructor Philip Allen acknowledges, “One of my students won the collision repair competition at States in 2023, so I did apply a little fun pressure to Ben to make it two years in a row for us.” Kimbark has always been interested in the automotive world. “Cars, trucks,…
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Waiting for the Other Shoe to Drop: Will Others Follow asTech/GEICO’s Path?
Published in New Jersey Automotive – Thomas Greco Publishing Two’s company, three’s a crowd, but four on the sidewalk is not allowed! The simple childhood proverb offers a lot of wisdom in terms of business contracts, especially in the collision repair industry where it’s not uncommon for confusion to exist when it comes to which entities a repair facility owes its loyalty: the customer who brings the vehicle into the shop or the insurance company that typically compensates for the repair. But when another type of business – a vendor – recently decided to insert itself into the equation, collision leaders and business owners around the country immediately made their…
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Slaying a Giant: Consumer Defeats Progressive in Short-Pay Lawsuit
Published in New Jersey Automotive – Thomas Greco Publishing Walking into a courtroom to confront a massive corporation like Progressive Insurance on a short-pay lawsuit would intimidate many people. And Carmen Torres* acknowledges she was one of those people. She admits to being terrified when she realized that her case was actually going to trial, but armed with documentation from her collision repair shop, she walked away with justice served and a sense of empowerment from her encounter with the insurance giant. It all began when Torres was rear-ended in her newly-leased Mazda which only had a couple hundred miles on it. She had been in a couple fender benders…
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ADALB Slides Down a Slippery Slope Away From Consumer Protection
Published in New England Automotive Report – Thomas Greco Publishing Seated under the Division of Insurance (DOI), the Auto Damage Appraiser Licensing Board (ADALB) shares the DOI’s supposed mission of protecting consumer interests and is specifically charged with “adopt[ing] rules and regulations governing licenses under this section in order to promote the public welfare and safety.” At least that’s what the DOI’s website and Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 26 Section 8G (MGL c. 26 § 8G) assert, but at each gathering to review complaints and regulatory amendments, the blatant bias of the Board’s insurance representatives – as well as Chairman Michael Donovan – serves as a reminder that they are…
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Keeping a Clean Table at the ADALB
Published in New England Automotive Report – Thomas Greco Publishing Although the Auto Damage Appraiser Licensing Board (ADALB) entered its May meeting with a full agenda of items to discuss, votes to table topic after topic quickly cleared their plate. The Board reviewed a request to approve a course of instruction for motor vehicle damage appraisals, which was submitted by AASP/MA Executive Director Lucky Papageorg and designed to prepare students to successfully complete the Part-I and Part-II portions of the examination for motor vehicle damage appraiser licensure. The proposed course was approved by the ADALB in January 2017 for Springfield Technical Community College and was most recently used as the…
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ADALB Plays Duck, Duck, Dismissed
Published in New England Automotive Report – Thomas Greco Publishing The way that the Auto Damage Appraiser Licensing Board (ADALB) reviews complaints at their bimonthly meetings often seems akin to a game of “duck, duck, goose” in the sense that the discussion tends to run in circles, nothing ever actually progresses and one is often left feeling like they’ve been bonked on the head. The ADALB reviewed 11 complaints during its most recent meeting, held March 12, resulting in six dismissals, four requests for additional information and one contested complaint which will not move forward. Most of the votes were actually unanimous with Chairman Michael Donovan breaking one tie in…
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Act II: Waiting for Progressive to Act in Good Faith
Published in New England Automotive Report – Thomas Greco Publishing “ESTRAGON: I can’t go on like this. VLADIMIR: That’s what you think.” ― Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett Waiting for insurers to do the right thing by their policyholders often feels like an exercise in futility, much like sitting around and waiting for someone who never shows up. Waiting for Godot is often described as a play in which nothing happens, and some shop owners can attest to the fact that attempts to negotiate with carriers may feel just as endlessly repetitive with no resolution. Last year, Texas Automotive featured “A Comedy of Under-Indemnification: Starring Progressive” (available online at grecopublishing.com/txa1123coverstory), which told the story of a shop…
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Third Time’s a Charm? Unlikely at the ADALB!
Published in New England Automotive Report – Thomas Greco Publishing In 2016, a revised version of 212 CMR 2.0 was sent up the chain for approval after being reviewed by the Auto Damage Appraiser Licensing Board (ADALB) that was seated at the time. No response was received from the Department of Insurance (DOI) for years, but after three Board members were replaced in early 2019, an allegedly misplaced letter made its way to the surface, raising issues with the amendments and justifying the need for the regulations to undergo review by the new Board. Following delays caused by the pandemic, the ADALB hashed out the minutiae and argued through semantics…
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SCRS Continues DOI Dialogue About Consumer Complaints
Published in Hammer & Dolly – Thomas Greco Publishing When a vehicle owner encounters challenges in the claims process, their collision repair facility often works with them to file complaints with their local department of insurance, but they often “become frustrated with that process because they’re expecting a different outcome than these departments are scoped with and that they intend to address through their processes,” suggested Aaron Schulenburg, executive director of the Society of Collision Repair Specialists’ (SCRS) during the organization’s recent Open Board Meeting in Palm Springs, CA. In an effort to alleviate some of these frustrations, SCRS has made an effort to open the door to more communication…
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CIC Scratches the Surface of Bad Repairs, Pretty Paint, AI & More
Published in Hammer & Dolly – Thomas Greco Publishing Typically, the focus of collision repair professionals’ is to fix what’s damaged, restoring vehicles to their pre-accident condition. But during the most recent Collision Industry Conference (CIC), held in Palm Springs, CA in conjunction with other industry meetings, industry professionals took things a step further as committees repositioned themselves to tackle common topics from new angles. And although the full day of back-to-back presentations surely got attendees thinking, it’s mind-blowing to realize that CIC merely scratched the surface in these discussions which are certain to continue playing a role in the industry for years to come. What’s the cost of a…
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Praxis v. Practice: NJ Law Seeks to Alleviate Vo-Tech Teacher Shortage
Published in New Jersey Automotive – Thomas Greco Publishing As shops seek to fill their facilities with qualified talent, the lament about the technician shortage has been heard from coast to coast for years, but rarely does anyone talk about a related problem that contributes to the lack of qualified talent available for body shops to hire: the teacher shortage! While it seems that there are fewer teachers filling classrooms each year in general, vo-tech schools seem to suffer the most from the dwindling profession. In fact, the lack of skilled trades teachers has led to several programs shutting down once their instructors retired simply because there was no one…
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New Faces at the ADALB: A Q&A with Carl Garcia
Published in New England Automotive Report – Thomas Greco Publishing During the October meeting of the Auto Damage Appraiser Licensing Board (ADALB), two new members sat at the table: Carl Garcia (Carl’s Collision Center; Fall River) and Vicky Wei Ye (Bos Insurance Agency). The meeting ran without interruption, and the recent additions briefly introduced themselves at the end of the meeting after weighing in on Board business – and even voting on the revocation of an appraiser’s license! But who are these new Board members, and what are their qualifications? New England Automotive Report reached out to Garcia and Ye to request an interview. Although Ye did not respond to our request,…
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Moving Forward: A Q&A with New AASP/NJ President Ken Miller
Published in New Jersey Automotive – Thomas Greco Publishing At AASP/NJ’s 2023 Annual Meeting, the association elected a new president for the first time since 2017. Last month, Past President Jerry McNee (Ultimate Collision Repair; Edison) reflected on his six years of service, but what about the future of the organization? That lies in the capable hands of current President Ken Miller (821 Collision; North Haledon) who sat down with New Jersey Automotive to share his thoughts on what association members can expect moving forward under his leadership. New Jersey Automotive: What industry experience do you bring to your new role as AASP/NJ President? Ken Miller: I started my career in this industry 35…
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Shops Stand Strong Against Economic Downturns (Part 2)
Published in New Jersey Automotive – Thomas Greco Publishing It may be scary to think about an economic downturn, but as discussed in last month’s New Jersey Automotive (at grecopublishing.com/new-jersey-automotive-august-2023), auto body shops often encounter these uncertainties in a different way than other industries, and experts even suggest this industry may be “recession-resistant!” One of the factors that supports this thinking is the average American’s continued reliance on their personal transportation. At the same time, consumers are less apt to take on more debt by making large purchases like new cars. Inflation and increasing interest rates have collaboratively created a situation where buying a new car is incredibly prohibitive: by the end of…
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More Delays at the ADALB
Published in New England Automotive Report – Thomas Greco Publishing Not much happened during the July 12 meeting of the Auto Damage Appraiser Licensing Board (ADALB). The Board was scheduled for a hearing to review the potential revocation of Justin Forkuo’s (290 Auto Body; Worcester) appraiser license, but since Forkuo’s attorney was unable to attend the meeting, the hearing has been postponed until the next ADALB meeting. Moving on to “other business,” Board member Peter Smith (MAPFRE) broached the topic of out-of-state appraiser licensing, explaining that there’s an issue with the system used; the system will not allow an automated renewal for appraisers who do not have a residence in…
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Shops Stand Strong Against Economic Downturns (Part 1)
Published in New Jersey Automotive – Thomas Greco Publishing Thoughts of inflation, recession and rising interest rates often fill small business owners with fear, but for collision repair shops, there may be less cause for concern since this industry is better equipped than most to stand strong against economic downturns. Of course, no business is truly recession-proof, but some may resist market uncertainty better than others. Industry leaders share their thoughts on how shops can weather the economic storms and continue to thrive. “When interest rates rise and there are fears of a recession, I recognize how easy it is to become overwhelmed with fears, but I’m not afraid,” insists…
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On-the-Spot” Blending Options: CCC Responds to SCRS Blend Study
Published in New England Automotive Report – Thomas Greco Publishing Since late 2022 when the Society of Collision Repair Specialists (SCRS) unveiled the results of its highly anticipated study, collision repairers have been anxiously awaiting the responses of the three major information providers (IPs), all of which promised to conduct their own research and provide updates. (If you’ve been living under a rock, get caught up on the basics of the blend study here.) As reported in New England Automotive Report in March, CCC “committed that based on the recent database inquiries regarding MOTOR’s guidelines for blending adjacent panels, and in accordance with MOTOR’s standard operating procedures, MOTOR will conduct observational studies of…
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Not-So-Good Hands: Allstate Drops the Ball on P&M Rates, Sublet Scan Costs
Published in New Jersey Automotive – Thomas Greco Publishing Don Harvey, manager for a North Jersey body shop, had been receiving compensation from Allstate Insurance on sublet-paid vehicle scans as well as paint and material costs for quite some time without experiencing any issues, but that changed earlier this year when he submitted a virtual assist supplement that has yet to be resolved, over three months later. In response to the supplement, Allstate’s Ruby Felton promised to “get back to me and send the supplement, but she never called me to discuss any differences,” reports Harvey, who provided an invoice for the sublet scan and a vehicle-and-color-specific copy of the…
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Shop Calls on Labor Rate Hero for Aid against Insurance Bullies
Published in New Jersey Automotive – Thomas Greco Publishing Under-indemnification: Any collision repair professional can affirm that this issue runs rampant among insurers who pressure shops to accept lower rates or even reduce the quality of repairs. But shop owners have grown increasingly fed up with carriers’ attempts to bully them into submission – and the most savvy often turn to National AutoBody Research’s (NABR) Labor Rate Hero for data and support to get paid what they deserve. Greg Melartin (Matt’s Body Shop and Tire Service; Spring Valley, MN) found this to be a very effective route earlier this year when Progressive Insurance underpaid a claim by $416.57, rejecting the…
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Commonwealth Collision Repairers Contemplate SCRS Blend Study Results
Published in New England Automotive Report – Thomas Greco Publishing It’s no secret to collision repair professionals that blending a panel necessitates more time, skill and even material than a simple refinish job; however, for decades, shops have been forced to accept half the labor hours on a blend, based on formulas utilized by the major information providers (IPs). Although Audatex, Mitchell and CCC each define refinish times differently, all three IPs utilize a uniform blending formula of 50 percent of refinish time on two-stage refinish, with CCC and Mitchell allowing 70 percent of refinish time to blend three-stage colors – formulas which have finally been demonstrated to be a…
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AASP/NJ Helps Shops Dodge a $2 Million Boiler Bullet – for Now
Published in New Jersey Automotive – Thomas Greco Publishing If your shop is not currently worried about spending $2 million on an electric boiler, make sure to thank AASP/NJ! Since Governor Phil Murphy unveiled New Jersey’s Energy Master Plan (EMP) in 2020, few clear answers have been provided to clarify how much each component of the initiative might cost families and businesses. One of the first planned provisions, introduced in December 2021, called for the replacement of all fossil-fueled (gas or oil) heating systems to be replaced with electric boilers after January 1, 2025, and the first 8,000 facilities to be impacted included those with an existing New Jersey Department of Environmental…