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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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Shielding Your Shop from Tragedy
Published in Hammer & Dolly – Thomas Greco Publishing Catastrophes may strike without warning, but being proactive can help shop owners avoid becoming the next tragedy. Unfortunately, a lot of collision repair facility owners do not have enough coverage through their business insurance, according to David Willett of Spark Underwriters. “From a risk management standpoint, it’s just as important to make sure your insurance policy reflects today’s needs as it is to send your technicians to training or to invest in current tools; it’s an aspect of running a fine-tuned, efficient business,” he insists, recommending an annual review of one’s policy at a bare minimum, though his company monitors their…
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Northern Neck Technical Center
Published in Hammer & Dolly – Thomas Greco Publishing Collision repair professionals often bemoan the scarcity of young people interested in pursuing a career in this industry, but Matt Ingram, auto body instructor for Northern Neck Technical Center (Warsaw, VA), believes this field continues to hold the same appeal it always has, as evidenced by his program’s complete enrollment year after year. “We run a two-year, ASE-accredited program at a regional technical center serving six school districts, so students get bussed in from up to 40 minutes away,” he says, noting that first-year students attend the morning session, while the afternoon session is reserved for second-year students. “We spark interest…
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Your Business Insurance Coverage Isn’t Enough!
Published in Hammer & Dolly – Thomas Greco Publishing Just like drivers purchase auto insurance policies to cover them in the event of a loss, shop owners invest in business insurance that will protect their assets if the unthinkable happens…but is it enough? According to Peter Kelyman of Wheaton Body Shop (Wheaton, MD), it probably isn’t, especially if your policy was written years ago and simply renewed without being thoroughly reviewed! Unfortunately, Kelyman learned this lesson the hard way when his shop went up in flames – literally! He agreed to share his story with Hammer & Dolly in hopes of preventing other shop owners from suffering a similar scenario. Kelyman first…
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Thinking Outside the Box: Automotive Educators Keep Pace with Industry Innovations
Published in AASP-MN News – Thomas Greco Publishing There’s no denying that the skilled trades are in dire need of qualified talent to fill the void being left as baby boomers reach the age of retirement, but many tech school programs teach licensed industries that don’t change quickly – technology and techniques related to plumbing, cosmetology and most other “trades” remain fairly fixed year after year. Automotive technology is a different beast altogether. “Very few technical programs are driven by such rapidly-changing technology and consumer demands,” AASP-MN Executive Director Linden Wicklund points out, acknowledging that shops often complain that schools are failing to keep up with these rapid changes. “Automotive…
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Albert Kemperle Inc. Touts Training to Support Collision Industry
Published in New Jersey Automotive – Thomas Greco Publishing Distributors of automotive paint, body shop supplies and related equipment abound, but how can shops know that their supplier is truly invested in their success? Albert Kemperle LLC demonstrates their commitment to clients and collision repair excellence by offering a slew of training and educational opportunities for the industry. “Albert Kemperle’s commitment to training is a key component of our service offering, which is designed to add value beyond just product distribution,” explains Roy Griep, territory sales manager for Albert Kemperle. “This focus on education and skill development is vital for both our company and our clients, particularly in the ever-evolving…
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Vendor Affinity Program Spotlight: PartsTrader
Published in New England Automotive Report – Thomas Greco Publishing It’s impossible to repair a vehicle without the parts necessary to do so, but over the past couple of years, sourcing parts has become increasingly challenging – between intermittent shortages, delivery issues and inflation leading to increased costs, it can be difficult to know where to find the best parts for one’s business. PartsTrader sets out to alleviate those burdens by providing a single marketplace where repairers can easily locate and acquire the parts they need. “PartsTrader is an online real-time marketplace that connects suppliers, insurers and repairers in the collision repair industry to help them find parts for vehicles,”…
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Cultivating a Winning Shop Culture
Published in Texas Automotive – Thomas Greco Publishing It’s all about developing a work culture that keeps employees happy and motivated and, in turn, results in higher customer satisfaction. Successful business owners have learned that if they take care of their team, their team will take care of their customers, and the business will thrive. Culture matters. So, what is shop culture? “Culture in a business is like the climate we experience when we walk outside: Is it hot, cold, storming, calm?” asks Tony Adams (AkzoNobel). “Every business has a culture, and it’s a living, breathing, fragile thing. Owners and leaders should be focused on the culture climate of their business as…
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A New Era: ABAT Bleeds Red, White and Blue for Texas Repairers
Published in Texas Automotive – Thomas Greco Publishing Over the past decade, ABAT has done some truly great things for the Texas collision repair industry. Whether the association is hosting local training sessions that feature nationally renowned educators, bringing the best vendors and speakers from around the country to the annual Texas Auto Body Trade Show, educating legislators at the Capitol in Austin or challenging the Texas Department of Insurance (TDI) to protect consumers’ rights, there’s no doubt about it – ABAT continues to do everything possible to support auto body repairers in the Lone Star State. Earlier this year, ABAT celebrated its double digits (check it out at grecopublishing.com/txa0224coverstory). Now,…
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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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Cybersecurity Concerns: Fortify Your Data Defenses
Published in New England Automotive Report – Thomas Greco Publishing Protecting your shop’s assets requires forethought and preparation, and these days, data is often considered more valuable than gold. Headlines over the summer featured a cyberattack against CDK Global – used by 15,000 dealerships – which led the software to be shut down for weeks, causing parts supply disruptions across the country. Although CDK’s situation has been resolved, the data breach raises concerns about what level of risk cybercriminals pose to automotive businesses. A 2023 report conducted by CDK (bit.ly/CDKreport2023) indicated that 17 percent of dealers experienced a cyberattack in the previous year. And cyberattacks prove increasingly costly. Citing research…
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Is a Partial Repair Ever “Good Enough?” Part 2
Published in AASP-MN News – Thomas Greco Publishing Collision industry leaders consistently emphasize the importance of performing a “complete and proper repair” in accordance with OEM recommendations in order to restore a vehicle to its pre-accident condition, but – for a variety of reasons – shops may not be performing every single task. Are all those repairs necessary? If the vehicle is still “driveable” without addressing those issues, is it “good enough”…or should shops be refusing these partial repairs? Last month, AASP-MN News explored this subject with experts on the mechanical side of the industry (available at grecopublishing.com/aasp0824coverstory). Now, the conversation continues with two leading collision consultants: Mike Anderson (Collision Advice) and…
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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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Overcoming Adversity to Take A Family’s Legacy to the Next Level
Published in Hammer & Dolly – Thomas Greco Publishing It’s the dream for many – open your own auto body shop to provide a nice life for your family. One day, when you retire, your children will take over to continue your legacy. Sounds lovely, but sometimes life has other plans. Although no father intends to burden his 22-year-old child and her new spouse with a floundering business, there’s no doubt that the late Roland O’Haran Sr. would be extremely proud of his daughter and son-in-law, Jenn and Kyle Goad, for turning a struggling shop into a success story by overcoming the odds after being unexpectedly thrown into ownership. O’Haran,…
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Is a Partial Repair Ever Good Enough?
Published in AASP-MN News – Thomas Greco Publishing “Complete and proper repair” – it’s the golden standard that gets emphasized and reiterated in industry documentation and training events, and in a perfect world, of course every shop always performs every single task associated with restoring a car to its factory or pre-accident condition. But in the real world, various factors may create scenarios where shops do NOT address every item on that extensive list. Sometimes, it’s accidental; the shop fails to properly diagnose all the necessary repair items. Maybe the aftermarket warranty company or insurer debates whether certain repairs are truly necessary, or perhaps the customer refuses to invest in something they…
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Is Time Finally Up for Total Loss Under-Indemnification Tactics?
Published in Texas Automotive – Thomas Greco Publishing When a vehicle owner brings their car to a shop after an accident, they typically expect it to be repaired, so it’s a tough blow when they learn their vehicle has been deemed a total loss. It’s even more upsetting when their insurance carrier shortchanges them by undervaluing the actual cash value (ACV) of the loss. Yet, that’s a common occurrence these days as demonstrated by the prevalence of allegations, lawsuits and settlements related to under-indemnification. While shops, vehicle owners and consumer advocates have been bringing these concerns to the forefront for a number of years through a variety of methods, a…
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Doing It Differently: The Fight for Appraisal Expands
Published in Texas Automotive – Thomas Greco Publishing Texans deserve to drive safe vehicles, even after their car is damaged in an accident; however, proper vehicle repairs can be costly, and it’s all-too-common for insurance carriers to use unfair methodologies to undervalue both repairable and total loss vehicles, thereby under-indemnifying their policyholders. This is no surprise to collision repairers who repeatedly witness this tragic situation, and for years, shops have taken this burden on their shoulders, encouraging customers to utilize the Appraisal Clause in their policies to get a fairer shake. Unfortunately, in 2015, the Texas Department of Insurance (TDI) permitted State Farm to eliminate the Appraisal Clause from its…
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Forging a Path to the Future Through Specialization
Published in New England Automotive Report – Thomas Greco Publishing Navigating the rapidly advancing technology of the collision repair industry has created many challenges for shops as they struggle to keep pace with all the changes happening on what seems like a daily basis. These days, properly repairing vehicles requires investing in specific tools, equipment and training – all of which vary drastically depending on the vehicle make and model. It can be difficult to see the forest for the trees, but technology truly presents some amazing opportunities for those who are willing to take a step back and embrace some different ways of proceeding. The path forward may look…
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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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Fair or Foul? Ford Dealer Offers Opt-OE Parts for OE Prices
Published in Texas Automotive – Thomas Greco Publishing “Quality means doing it right when no one is looking.” Henry Ford’s famous quote speaks to a level of integrity that many aspire to achieve…many, but not all. Over the past couple of months, David Osburn (David McDavid Ford Collision Center; Fort Worth) noticed something odd related to parts pricing. “Insurers began writing estimates that called for opt-OE parts from [a Central Texas Ford dealership] due to the lower price, but when I called the dealership to order the part, I was told that my cost would be the same as for an OE part, even though the MSRP for the opt-OE…
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A Breed of Their Own: ABAT Honors the Ladies of Collision
Published in Texas Automotive – Thomas Greco Publishing Perspicacious. Selfless. Resilient. Compassionate. Vivacious. Superhero. These are just a few of the adjectives used to describe the honorees at ABAT’s Inaugural Night of Honor for Collision Industry Women, held last month at Cook’s Garage in Lubbock. “There’s something special about the women in the collision repair business,” said ABAT Executive Director Jill Tuggle. “It’s almost like we are our own breed – so wildly unique yet still similar! Since industry events often attract fewer women, ABAT wanted to get the ladies together to network as we attempt to build a community among the women in our industry, locally and nationally.” Over…
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A.I. for Dummies: Embracing the Business Benefits
Published in New Jersey Automotive – Thomas Greco Publishing What is artificial intelligence (AI)? Cinema and literature depict computer programs and robots assuming human-like personalities and taking over the world. While most of us recognize the fictional aspect of the science-fiction genre, plenty of misconceptions and fears related to AI abound, even as it becomes an increasingly integral part of everyday business. Although we often fall into the habit of viewing AI as “the future,” it is actually being used today in myriad ways that can benefit collision repair facilities – from damage analysis to improving the customer experience, AI tools offer the ability for shops to work smarter, not harder. “AI…
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Consolidation Deal on Your Radar? What to Know Before Selling
Published in AASP-MN News – Thomas Greco Publishing Maybe you’ve already been approached by a consolidator and are considering their offer. Perhaps you are interested in getting out of the business and debating whether that’s the route you want to take. Or it’s possible that the idea of handing over the shop keys to someone else isn’t even on your radar – yet. Whatever your current situation, only one thing remains consistent in this business: change is inevitable. And the best way to successfully tackle what comes next is to be prepared for the various possibilities. For any business owner, the day will come when it’s time to close up…
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Dancing in the Sky: Remembering Longtime AASP/NJ Board Member Sam Mikhail
Published in New Jersey Automotive – Thomas Greco Publishing Fearless and outspoken. Dedicated and loyal. Passionate and relentless. Auto body professionals and friends used these words over and over as they reflected on the legacy and impact left on the industry and their own lives by Sam Mikhail, longtime AASP/NJ Board member, who passed away on March 12 at the age of 80. “Sam was determined to make the industry better and willing to do whatever was necessary to make that happen,” AASP/NJ Executive Director Charles Bryant shared. “He was dedicated, relentless, direct and to the point, and he was willing to put in whatever effort necessary to accomplish his…
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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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Only Time Will Tell: Is Consolidation Coming to New England?
Published in New England Automotive Report – Thomas Greco Publishing Consolidation is nothing new in the collision repair industry; it first caught repairers’ attention in the late 1990s and early 2000s when Caliber, Gerber and Service King entered the market in California and Texas, purchasing independent shops and converting them to their brands. But since 2013, “big” has gotten even bigger, spreading all across the country, as increasing technology and the rising cost of doing business make the idea of selling the keys to the shop for a pretty penny more palatable to mom-and-pop operations pursued by the deep-pocketed consolidators and multi-shop operations (MSOs) interested in expanding their footprint. Over…
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Continuing the Legacy: A Q&A with New WMABA President Kris Burton
Published in Hammer & Dolly – Thomas Greco Publishing After three years under the leadership of Past President Steve Krieps (Greg Cline Auto Body; Winfield, WV), who bid adieu to his role in last month’s Hammer & Dolly (available at bit.ly/HD-0324), WMABA has a new head honcho, current President Kris Burton (Rosslyn Auto Body; Alexandria, VA), a dedicated collision industry professional whose affiliation with the association spans more than two decades. What can members expect as WMABA moves into this new era? Burton sat down with Hammer & Dolly to help readers get to know him a little better as he shares his thoughts on what he hopes to accomplish as he takes the reins.…
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Time is Money: Estimating in a Post-Blend Study World
Published in AASP-MN News – Thomas Greco Publishing Blending takes longer than refinishing – it’s a fact that painters and other collision repair professionals have known for years, yet cries for an update to the 50 percent calculation cited by all three major information providers (IPs) fell on deaf ears until the Society of Collision Repair Specialists (SCRS) teamed up with AkzoNobel, Axalta, BASF, PPG and Sherwin-Williams to evaluate blending in comparison to full refinish values when considering solid, metallic and tri-stage refinish options across all the paint manufacturers. The results of the study, released during SEMA 2022, determined that blend times are 31.59 percent greater than full refinished value on average,…
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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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ABAT Celebrates a Decade
Published in Texas Automotive – Thomas Greco Publishing It’s hard to believe that 10 years ago, ABAT did not officially exist yet. But in the association’s earliest days, it set out to address some pretty specific matters impacting collision repair shops in Texas. Since its inception, ABAT has made some huge strides for the auto body world and is still going strong as it celebrates a decade of dedication to this industry. In early 2014, the idea began to take hold during an estimating seminar at Paint Works (Tyler). Burl Richards (Burl’s Collision Center; Henderson) and Chad Neal, owner of Paint Works, had engaged in several conversations about the need…
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Battling for Right to Appraisal: Do You Understand the Impact?
Published in Texas Automotive – Thomas Greco Publishing Last month, Texas Automotive’s cover story (available at grecopublishing.com/txa0124coverstory) focused on one consumer’s generous donation to the fight for mandatory appraisal rights in Texas. We know you’re absolutely itching to know how the elected steward of those funds, Robert McDorman (Auto Claim Specialists), plans to use them in his fight for Right to Appraisal…and those details will be revealed next month. But in order to appreciate exactly why it’s so important to pursue this battle, it’s imperative for collision repairers to understand the impact of Right to Appraisal (RTA). Sure, you can flip through the pages of nearly any past issue of this magazine to…
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Are Insurance Premium Spikes a Ripoff?
Published in New Jersey Automotive – Thomas Greco Publishing If it seems like your auto insurance premiums increased more than ever last year, you aren’t too far off base. Nationally, premiums rose by approximately 20 percent in 2023. That means insurance coverage costs rose six times faster than the Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation rate of 3.4 percent, outpacing nearly every other common consumer cost and reflecting the largest annual increase since 1976. And those rate spikes are anticipated to continue in 2024 with predictions indicating an increase of 12.6 percent nationwide…and New Jersey drivers could see one of the highest increases of up to 34 percent! Insurance premium prices…
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Eight Years Wasted: Rick Starbard Reflects on His Time with the ADALB
Published in New England Automotive Report – Thomas Greco Publishing When AASP/MA Past President Rick Starbard (Rick’s Auto Collision; Revere) was appointed to the Auto Damage Appraiser Licensing Board (ADALB) in June 2015 – alongside former Board member Lyle Pare (Plymouth Rock Assurance Corporation and current Board member Bill Johnson (Pleasant Street Auto; South Hadley/Belchertown) – many Commonwealth repairers viewed the big changes as signifying a new era for the ADALB. But that era came to an abrupt end last fall when Starbard was unceremoniously replaced by his predecessor, Carl Garcia (Carl’s Collision Center; Fall River). In fact, no mention was made of the new appointments when the Board gathered…
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Grow from Within: Cultivating Talented Technicians In-House
Published in Hammer & Dolly – Thomas Greco Publishing Are you constantly looking for new technicians, painters or estimators to staff your shop? Does it seem impossible to find qualified, talented help these days? You’re not alone. Lots of shop owners report feeling the exact same way. But that’s not the case for everyone. Barry Dorn (Dorn’s Body & Paint; Mechanicsville, VA) found a way to combat the technician shortage that his facility was facing by shifting his outlook 10 years ago. “We started ‘growing’ our own technicians in 2013,” he shares. “We decided that hiring techs from other facilities wasn’t in our best interests in most cases because they…
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Grow or Get Out: Positioning Your Business for Success and Sale
Published in Hammer & Dolly – Thomas Greco Publishing Your business is your baby; your life likely revolves around it. Running a collision repair facility keeps owners busy, day in and day out. Some owners love what they do and are looking forward to a future filled with advancement and expansion, while others are counting the days until they wash their hands of the whole thing. But whether you’re looking to grow or get out, your path begins by positioning your business to be successful without you. For growers, it’s physically impossible to be in two places at once, so you’re going to need to empower your team to make…
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A Whole New World: ADAS Calibrations for Service Shops
Published in AASP-MN News – Thomas Greco Publishing Nearly every new vehicle on the market contains one or more ADAS feature, and while a lot of effort has gone into training collision shops over the past decade or so, it’s just as important for mechanical shops to be aware of what’s happening on this front since even the simplest tasks, such as replacing a headlamp or a radiator, could alter the position of a camera or module, requiring recalibration. With so many systems varying drastically from one make and model to the next, jumping into the world of calibrations can be incredibly overwhelming for many shops. It may feel like it’s…
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Digging Deep in His Pockets to Protect the Right to Appraisal
Published in Texas Automotive – Thomas Greco Publishing It’s easy enough for people to claim they’re willing to “put their money where their mouth is” when there isn’t much money involved, but few people are actually willing to invest time, energy and money – and certainly not all three! – to stand by their convictions and do what’s right to protect others. Texas consumer Joe Collins is a rare exception to that rule. Last summer, a Rusk County District Court jury ruled in Collins’ favor in Joseph Wayne Collins v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company. During the trial, 12 Texans found the insurance giant had knowingly or intentionally engaged in…
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Information Providers Inspired by SCRS Blend Study to Research Blend Times
Published in Texas Automotive – Thomas Greco Publishing “Sometimes it takes time to get people where you need them to be, to a place where they get it,” Society of Collision Repair Specialists (SCRS) Executive Director Aaron Schulenburg acknowledged during a recent ABAT webinar as he provided an “exciting” update on responses to the SCRS blend study, which was unveiled in November 2022 and revealed that blending takes an average of 31.59 percent more time than a full refinish, instead of 50 percent less time as all three major information providers (IPs) indicated by calculating blends at 50 percent of the full refinish time. Before diving into the recent progress made as a result…
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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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Lessen the Learning Curve with SOPs
Published in New England Automotive Report – Thomas Greco Publishing Training new employees can be stressful – even if you hire an experienced estimator, painter or technician, it’s unlikely they’ve ever done things the way YOU want them done at YOUR facility…after all, they’ve never worked for YOU before, and everyone does things differently. There’s always a learning curve when a new employee joins your team! Someone who is competent (or even highly skilled) could struggle to assimilate into your shop culture simply because your processes are different than what they’re used to. But what if there was a way to help them get accustomed to your way of doing…
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An Eye Forward: Does Specialization Give Shops an Advantage?
Published in Hammer & Dolly – Thomas Greco Publishing “Back in the day.” “When I opened my shop.” “Years ago.” Attend any collision industry event, and you’re sure to hear stories that begin in one of these ways and which proceed to lament the technological advances that have made it so much more challenging to run a successful auto body shop in the present day and age. After all, properly repairing vehicles requires investing in specific tools, equipment and training – all of which vary drastically depending on the vehicle make and model. But those challenges also present a unique opportunity when it comes to specialization. Because modern vehicles are…
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MNCARS: Bridging the Gap in Promoting Automotive Service and Collision Repair Careers
Published in AASP-MN News – Thomas Greco Publishing “Why can’t I find any qualified help for my business?” This question is asked repeatedly by both automotive service and collision repair shops all across the country, and fortunately, this conundrum is being tackled by multiple organizations: TechForce Foundation, the Collision Repair Education Foundation (CREF) and Minnesota Careers in Auto Repair and Service (MNCARS) are just a few entities working to fill the void left in shops as the baby boomer generation finally starts to consider retirement. All three non-profits support future repair professionals through scholarships, in-person events and other resources. Despite the synchronicity that exists between those working on alleviating the…