autobody news december 2010 western edition

Related in this issue...Collision Hub Implements its Social Media strategyby David M. Brown . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .p. 44Social Media 101: Why Social Media Matters inCollision Repair . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .p. 45

CollisionHub.com founder

KRISTENFELDER

“SOCIAL MEDIA”– Personal networking technology (andits application) is more than just the chatter mechanism thatteens use to communicate with other teens. It has made itspresence unavoidable in the business world in recent years.

Is it profitable? Worthwhile? Here to stay? AutobodyNews sat down with Kristen Felder, founder and CEO ofCollisionHub.com—a new social media website for thecollision repair industry—to find out what all the buzz is about.

ABN: What sparked your idea to create Collision Hub?KF: Well, five years ago, when Hurricane Katrina hit, I was workingwith State Farm Insurance Company. Most everybody’s cell phoneswere down after the storm, but a lot of people still had access to theirsocial media accounts, which allowed the insurance companies away to get a hold of customers. So I started to see social media asa very helpful tool thanks to that. Then, at NACE two years ago, Iwas talking to some colleagues and I thought it would be great if wecould recreate that dialogue and debate within the industry morethan just at expos once or twice a year. I wanted to create a placewhere people in the industry could talk openly and have a place toreally get to know each other. I decided I wanted to build somethingto really connect the different segments of the industry.

ABN: What did it take to get Collision Hub off the ground?KF: I spent 3–4 months programming and building the site. I didn’thave any formal web or HTML training so I sort of learned on the fly.

by John Yoswick

Non-OEM parts again dominatedmuch of the agenda at the CollisionIndustry Conference (CIC), held inLas Vegas in November in conjunc-tion with the SEMA show. The day-long meeting included presentationsby Ford Motor Company, the Certi-fied Automotive Parts Association(CAPA), and NSF International, theorganization that launched anothercertification program for non-OEMparts earlier this year.

Ford announced at the meetingthat it had followed up its simulatedcrash testing of some non-certified

non-OEM bumperparts last summerwith some actuallow-speed crashtesting of the parts(sold as replace-ments for the2005–09 Mus-tang) in October.

The effect of the use of non-OEMparts in a subsequent crash was clear,Paul Massie, powertrain and collisionproduct marketing manager for Ford,said.

“It will change the discussionfrom it ‘might’ change the airbag de-

Results of non-OEM Parts Crash TestingRevealed at November CIC in Las Vegas

See CIC: Bumper Testing, Page 47

Ford’s Paul Massie

BAR Chief Sherry Mehltalks with Autobody Newsabout running California’sBureau of AutomotiveRepair

INTERVIEW by Ed Attanasiosee p. 38

Also in this issue... GM IPO, One of Largest Ever p. 46Toby Chess Organizes Holiday Donations for MarineFamilies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .p. 41SEMA, CIC, and SCRS stories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .various

continued on page 24INTERVIEW by Erica Schroeder

CaliforniaNevadaArizona YEARS www.autobodynews.com

2929ww.autobodynews.comww

w

WesternEdition

VOL. 28 ISSUE 12DECEMBER 2010

PresortedStandardUSPostage

PAIDOntario,Ca.PermitNo.1

P.O.BOX1516,CARLSBAD,CA92018

ChangeServiceRequested

2 DECEMBER 2010 AUTOBODY NEWS | www.autobodynews.com

www.autobodynews.com | DECEMBER 2010 AUTOBODY NEWS 3

REGIONAL

12 Accused in Louisiana Staged Vehicle

Crashes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

AAA Auto-Repair Shop Approved in Phoenix

Despite Opposition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Arizona Welcomes AZ Dept of Quality’s Green

Business Program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Auto Body Fraud Investigator Dr. Kenneth Zion

Speaks at CAA Santa Clara Chapter Meeting . . . 36

CAA Holds 6th Annual Holiday Party in

San Diego . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

California Repairers’ Donations Needed to Give

Back to Marines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Capital Original Wheels Celebrates 55 Years of

Business in Los Angeles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Chrysler West Business Center (WBC) Holds

2-Day Meeting in Las Vegas . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Los Angeles Builds New EV Charging Stations at

Transit Centers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

May Hail Storm ‘Disaster’ Economic Boon for

Oklahoma City Economy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

Mini Cooper Rolls into former Bauer Jaguar . . . . 15

Mobile County, AL, Could Recruit High

Performance Automaker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

Mobility Given to Two Orange County Families

Thanks to Recycled Rides Program . . . . . . . . . . 18

More Than 50 Vehicle Debuts at the LA Auto

Show Display Renewed Vitality Not Seen in

Many Years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

NABC Annual Golf Outing in Palm Springs,

California will be Jan 12. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Nevada Board Bans Texting While Driving State

Vehicles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Nevada DMV Verification Sometimes Fines

Innocent Drivers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

New Hohl Dealerships Open in Carson City . . . . 15

San Juan Capistrano Offers $5M Incentive to

Auto Dealership . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Sun Devil Auto Kicks Off Third Annual Toys

For Tots Drive Throughout Arizona, Nevada,

and Texas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

COLUMNS

Amaradio - My Customer, the Crash Test Dummy . 51

Attanasio - BAR Interview with Sheri Mehl . . . . . 38

Attanasio - CAA East Bay Hosts Toys for Tots

Truck Customizing Competition . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Brown - Collision Hub Implements its Social

Media Strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

Espersen, Webster - Got Information? . . . . . . . . 19

Franklin - Promotion Up Close and Personal . . . . 45

Schroeder - Social Media Interview with

Kristen Felder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Schroeder - Three Autobody News Collisions

Illustrate Balancing Act Between DRPs and

Shops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Weaver - Dude, Meet My Daughter. . . . . . . . . . . 32

Yoswick - Results of non-OEM Parts Crash Testing

Revealed at November CIC in Las Vegas . . . . . 1

Yoswick - SEMA Week Collision Meetings Focused

on Industry Standards and Estimating Systems. 54

NATIONAL

AutoNation Sees Major Acquisitions in 2011 . . . 50

AutoTrader.com to Purchase Kelley Blue Book . . 46

Bush Book: Automaker Bailout was

“Responsible Action”. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

Chevy Volt Classified As ULEV, Ineligible For

Carpool Stickers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

Chief Announces Chief University, Design Based

Repair Training at SEMA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

China to become GM’’s Largest Market in 2011. 50

China’s Largest Automaker Plans 1% Stake in

GM IPO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

FIAT Plans Big for US Auto Sales in 2011. . . . . . 57

Five More Las Vegas Families Receive Reliable

Transportation at SEMA from NABC. . . . . . . . 52

Ford Cuts Mazda Stake . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

General Motors IPO, One of Two Largest in

History, Generates $16–23 Billion . . . . . . . . . 46

GM to Phase out Goodwrench Brand Name . . . . 29

GM Wins Award with New DuPont Plastic . . . . . 29

I-CAR Premieres New Vehicle Technology and

Trends Course at SEMA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

LA Dealership to be first to sell Fiat brand in

the U.S. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

Matrix System Walks Away as a Winner with

Salt Eraser®. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

Mercedes-Benz Financial is new Daimler

Financier . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

Mickey Harris’ American Pride Camaro

Commands Attention at SEMA . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

Midterm Elections: Pro-shop CT Senator and

Pro-shop CDI Commissioner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Military Buys Into R2R. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

NCOIL Tables Model Steering Act, for Now. . . . . 40

President Obama Says Auto Industry is “Again

on the Rise,” Republicans Still Skeptical. . . . . 55

Rome Technologies Now Integrates with

PMCLogic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

SCRS Thanks Repairer Education Sponsors at

SEMA 2010. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

SEMA 2010, A Glimpse of Hope and New

Revenue Opportunities. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

Social Media 101: Why Social Media Matters

in Collision Repair . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Tesla Offers Battery and EV Tech to Toyota,

Others . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

Toyota Expects 13% Rise. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

Utility Companies Are Apprehensive About

Electric Cars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

Virginia Body Shop Wins Vista Print ‘Make an

Impression’ Contest. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

Wicklund’s CARSTAR Honors Kansas City Area

Veterans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

Contents

Publisher & Editor: Jeremy Hayhurst

General Manager: Barbara Davies

Editorial Assistant: Erica Schroeder

Contributing Writers: Tom Franklin, David Brown, John

Yoswick, Lee Amaradio, Rich Evans, Janet Chaney, Toby

Chess, Mike Causey, Tom McGee, Ed Attanasio

Advertising Sales: Joe Momber, Christina Shubert

(800) 699-8251

Sales Assistant: Kristy Mangum

Art Director: Rodolfo Garcia

Serving California, Nevada and Arizona, Autobody News

is a monthly publication for the autobody industry. Per-

mission to reproduce in any form the material published

in Autobody News must be obtained in writing from the

publisher. ©2010 Adamantine Media LLC.

Autobody News

P.O. Box 1516, Carlsbad, CA 92018

(800) 699-8251 (760) 721-0253 Fax

www.autobodynews.com

Email: [email protected]

Audi Wholesale Parts Dealers . . . . . . .58

Autoland Scientech . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .29

Automotive Equipment Solutions . . . . .41

Automotive ID . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22

BMW of Riverside . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .34

BMW Wholesale Parts Dealers . . . . . . .17

British Motor Car Distributors . . . . . . . .36

Buerge Chrysler-Jeep-Dodge . . . . . . . .11

Classifieds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .59

Completes Plus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10

Crevier BMW . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .43

Downtown Motors of LA

(Audi, VW, Porsche) . . . . . . . . . . . . .42

Drew Hyundai-Volkswagen . . . . . . . . . .18

DuPont . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5

Elk Grove Toyota . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4

Enterprise Rent-A-Car . . . . . . . . . . . . . .51

Folsom Lake Chrysler-Jeep-Dodge . . .19

Ford Wholesale Parts Dealers

AZ, CA, & NV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .37

Galpin Motors . . . . . . . . . . .27, 30-31, 35

Garmat USA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24

GM Wholesale Parts Dealers . . . . . . . .49

Harbor Hyundai . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .34

Honda/Acura Wholesale Parts Dealers .52

Hyundai Wholesale Parts Dealers . . . .50

Kia Motors Wholesale Parts Dealers . .25

LKQ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .60

Malco . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9

Matrix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20

Mazda Wholesale Parts Dealers . . . . . .56

Mitsubishi Wholesale Parts Dealers . . .56

ML Spraybooth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21

MOPAR Wholesale Parts Dealers . . . . .26

Nissan/Infiniti Wholesale Parts Dealers .53

Pacific BMW . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .38

Performance Radiator . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14

Perry Mazda-Ford . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .40

Power Chrysler-Jeep-Dodge . . . . . . . . .7

PPG . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2

RBL Products . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .32

Replica Plastics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33

Riverside Metro VW-Honda-Hyundai-

Nissan-Mazda . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15

SCA Appraisal Company . . . . . . . . . . . .6

Scorpion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16

Sierra Chevrolet-Honda-Mazda-Subaru .39

Subaru Wholesale Parts Dealers . . . . .23

Timmons VW-Subaru . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8

Toyota Wholesale Parts Dealers . . . . . .12

VIM Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .55

Volkswagen Wholesale Parts Dealers .48

Volvo Crash Wholesale Dealers . . . . . .58

Weatherford BMW . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13

Inde

xofAdvertisers

Western


The Phoenix Planning Commissionvoted to allow AAA-Arizona to con-vert an abandoned emissions stationnear 40th Street and Greenway Roadinto an auto-repair shop according tothe Arizona Republic.

Neighbors had objected to thechange, and the Paradise Valley Vil-lage Planning Commission failed toapprove the facility in two separatevotes. Pending appeal by the neigh-bors, the commission decision nowgoes to the Phoenix City Council forfinal say.

AAA asked to rezone the prop-erty where the emissions stationwas located from light commercial(C-1) to intermediate commercial(C-2), as required for an auto-repairshop.

Neighbors objected on groundsof noise, and said the emissions sta-tion never should have been permit-ted there. They also expressedconcern that if the AAA shop doesnot survive, other undesirable usescould take over the facility if it haslC-2 zoning.

ButAAApromised to take stepsto mitigate noise and improve secu-rity, drainage and lighting.

The commission voted 6-1 lastweek in support of AAA’s plans.

AAAAuto-Repair Shop Approvedin Phoenix Despite Opposition

Arizona Welcomes AZ Dept of Quality’s Green Business ProgramThe number of members of the Ari-zona Department of EnvironmentalQuality’s Green BusinessAutomotiveProgram reached 65 as nine more Val-ley autorepair shops and five moreTucson shops pledged that they wouldhave environmentally friendly car re-pair practices.

The new Phoenix member auto-repair shops are: AAA Auto Repair,1050 E. Camelback Road; FirestoneCompleteAuto Care at 2858W. Peo-ria Ave. and 5125 W. Southern Ave.;and Larry Harker’s Auto Repair,3845 W. Indian School Road.

Other new Valley members areTobiasAutomotive Specialists, 6022E. Cave Creek Road in Cave Creek;and Firestone Complete Auto Care,70 E. Guadalupe Road in Gilbert,6707 E. Main Street in Mesa, 17038W. Bell Road in Surprise and 9970W.Lower Buckeye Road in Tolleson.

The Tucson auto-repair shops areJimmy’s Broadway AutomotiveService, 2448 E. Broadway Blvd.;One StopAutomotive, 1545 S. Cray-croft Road; Integrity AutomotiveCorp., 4455 W. Ina Road; PimaCommunity College -- Automotive,1255 N. Stone Ave.; and TucsonMountain Motors, 3045 S. KinneyRoad.

The innovative green auto shopsprogram is a publicprivate partnershipthat began in 2005 when ADEQlinked up with Automobile Associa-tion of America-Arizona (AAA).

The program now includes theAutomotive Service Association ofArizona (ASAAZ) and City of Mesa.

“We congratulate these 14 newmembers in the Valley and Tucson fortheir commitment to clean and green.We now have 65 auto repair shops inArizona participating in the GreenAuto Shop program, which is going tocontinue to grow throughout the stateas more shops become recognized en-vironmental stewards,” said ADEQDirector Benjamin H. Grumbles.

The participating green autoshops have found ways to protect theenvironment and conserve resourcesthrough better waste disposal prac-tices, parts management programs,housekeeping, parts cleaning and de-greasing, fluid recycling and energyuse policies to reduce pollution.

The shops use low-pollution orwater-based solvents for cleaning, re-cycle waste fluids and oil wheneverpossible. More information on thegreen shops is available at:http://www.azdeq.gov/function/about/greenauto.html

NABC Annual Golf Outing in Palm Springs, California will be Jan 12The National Auto Body Council(NABC) has selected January 12 fortheir 2011 Annual Golf Outing pre-sented by Hertz. The outing will takeplace at the Tahquitz Creek Golf Re-sort in Palm Springs, California.

The golf outing is held eachyear in conjunction with theNABC’s open board meeting and theCollision Industry Conference(CIC). This coming year the meet-ings are scheduled for January 11–14, 2011. The open board meeting isscheduled for January 12 from 8:00a.m. until 11:00 a.m.

“The annual golf outing is a funand relaxing way to network with in-dustry peers, while raising aware-ness of the great work the NABCdoes to enhance the image of the col-lision repair industry,” says NABCVice President Brandon Devis ofSherwin-Williams Automotive Fin-ishes. “We are very excited to haveHertz on board as our presentingsponsor in 2011. They are a long-standing supporter of the NABC andhave stepped up to the tee in supportof our Annual Golf Outing.”

The golf outing is open to bothindividuals and teams, and will beplayed using a four-person scrambleformat. Transportation will be pro-

vided by Hertz from the PalmSprings Hilton to Tahquitz CreekGolf Resort. Busses will depart at11:00 a.m. with a shotgun startscheduled for Noon. Lunch and bev-erages will be provided along withthe opportunity to win many out-standing prizes. The golf outing willconclude with an awards receptionand return transportation will be pro-vided by Hertz to the Palm SpringsHilton.

To register for the NABC An-nual Golf Outing presented byHertz, please download an event reg-istration form from www.autobody-council.org. Registration must bereceived by December 31, althoughinterested parties are advised not towait until the last minute to sign upas the event—which attracted over100 participants last year—looks asif it will sell out.

Additional sponsorship oppor-tunities are still available for thosecompanies or individuals interestedin supporting the NABC. Pleasedownload an event sponsorship formfrom www.autobodycouncil.org.

If you have any questionsplease contact Cynthia Prisco at 888-667-7433 or [email protected].

Nevada Board Bans Texting WhileDriving State VehiclesThe Nevada Board of Examiners hasapproved a policy banning employeesfrom texting or using electronic de-vices while driving state vehicles.Gov. Jim Gibbons, Attorney GeneralCatherine Cortez Masto and Secre-tary of State Ross Miller were unan-imous in their support for the ban.Officials say it won’t apply to emer-gency personnel or law enforcement.The 2011 Legislature is expected toconsider bills prohibiting the generalpublic from texting and using cellphones while driving.

• Dedicated WholesaleStaff with Over 100Years Experience

Parts800-952-5307

Fax916-405-8045

Direct916-405-4700

9640 W. Stockton Blvd. • Elk Grove, CA 95757

Hours:Mon-Fri 7-7 • Sat 7-5

9640 W. Stockton Blvd. •

• Large Inventory

• Daily Local Deliveries

Military Buys Into R2RThe American Military Society (AMS)requests thatCongress support passage ofthe Motor Vehicle Owners Right to Re-pair Act (S 3181/HR 2057) on behalf ofitsmembershipwhich includes active, re-serve, National Guard, retired and veter-ans of the uniformed services, theirfamilies and survivors. “Military person-nel and their families are often stationed inremote locations far fromanydealerships,relying on independent repair shops toservice their vehicles,” said Charles C.Partridge, Col, USA (Ret) of AMS,adding “As cars become more compli-cated, the problembecomesmore acute.”

The California Energy Commissionrecently announced EV Connect, aleading provider of electric vehicle in-frastructure solutions (EVISs) and theLos Angeles County MetropolitanTransportation Authority (Metro)will be conducting a pilot program toassess the integration of PEVs into thetransportation network and consumerbehavior and ridership patterns.

“This project will bring the city ofLos Angeles closer to achieving itsgoal of reducing greenhouse gas emis-sions 35 percent below 1990 levels by2030,” said Energy CommissionerAnthony Eggert.

“The Energy Commission isproud to be a part of this first-of-its-kind PEV infrastructure rollout withEV Connect and Metro.”

This pilot project aims to under-stand the viability of a PEV-transitnetwork and establish best practicesthat optimize the consumer experi-ence while reducing the carbon foot-print of Los Angeles.

The transportation sector aloneaccounts for 40 percent of greenhousegas emissions in the State of Califor-

nia, six percent higher than the na-tional average.

Completion of this project and itspotential as a major transit componentwill further reduce priority air pollu-tants and greenhouse gas emissions inthe City and County of LosAngeles inCalifornia.

“We are looking forward to thesuccess of this pilot effort, which willencourage drivers of plug-in electricvehicles to use Metro while chargingtheir vehicles at our transit stations,”said Metro Board Chair and Los An-geles County SupervisorDon Knabe.

“At Metro we demonstrate bestpractices in sustainability with over2,500 clean air buses along with acommitment in building all new tran-sit facilities to LEED standards. Thisproject is another example of howMetro is protecting the environment.”

EV infrastructure will be inte-grated at strategic points at the end ofthe system, such as Canoga and SierraMadre, as well as at heavy traffic lo-cations such as Union Station andUniversal City.

One objective of the study is to

understand if the integration of EVcharging solutions into Metro’s sys-tem will enhance the transit experi-ence for patrons and attract others toconsider charge and ride in their dailycommutes.

“This is the first study of its kindto analyze the integration of EV solu-tions into a transit network,” said Jor-dan Ramer, CEO of EV Connect.

“The data procured from thisstudy will establish industry bench-marks on charge and ride commuterswhich will help shape the future ofmulti modal transportation.”

For more information please visitwww.metro.net.


Los Angeles Builds New EV Charging Stations at Transit Centers

Sun Devil Auto Kicks Off Third Annual Toys For TotsDrive Throughout Arizona, Nevada, and TexasOn Monday, November 1, DebHughes, Sun Devil Auto Toys forTots team leader, began rallying em-ployees and vendors to donate money,gifts & toys for the US Marine CorpsReserve Toys for Tots Program againthis year. On December 1, collectionbins will be placed inside each of the21 Sun Devil Auto valley locations.The team expects to collect muchmore for the charity and will promotethis campaign through December15th.

Last holiday season Sun DevilAuto, an Arizona auto-repair com-pany, delivered a dozen bicycles andmany more dozens of toys for needyvalley children to theArizona USMa-rine Corps Reserve Toys for Tots Pro-gram. This year they expect to delivereven more through additional in-storespecial events and cross-promotionfocusing on their charity work.

When asked why she got in-volved with Toys for Tots, Ms.Hughes replied, “Because this is whatthe holidays are all about. Every childshould wake up on Christmas morn-ing to the surprise that Santa did visitand he brought something special -just for them!”

Throughout the year familiesand churches make a list. They ask

for certain things that their childrenneed (and want). The US MarineCorps Reserve collects all kinds oftoys and delivers them to thesechurches before the Christmas holi-day. Sun Devil Auto is proud to bepart of this effort will continue to be asupporter of various children’s chari-ties throughout the year.

Over the 60 years of the U.S.Marine Corps Reserve Toys for TotsProgram, Marines have distributedmore than 332.5 million toys to158.7 million needy children. Thischaritable endeavor has made U.S.Marines the unchallenged leaders inlooking after needy children atChristmas. Over its 14 year life span,the Marine Toys for Tots Foundationhas supplemented local toy collec-tions with more than 55.5 milliontoys valued at more than $284 mil-lion; plus has provided promotionand support materials valued at over$3.2 million.About Sun Devil Auto: Sun DevilAuto is an Arizona-grown, family-owned and operated auto-repair com-pany. Established in 1978, thecompany has successfully establishedanArizona presence with 21 locationsand recently has expanded into theNV and TX markets.

IT’S YOUR FUTURE...PUT IT IN HIGH GEAR

• Cutting Edge Web-Based Dispatch Management System.• 130+ Corporate Support Employees.• 2 National Service Centers (Los Angeles & New York).• National Marketing Division.

• Centralized Business Model.• Weekly Direct Deposits.• Established Territories Available Throughout

the U.S. & Puerto Rico.

If you’re an experienced Auto Body Estimator or InsuranceClaims Estimator and want to be in business for yourself,but not by yourself, then an SCA Appraisal Franchise justmight be right for you. With 30 years experience in theIndependent Auto, Truck, Motorcycle, Marine, RV andHeavy Equipment Appraisal business, SCA has painstak-ingly perfected its franchise model in order to provide ourfranchisees with a blueprint for proven results.

With a Franchise Licensing Fee of only $10,000.00, *plus applicable business setupand working capital costs, you can be running your own SCA Appraisal Franchisewithin a matter of *6-10 weeks.(*Franchise signing and training sessions occur every 60 days at our Los Angeles, CA headquarters)(*Business Setup and Working Capital costs can range from $3,850.00 to $28,200.00).

www.sca-appraisal.com> For more information please visit our website [email protected] e-mail:

WITH ANWITH AN SCA APPRAISAL FRANCHISESCA APPRAISAL FRANCHISEWITH AN SCA APPRAISAL FRANCHISE

Jon Gironda, Vice PresidentSCA Franchising, Inc.

Rome Technologies NowIntegrates with PMCLogicRome Technologies has announced anew capability with PMCLogic andRome’s CompleteShop 2011manage-ment software. PMCLogic is a man-agement tool designed to easily andaccurately calculate the amount ofpaint and materials used to repair andrefinish a vehicle in order to return itto pre-accident condition. Informationgenerated from this program can beused to better manage paint and ma-terial inventory and purchasing whileproviding accurate job costing foreach vehicle repaired. The integrationalso allows shops to create a paint andmaterial estimate and invoice.

Scott Rome, President of RomeTechnologies said, “Having PM-CLogic’s paint information and asso-ciated products cost feed directly intoCompleteShop provides collision re-pair facilities with accurate detailedinformation that can be used to justifythese expenses to their customers andthe insurance providers.”

“The integrationwithRomebringsPMCLogic to the heart of the collisionrepair industry; giving shops the infor-mation they need to bettermanage theirresources and inventory,” saidComput-erLogic’s CEO, Rick Palmer.

Promote your business withan exclusive article featuring

your products or services.

800-699-8251CALL: Joe Momber for details!

an exclusive article featuring your products or services.

CALL: Joe Momber for details!

Connecticut Attorney GeneralRichard Blumenthal (D), known inConnecticut for his outspoken supportof theAuto BodyAssociation of Con-necticut in opposition to steering andinsurance company excesses, was suc-cessful in his bid for the one Con-necticut Senate seat open in this year’smidterm elections. Blumenthal de-feated World Wrestling CEO LindaMcMahon (R), with about 54% of thevote.

Blumenthal is known for his workwith local auto dealerships duringlarge automakers’ downsizing effortsin the last few years.

He hasworkedto enforce a Con-necticut state lawthat provides “pro-tection to dealersterminated withoutgood cause” andprovide arbitrationrights to terminateddealerships.

More information about Blumen-thal’s past in relation to collision re-pair can be found on the ABAC’s

website at abaconn.com, or on Blu-menthal’s campaign website atrichardblumenthal.com.

November’s nationwide midtermElections also had a lot of states’ In-surance Commissioner and AttorneyGeneral posts up for election, possiblyaffecting legislation pertaining to in-surers and the collision repair indus-try.

Dave Jones Elected in CaliforniaAssemblyman Dave Jones (D-Sacra-mento) defeated Assemblyman MikeVillines (R-Clovis) in the race for stateinsurance commissioner. The post was

one of only twostatewide officesheld by Republi-cans heading intoelection day.Villines received a$2.2-million boostfrom the insur-ance industry,which cut televi-

sion spots in his favor. Jones hadstrong backing from state triallawyers and labor unions. Jones de-

feated his Assembly colleague Hec-tor De La Torre (D-South Gate) in theJune primary.

The state insurance commis-sioner has been an elected officesince 1990. It’s arguably the mostpowerful regulator in the state, over-seeing the state Department of Insur-ance and monitoring the actions ofthe $100-plus billion insurance in-dustry in California. Automobile,homeowners and individual health-care insurance policies are regulatedby the department.

Montana Shop Owner ElectedMontana shop owner Max Yates wonelection to that state’s House of Rep-resentatives. As Past President of theMontana Collision Repair Specialists,Max is still very involved with the as-sociation and its legislative activities.He also serves on the Society of Col-lision Repair Specialists LegislativeCommittee.

Growing up in Butte, Yates hasdeep connections in Montana. Afterthe election, Yates said “We havesome very important decisions to

make about the future of our state andcountry. I am not looking to start a ca-reer or make a living in politics. I ranfor State Representative because Iwant to improve our state governmentby sharing my experiences as a smallbusiness owner, a taxpayer and mostimportantly, as a father. I want to keepMontana as the great place that it isand make sure our children havemore, not less opportunity than wehad. I am humbled and honored by theoutcome of this election. Now there isa new kind of work to begin. I ameager to do the best I can do toproudly represent Butte.”

Max and his wife Lisa have builttheir Yates Body Shop over the past 28years into a dynamic business withmore than 20 employees.

Auto Dealers ElectedNationally, three Republican autodealers defeated Democratic incum-bents to win election to the U.S.House of Representatives. They wereMike Kelly of Pennsylvania, JamesRenacci of Ohio and Scott Rigell ofVirginia.


Midterm Elections: Pro-shop CT Senator and Pro-shop CDI Commissioner

Miles ahead withMiles ahead withMiles ahead with$850,000 inventory...$850,000 inventory...$850,000 inventory...

Surf with us for a GreatSurf with us for a GreatDeal on Collision Parts!Deal on Collision Parts!Surf with us for a GreatDeal on Collision Parts!

Surf with us for a GreatSurf with us for a GreatDeal on Collision Parts!Deal on Collision Parts!Surf with us for a GreatDeal on Collision Parts!

3940 Cherry Ave., Long Beach, CA 90807

1-888-489-50011-888-489-5001TollTollFreeFree

FaxFax 562-426-3550562-426-35501-888-489-5001Toll

Free

Fax 562-426-35503940 Cherry Ave., Long Beach, CA 90807

1-888-489-50011-888-489-5001TollTollFreeFree

FaxFax 562-426-3550562-426-35501-888-489-5001Toll

Free

Fax 562-426-3550

Miles ahead inMiles ahead inMiles ahead incustomer service...customer service...customer service...

Ask for Tee or Bill3 delivery trucks serving South Bay, L.A.,

Orange County — Irvine to Brea

[email protected]

M-F 7-6, Sat 8-4 (No Delivery)

Ask for Miguel or Dana3 delivery trucks serving South Bay, L.A.,

Orange County — Irvine to Brea

[email protected]

M-F 7-6, Sat 8-4 (No Delivery)

Forester ‘10

Passat CC ‘10

Richard Blumenthal Dave Jones

Properly insured Nevada drivers aregetting notices from the Department ofMotor Vehicles asking them to verifythey have car insurance, and some havethen been told to pay a $250 fine eventhough they say their insurance cover-age never lapsed according to reportsmade by the Reno Gazette-Journal.

“It’s been going on for months,”said Gene Gardella, a Reno insur-ance agent. “It’s been exasperating.People are getting mad at us, but ourhands are tied.”

For some customers, he said,dealing with the DMV’s new insur-ance verification system has been “anightmare, a meat grinder.”

In March, the DMV switched to asystem called Liability Insurance Val-idated Electronically (LIVE), which islinked through the Internet to some in-surance firms.

Insurance agents said the systemworks well when a company also hasits data available on the Internet be-cause the computers can communicatewith each other instantly. But prob-lems have cropped up when firmshave to send verification information

to the DMV in some other electronicform.

Similar problems occurred in1997 and in 2003 when DMV com-puter systems couldn’t keep up withverification demand. This time, thesystem is usually fast but is prone toother problems, insurance agents said.

Not all of the about 300 insurancecompanies that cover Nevada drivershave Internet-based systems. Firmsthat aren’t online still have to senddata to the DMV about once a week.The DMV then checks the vehicleregistrations against the insurance dataon driver policies.

Most mismatches occur when acustomer switches from one companyto another, agents said, or when the ve-hicle registrations have one version ofa person’s name, such as “John Smith,”but the insurance policy is made out toanother version of the name, such as“John Smith Jr.” or “John L. Smith.”

DMV spokesman Tom Jacobssaid problems often occur when onecompany terminates a policy and thecompany that subsequently insures thedriver doesn’t quickly notify the

agency that he or she remains insured.He said name inconsistencies alsocause mismatches in the data.

He said DMV officials and mem-bers of the Nevada Insurance Council,a trade group, are working to educatedrivers and companies about the re-quirements of the new verificationsystem. He said the companies and theDMV usually can resolve problemswhen drivers are wrongly accused ofletting their insurance lapse.

“We are having some challenges,”said Gary Bishop, past president ofthe council. “There is a fairly lengthylist of things that create a mismatch.”

He said his agency gets about “10to 20 calls a day” from clients who havereceived the verification postcards.

“We can usually tell them how tofill out the information (on the DMVwebsite) to avoid further headaches,”Bishop said. “In some cases, they mayhave to change the registration namesto match the insurance.”

Donna Fisher-Brown, spokes-woman for State Farm Insurance inLas Vegas, said the LIVE system hasbeen an improvement for her cus-

tomers because State Farm has an In-ternet data system that links instantlyto the DMV.

“There have been some issues,but it hasn’t been a big problem forus,” she said. “I know the system ishaving some growing pains; it’s still awork in progress.”

Jacobs said his office is startingcase files on complaints to resolve is-sues, see what went wrong and deter-mine how problems can be avoided.

“Often (errors are made) by thecompanies, or the motorists, or some-times it’s us,” he said. “We’re work-ing to solve anything that’s brought toour attention.”


Nevada DMV Verification Sometimes Fines Innocent Drivers

Promote your business withan exclusive article featuring



an exclusive article featuring your products or services.

CALL: Joe Momber for details!

It all started in Los Angeles with twohot rod enthusiasts still in high school;Mike Huniu and his cousin “Fast”Eddie Levy. Their shared auto shopclass was about the only thing keep-ing them in school. It was very likelythat the only reason they even gradu-ated was that they worked on the Prin-cipal’s car.

They did their work in Mike’s fa-ther’s garage behind his house. Whenit began to spill out onto the lawn, theywere told to take their hobby else-where. By this time they had graduatedhigh school and had saved enoughmoney to go into business together.

It was in the early 1950’s whenthey bought a service station on thecorner of 51st Street and Hoover.After a few more years of fixing andracing cars, they decided that theyliked tearing cars apart better than put-ting them together.

Mike’s mother-in-law found anexisting business for sale listed in thenewspaper, called Joe’s Auto Wreck-ing. She didn’t care for the term“Junkyard”, but knew that this was ex-actly what Mike and Eddie were look-ing for. The business was located onSouth Figueroa, in the small town ofGardena. The year was 1955, Mikeand Eddie named their newly acquiredbusiness Capital Auto Wrecking &Used Cars, Inc., or simply: Capital.

In 1981, Mike and Eddie decidedthey needed a hand and it would begreat to bring in a familymember. EnterMike’s son Norman. Norman was notyour typical college boy, he was also abusinessman.While attending businessclasses at Long Beach State University,he ran a business selling ladies clothingout of four vans. After graduating witha bachelor’s degree in business admin-istration, he went to work at NordstromDepartment Store as themanager of theshoe department.

Normanwas not keen on a career atNordstrom, finding business attiremuch

too uncomfortable. He decided thatworking long hours, getting his handsdirty and making a little money wasworth the risk of changing his career.

Norman spent his first four years atCapital diversifying and expanding theexisting business. It was around thistime that car manufacturers began usingmore specialized wheels to “dress up”their vehicles. This new phenomenon,along with the industry shift from rearto front wheel drive vehicles, created alarge demand for wheels since the oldstyle wheels would not fit on the newcars.As the years passed Capital beganto lookmore like a wheel business than

a used auto parts business.“Fast” Eddie re-

tired in 1986, andMike andNorman bought his shareof the company. Suddenly,the EPA was breathingdown their necks.

“They gave us 30days to get rid of a twostory pile of motors, andclean up the dirt,” Normansaid. “I thought it was agreat idea. It was some-

thing I knew we wanted to do, but weneeded the incentive of the EPA to gothrough with it and that is what wedid.” So away went the motor andtransmission piles, the contaminateddirt and all else until we met the EPA’srequirements. Next came major or-ganization. Capital installed a com-puterized inventory and billingsystem. They got the latest in comput-erized parts locating systems and net-works as well as the traditionalwrecking yard hotlines for locatingparts not in stock. They also purchasetotal loss or wrecked vehicles. Theycarry suspension and body parts aswell as engines and transmissions.

In 1988 Norman’s father Mike,and business partner passed away.This left 29 year old Norman incharge of a growing enterprise. Hecontinually refocused Capital’s goalsand objectives, realizing the increas-ing demand for original equipmentwheels. Unable to accomplish thisalone, Norman searched for greatmanagers and assembled an energeticsales team. Today Capital has one ofthe most qualified and knowledgeablesales staff in the industry.

As the years have passed, CapitalAutoWrecking & Used Cars, Inc. hasbecome better known as Capital Orig-inal Wheels, or simply Capital

Wheels. They now proudly proclaimthat most of our business comes fromthe O.E.M wheel industry. Capitalsells new, used and “take off” wheels-that is wheels that are used but are in

almost new condition, in addition toreconditioned wheels or remanufac-tured wheels. They also manufactureand sell OEM reproduction or replicaswheels and center caps.

Capital not only sells wheels but ofcourse buys wheels andwheelcovers, infact after exhibiting at their first SEMAshow over a decade ago it seemed likeeveryone wanted to sell their take offwheels to Capital. To address this facet

Capital has trained personnel who spe-cializes in the buying, brokering andselling of OEM take-off or over stocksteel wheels, alloy wheels and wheelcovers. Capital is committed to offering

fair and competitive pricingfor take off wheels. Theyalso have a wheel buyerwho can go out and giveyou a quote for your steeland alloy wheels as well ashub caps and wheel covers.

Capital has seentheir business through ex-pansion into wheel repairand refinishing. To thatend, they built a state ofthe art repair facility utiliz-

ing the latest in wheel repair technol-ogy. They can straighten wheels fromsimple, minor bends due to potholesor curb scratches, to welding frommore serious damage, specializing inwelding cracks. They do in house re-facing of wheels with their digitizedC.N.C. lathe which actually re-cutsthe face of the wheel to return it toshowroom condition. Finally, Capital


Capital Original Wheels Celebrates 55 Years of Business in Los Angeles

See Capital, Page 15

RadiatorsRadiatorsRadiatorsRadiatorsRadiatorsA/C CondensersA/C CondensersA/C CondensersA/C CondensersA/C Condensers

The Radiator and CondenserHeadquarters for Collision Centers

Mon-Fri7:30 am -6:00 pm

10425 S. La Cienega Blvd. > Los Angeles, CA 90045

Call our Cooling Specialists:888.500.6557

Fax: 310.703.5752www.completesplus.com

» Free Daily Delivery by 30 Company Trucks

» Free California Overnight Shipping

» Four Los Angeles Warehouses

» Limited Lifetime Warranty on All Radiators& Condensers

> Cindy Shillito,“The Radiator Girl”

NOWAVAILABLE:Cooling Fan

Assemblies!

Trying to keep an auto showroom andthe sales tax revenues that come withit in town, San Juan Capistrano’s Re-development Agency will pay itslargest incentive to date—$5 million—to an auto group for taking overand operating a dealership that is setto shutter by the end of the year ac-cording to theOrange County Reg-ister.

Capistrano Ford will end upbeing operated at its current loca-tion by the Tuttle-Click Automo-tive Group and then will move byMarch or April to a vacant formerNissan and Dodge/Jeep dealershipslocation at 33375 and 33235Camino Capistrano under a newname.

The one-time Dodge/Jeep deal-ership will house a Ford/Lincolndealership starting next year due toa $5 million incentive payment bySan Juan Capistrano’s Redevelop-ment Agency.

Since 2004, five new car deal-erships have closed their doors in SanJuan Capistrano, and the sixth wouldbe Capistrano Ford, its closure result-ing from the expansion of Costco, ac-cording to a city report.

Tuttle-Click has obtained exclu-sive rights to buy the franchise, thecity said. The current owner has noplans to relocate or keep the businessin this city.

On October 20, the City Councilacting as the Redevelopment Agency,voted 4-1 in favor of a 27-year dealwith Tuttle-Click, agreeing to for-ward $3 million within five businessdays if the dealership opens and an-other $2 million over time, with pay-ments based on a sales-tax receivedformula.

With virtually no one other thanthe automotive group representativesleft in the audience at the decidingcouncil meeting, following a nearly asix-hour debate, Mayor Lon Uso wasthe lone dissenting voice against theincentive, saying that the amount wastoo high.

“I think we’re giving you guysway too much money,” he said.“We’re setting a precedent throughour Redevelopment Agency that Ithink is unsustainable with other autodealerships. It’s going to be difficultto keep doing this.”

Fellow council members felt thatin offering the incentive the agencywas fulfilling its role—fill blighted

vacant lots and save about 100 full-and part-time jobs in the process.

“This is what redevelopmentagencies are supposed to do,” Coun-cilman Tom Hribar said. “The jobsissue is as important as anything. Thisis what we at a local level can do topreserve jobs.”

Councilman Mark Nielsen char-acterized the deal as being “right at theedge” from a financial standpoint.

“I guess I look at it as, one, it’s aunique situation because of the im-portance of maintaining the dealershipat this location and, two, at this par-ticular location we have true blight,”he said. The two lots that Tuttle-Clickwill occupy have been vacant since2008 and 2009.

The agency will fund the first $3million of the incentive using bondproceeds from its business reten-tion/economic development alloca-tion. The remaining $2 million isconsidered an agency debt and will befunded annually via tax incrementproceeds, the city said.

“This is the largest assistance wehave offered to a dealership,” saidCindy Russell, the city’s chief finan-cial officer, before the agency actionon October 20.

The 27-year agreement puts adealership in the now vacant lots andis expected to fetch the city $17 mil-lion in sales tax dollars over that pe-riod, but with $5 million paid out asincentive to Tuttle-Click, the net gainwill be $12 million, she said.

The city will retain all sales taxrevenue generated by the dealership,as opposed to passing a portion of it tothe agency for payments under theagreement, according to the city re-port.

The break even point of the agree-ment will be reached in about 12½years, Russell said.

“You create a strong sales taxbase in addition to retaining the deal-ership,” she said. “We’d go down tofour (dealers) and it’d be more diffi-cult for the existing stores to remain”if the deal were not struck.For their part, representatives for

Tuttle-Click said they would not beable to come to San Juan Capistranowithout the incentive.“Couldn’t afford it,” said Chris

Cotter, president of Tuttle-Click Au-tomotive Group, which operatesdealerships in California and Ari-zona, following the agency decision.When asked if Tuttle-Click had

ever received this kind of an incen-tive anywhere else, Cotter replied:“Off the top of my head, I can’t giveyou an answer for that one withoutgoing back.”While he could not say which in-

centive had come close to the oneSan Juan Capistrano’s deal offers,Cotter, who has been with the com-pany for about 35 years, acknowl-

edged that the city’s incentive was thehighest the company had received.

Cotter said the Ford franchise atthe new location would be coupledwith a Lincoln franchise; an auto bodyshop also will be included.

The downturn in the automotiveindustry has resulted in the loss of ap-proximately 40 percent of retail autosales revenue to the city, according tothe city report.

“The closure of another dealer-ship will further weaken the competi-tiveness of San Juan Capistrano as anauto sales destination,” the city reportsaid.

Orange Coast Chrysler is on aseparate track, Russell said, in obtain-ing permits from the city PlanningCommission to open to add a newdealership in town.

That, too, would be on CaminoCapistrano, an automobile showroomrow of sorts fronting the I-5 freeway.

In the next month or so, the termsof the incentive Orange CoastChrysler might get from the Redevel-opment Agency should be hammeredout.


San Juan Capistrano Offers $5M Incentive to Auto Dealership

Verso ‘10

These Dealers are Genuine Wholesale Parts Specialists.

CCAALLIIFFOORRNNIIAA

Elk Grove ToyotaELK GROVE

916-405-4700800-952-5307916-405-8045 Fax

Mon. - Fri. 7am - 7pm; Sat. 8am - 5pmwww.elkgrovetoyota.com


750 Potter Street, Berkeley, CA 94710www.weatherfordbmw.com

Weatherford BMW

Original BMW Parts

Weatherford BMW

www.weatherfordbmw.com(800) 995-9269

(800) 995.9269(510) 841.5996 Fax(800) 995.9269(510) 841.5996 Fax

Toll Free:Toll Free:

[email protected]

Over $1 million parts inventoryExtremely Knowledgeable Parts CrewOur fleet of vehicles will get your order deliveredwhen you need itAt Weatherford BMW we are 100% committedto your complete satisfaction

Original BMW Parts and Accessories

by Ed Attanasio

The California Autobody Associa-tion’s East Bay chapter hosted its sig-nature 13th annual Toys for TotsModel Truck Customizing Competi-tion on Nov. 16 at the BlackhawkAuto Museum in Danville, CA.

More than 300 CAA membersand friends attended the dinner, raffle,and truck competition, which raisedmoney for Toys for Tots and BridgeIntervention Services. The latter is anorganization that was established in1999 to address the growing need foreffective interven-tion with at-riskyouth who are ex-periencing the neg-ative cycle ofcurrent destructiveyouth culture.

“The purposeof the agency is tocreate ‘Bridges ofOpportunity’ toyouth, their fami-lies and the com-munity,” KathyMello, owner ofT.G.I.F. Body Shop in Fremont said.“Through collaboration with individ-uals, local businesses, professionals,and various agencies, the programseeks to provide a channel of innova-tive networks which will enhance theoverall intervention process.”

Ten East Bay body shops and autorepair school programs entered thecompetition. Each was given an iden-tical Nylint die-cast truck to modifyand customize for the contest.

First place went to Crockett’s Pre-mier Auto Body in Pinole. Secondplace went to the College of Alameda

in Alameda with a Coca-Colatruck, and third place wasawarded to Mike’s AutoBody in Concord for a modi-fied Budweiser truck/hot rod.The People’s Choice awardalso went to Crockett’s Pre-mier Auto Body Service for“The InTimagator” (namedafter SF Giants pitcher TimLincecum) its San FranciscoChampionship BBQ truck,complete with smoke ma-chine and grilled baseballsrepresenting all of the teamsthat lost in the playoffs on theGiant’s road to the World Se-ries.The Educational Best-of-

Class award, given to the best truckentered by an educational institution,went to the College of Alameda.Louie Bain, a technician at Crockett’sPremier Auto Body was the prime cre-ator and designer of the winning cus-tomized truck.

“We put over more than 60 hoursof time building and painting thetruck,” he said. “We wanted to playtribute to our championship team andthis was our way of doing it. We’rethrilled to have the winning truck andto play a part in raising money for a

good cause. We’d also like to thankBasil Platt from Concord donated histime pin striping the ball, spoiler,around the flames and the lettering.”

The CAA East Bay chapter alsogave several educational institutionsmoney for their auto repair programs.Contra Costa Col-lege, Mission ValleyROP, and the Col-lege of Alameda allreceived grants fromthe CAA East Baychapter.

“It’s encourag-ing when organiza-tions like CAA raisefunds for us forscholarships andsupplies,” PeterLock, departmentchair of the auto technician programat Contra Costa College, said. “TheCAA East Bay chapter has alwaysbeen an outstanding supporter of ourprogram, and we greatly appreciate it.The students always get into design-ing and building these model trucks,an every year we see more and more

top entries from the schools in-volved.”

Mike Govette, branch managerfor Finish Master in Concord, hasbeen organizing the event for 13 yearsand said he was very pleased with theturnout this year.

“I’m so pleased to keep this eventgoing year after year with great atten-dance like tonight,” Govette said.“Reaching out and helping people inneed is a big part of what we’re doingwith this organization and so manybody shops and schools get involvedevery year, which is so amazing!”


PERFORMANCE RADIATORPERFORMANCE RADIATORPERFORMANCE RADIATORLooking For That First Time Fit?Looking For That First Time Fit?

Looking For That Fir

e Fit?Looking For That First Time Fit?

Looking For That Fir

Fit?

Looking For That First Ti

me Fit?> Fast Delivery> Knowledgeable Staff> Great Service> Commitment to Quality> OEM Fit and Function

• Radiators • Condensers • Fan Assemblies• Heater Cores• Side Mirrors

• Fuel Tanks• A/C Parts (select markets)

• Exhaust (select markets)

Nationwide:Nationwide: (877) 723-4286Nationwide:Over 50 Locations

to Serve You.

$$10.00 Off10.00 Offyour next radiator or your next radiator or

condenser - Coupon condenser - Coupon

code ABNRCD*code ABNRCD*

$10.00 Offyour next radiator or

condenser - Coupon

code ABNRCD*

(Web Only)

Our Products:

www.performanceradiator.com*Coupon not valid w/other discounts. Applies to Installers,

Dealerships, or Body Shops Only. Exp. 12/31/10

CAA East Bay Hosts Toys for Tots Truck Customizing Competition

The first place winner at the 13th annual Toys for TotsModel Truck Customizing Competition on Nov. 16 at theBlackhawk Auto Museum in Danville, Calif. was called“The InTimagator”, submitted by Crockett’s Premier AutoBody in Pinole, Calif.

Second place was designed and built by the College of Alameda

Third place was submitted by Mike’s Auto Body in Concord, Calif.

[email protected] us!write us!write us!www.autobodynews.com

CHECK IT OUT!

Start Your FREEMail Subscription.

CALL 800-699-8251

The source for timely information that every

body shop needs!e-mail:

[email protected]

800-699-8251

To advertisecall Joe Momber at:


e-mail:[email protected]

800-699-8251

To advertisecall Advertising Sales at:


Promote your business with an exclusive article featuring





800-699-8251Call for details!

[email protected]

Want to Contribute to this Southwest Edition?Give us your opinion on matters affecting the industry.

write us!write us!


Autobody News WebsiteAutobody News Websiteat www.autobodynews.com

Register Your Email for OurSee the NEW

Free Monthly NewsletterFree Monthly Newsletter

can color match, paint or powdercoatyour wheels for long lasting durabil-ity. They also offer free pick up anddelivery to Orange County, Los An-geles and the Valley daily.

Capital also offers sandblastingand powder coating of small parts aswell as wheels. Because they do thisright on their premises, the turn aroundtime is very quick. Once the sand-blasting is done, they then powder coatthe parts or wheels, chosen from theirlarge selection of colors. Each piecegets power coated, then baked for along lasting, durable finish.

Capital’s website www.capital-wheels.com is user friendly and can beused as an online reference guide.Capital is constantly adding newwheels, interchanges and update daily.Check them out online and find howtheir photos and reference numberswill make your wheel identifying eas-ier. They individually inventory eachalloy wheel so that at a touch of a but-ton they can tell customers how manywheels are in stock and in what condi-

tion. They can also search and locatewheels not in stock using our networkof OEM wheel sources, suppliers andauto recyclers.

Capital also chrome plateswheels. Currently stocking hundredsof chrome plated alloy wheels for im-mediate shipping and exchange. Theyoffer special programs for chromingyour aftermarket or OEM alloys andalso repairing and rechroming. Capi-tal’s chrome wheel division has nowgrown to include chrome plating ofmotorcycle wheels. Their turn aroundtime is the quickest in the business.

Norman has continued the vision ofhis father: “The importance of customersatisfaction, goal setting, looking to thefuture, and striving for perfection”. Allwhile providing fair, competitive pric-ing and superior customer satisfaction.”

Capital has become one of theleading companies in the O.E.M.wheel and auto dismantling industryin Southern California. Contact Capi-tal at 1-800-463–RIMS.

15326 S. Figueroa StreetGardena, Ca. 90248323/321-1234323/321-9192 FAX


Continued from Page 10

Capital

GreatService.

GreatPrices.

GENUINE SERVICE & PARTS

951.509.2125951.509.2123 Fax

Direct Line:

951.509.6574951.509.6575 Fax

Direct Line:951.509.6577951.509.6578 Fax

Direct Line:951.509.6577951.509.6578 Fax

Direct Line:

951.509.6550951.509.6523 Fax

Direct Line:Riverside Volkswagen

Riverside Honda Riverside Hyundai Riverside Mazda

Riverside Nissan

8330 Indiana Ave., Riverside, CA 92504

9

51.509.6550

9

51.509.6523

D

irect Line:

FREE DELIVERY TOMOST OF THE INLAND EMPIRE

Mention this ad fora free gift!

Hours: Mon-Fri. 7-7; Sat. 8-5

CompetitiveParts Pricing!

We UseCollision Link!

GenuineOEM Parts!

HugeInventory!

QualifiedStaff!



8330 Indiana Ave., Riverside,CA 92504

8330 Indiana Ave., Riverside, CA 925048330 Indiana Ave., Riverside, CA 92504

New Hohl DealershipsOpen in Carson CityMichael Hohl Automotive held agrand opening celebration October 21for its new Honda and Subaru dealer-ships in Carson City, NV, as coveredby the Nevada Appeal. The event ran 4to 6 p.m. and included activitiesthroughout the weekend.

“We’re a third generation Nevadafamily-owned automotive dealershipand we’re proud to bring this state-of-the-art facility to Carson City,” saidMatthew Hohl, general manager ofMichael Hohl Honda and MichaelHohl Subaru.

The Michael Hohl Honda andSubaru dealerships, at 2800 and 2910S. Carson St., are a $15 million projectthat spans seven acres. They opened inJune after breaking ground in 2009.On October 23 and 24, the dealershipshosted education events for parents,including the Managing Informationon Lost Kids program, which is a col-laboration between Farmers Insuranceand the National Center for Missingand Exploited Children.

Michael Hohl Automotive alsooperates the Chevrolet, Buick, GMC,Cadillac and Michael Hohl RV dealer-ships in Carson City.

Mini Cooper Rolls intoformer Bauer JaguarTustin-based Coreland Cos. has bro-kered the $5.75 million sale of the for-mer Bauer Jaguar dealership to SantaAna Properties II, which plans tomove its Mini Cooper Auto sales op-eration into the 3.3-acre site, accord-ing to the OC Metro.

“In addition to excellent freewayvisibility, the property enjoys a primeup-front position in the Santa AnaAuto Mall, which appealed to thebuyer who was looking to purchase ahigh-profile facility for their dealer-ship,” said Bryan Bauer, who repre-sented the seller.

The property, at 1455 Auto MallDrive, is adjacent to the 55 Freewayat Edinger. The 35,000-square-fooddealership was built in 1998.

The Bauer Jaguar dealership hadbeen owned by controversial Britishmultinational Pendragon PLC, whichacquired Bauer in 2000 during the firstphase of its U.S. expansion, butwalked away from their lease in Janu-ary 2009. Pendragon sustained majorlosses during the period of ownershipand was forced to sell or walk awayfrom many of their U.S.-based dealer-ships.

The 2010 LA Auto Show opened Nov.17–18 for the press and will run fromNovember 19–28 for the public. Asthe LA Auto Show grows in impor-tance on the global stage, so does thenumber of debuts, showing the resur-gence of the industry in producingnew vehicles to entice consumers.

The 2010 show hosted 20 worlddebuts and more than 30 North Amer-ican debuts across virtually all vehiclecategories. The show opened amidstimproved auto sales and a growingsense of optimism that is evident fromthe increased number of debuts, moreparticipating manufacturers andlarger, more elaborate exhibits.

Of the 20 world debuts, severalhave been already announced, includ-ing Nissan’s three world debuts; thecompletely redesigned Quest minivan,the Murano Cross Cabriolet crossoverconvertible concept, and a sedan con-cept called the Ellure.

Land Rover unveiled its all-new,4-door Range Rover Evoque andSAAB will showcase its onlycrossover, the 9-4X.

KIA unveiled its first hybrid, theOptima sedan. Volkswagen showed itsnew Eos and Chrysler, Dodge andJeep plan to reveal a handful of prod-ucts highlighted by the new Chrysler200 sedan and convertible.

The shows 30-plus North Ameri-can debuts included the completelyredesigned Hyundai Elantra, whichwill be the next high-volume vehiclemade at its Montgomery, Alabamafactory.

Audi brought its all-new A7Sportback, representing a new marketsegment for the brand, and BMW fea-tured its redesigned X3 crossover.

Porsche showcased its new 911Carrera GTS as well as its 911 Speed-ster.

Lotus, known for specialty sportscars, is completely relaunching itsbrand and will show five new conceptsports cars that outline its future foryears to come.

Fiat is reentering the U.S. marketafter a 27-year hiatus and will featureits new compact vehicle, the Fiat 500–Cinquecento, specifically designed forNorth America.

This year’s show also marks thehistoric arrival of the modern electriccar era. After years of anticipation,consumers can finally purchase mass-produced electric vehicles completewith factory warranties.

Featuring more than a dozen elec-tric drive vehicles arriving in the nearfuture, including of course Chevrolet’srange-extended electric Volt and Nis-san’s all-battery electric Leaf.

Los Angeles will be one of thefirst U.S. markets to receive these twovehicles in November and Decemberof this year and the LA Auto Showwas the ideal venue to learn about EVownership.

The North American, productionversion of Mitsubishi’s i-MiEV willalso make its official debut at theshow. The all-electric compact carwill get a new name, a wider stanceand a variety of new features to makeit more attractive to U.S. buyers.

Toyota’s RAV4 EV will use bat-tery technology developed with Teslaand is scheduled to hit the market in2012. Other production electric vehi-cles at the show range from luxurysports cars such as the Fisker Karmato economy sedans like that fromCoda Automotive.

The LA Auto Show will alsoshowcase at least 15 concept vehiclesranging from futuristic design studiesto realistic brand design directions.

Mazda will debut its Shinari con-cept, which will serve as a basis forMazda’s new design language in fu-ture production vehicles. Jaguar willunveil its C-X75 sports car capable ofrunning purely on electric power for

about 68 miles per charge, and up to560 miles with the use of an on-boardpower-generating system to extend itsrange.

KIA brings its POP electric con-cept with its spaceship-like cabin andfront-hinged doors and Audi displaysits Quattro concept to mark the 30thbirthday of Audi’s Quattro all-wheeldrive system.

Join the LA Auto Show onlineand get alerts at LAAutoShow.com.


More Than 50 Vehicle Debuts at the LA Auto Show Display Renewed Vitality Not Seen in Many Years

Search:Autobody News

on Facebook


When you repair a BMW, use theparts that are identical to thoseused in Series production – and justas reliable. Choose Original BMWParts. Because you can’t repair yourreputation.

North County BMW

www.ncountybmw.com(800) 564-8222

North County BMW


North County BMW


North County BMW


Original BMW Parts

bmwusa.com

Original BMW Parts

bmwusa.com

Original BMW Parts

bmwusa.com

Original BMW Parts

bmwusa.com

You only get one chance atthe first repair.

Original Thought #78

Original BMW Parts

X6 M 2010

Southern California BMW Centers

BMW of Palm SpringsPalm Springs(760) 324-8314

BMW of RiversideRiverside800-453-4455FAX (951) 352-5760

BMW of San DiegoSan Diego858-560-0268FAX (858) 277-7928

Bob Smith BMWCalabasas(818) 340-9640FAX (818) [email protected]

Brecht BMWEscondido(800) 544-4269

Center BMWSherman Oaks(818) 990-9518

Crevier BMWSanta Ana(714) 835-2025

Long Beach BMWSignal Hill(800) 794-4269(562) 427-5494www.longbeachbmw.com

New Century BMW, IncAlhambra(626) 576-2867

Pacific BMWGlendale(800) 283-6601

Savage BMWOntario(800) 241-4269

South Bay BMWTorrance(310) 939-7342(310) 939-7343

Sterling BMWNewport Beach(949) 645-8729

Niello BMWSacramento(916) 486-1299

Sonnen BMWSan Rafael(415) 482-2040

Weatherford BMWBerkeley(800) 995-9269

Northern California BMW Centers

FIX AUTO body shops, togetherwith insurance companies Esuranceand Automobile Club of SouthernCalifornia, donated two refurbishedcars to two local underprivilegedfamilies—both participants in theKinship Center as part of a large na-tional initiative known as RecycledRides.

The program, which is sponsoredby the National Auto Body Council(NABC), is making sure 150 familiesand charities around the country re-ceive reliable transportation this year.

The local ceremony took placeMonday, November 22, at 9600 Stew-art and Gray Road in Downey, Cali-fornia.

The first local recipient family isheaded by Ann, a Buena Park residentand single mom and grandmother withtwo daughters. One is an adult with adaughter of her own. The other is a16-year-old living at home.

Ann is in the process of adoptingher four-year-old granddaughter whohas been exposed to significant neg-lect and abuse. As a result, Ann’s

granddaughter has developed signifi-cant emotional and behavioral prob-lems which require intensive therapy.Ann works full time and does her bestto meet her daughter’s and grand-daughter’s needs. In addition, she has

been taking parenting classes to helpher learn how to take care of a specialneeds child.

Ann’s car is over ten years oldand has consistently broken downover the last year. This has created ahardship on the family as Ann has hadto miss various therapy appointments.

Being the sole supporter of her fam-ily, Ann does not have the resources tobuy a reliable car, making the donatedvehicle a true godsend.

The second family receiving a ve-hicle is headed by Margarite and herhusband, residents of Santa Ana whohave been raising Margarite’s fivegrandchildren for over five years,starting when the youngest was sixweeks old.

The birth parents of these childrenhad a history of addiction and crimi-nal behavior, resulting in all of thechildren entering the foster care sys-tem. Margarite did not want hergrandchildren being separated intodifferent foster homes, so she decidedto take them into her own, with thehelp of the children’s aunt who alsolives with them.

Margarite has successfullyadopted all—girls aged 6 and 13, andboys aged 7, 9, and 11. Some of thechildren have special needs related totheir history of abuse and neglect sothere are many therapy appointmentsand activities on their schedule. The

family currently owns a Taurus,which does not fit this family ofeight. Because Recycled Rides spe-cializes in refurbishing mini-vansand other family-sized vehicles, helpwill soon be on the way for Mar-garite.

Transportation is crucial to theseloving, giving, growing families. Theyhave been touched by hardships, butblessed with the opportunity to make agreat difference.

Help in the form of RecycledRides and the Kinship Center willgive them the opportunity to maketheir lives better.

“FIX AUTO is proud to havehelped Kinship Center families re-ceive valuable transportation the pastthree years,” states Rick Halopoff,owner of FIX AUTO Downey, oper-ated by Little John’s Bodyworks. “Iam grateful to be part of a project thatclearly illustrates the giving nature ofNABC members and the collision re-pair industry.”

For more information please visitwww.recycledrides.org.


Mobility Given to Two Orange County Families Thanks to Recycled Rides Program

• Large Inventory • Fast & Free Delivery• 17 Trucks Serving San Diego County• We Now Offer In-House Auto Glass Replacement and Repair. Call 619-569-5379

• Large Inventory

• Fast & Free Delivery

San Diego’s Best Selection of Hyundai

New & Re-manufactured Parts!New & Re-manufactured Parts!San Diego’s Best Selection of Hyundai

New & Re-manufactured Parts!

1-888-839-07771-888-839-07771-888-839-0777

Monday - Friday: 7:00 am - 6:00 pmSaturday: 8:00 am - 5:00 pm

Hours:

8850 Grossmont BoulevardLa Mesa, CA 91942

San Diego’s Best Selection of Hyundai

HYUNDAIHYUNDAIDREWDREWHYUNDAIDREW

www.drewhyundai.comEmail: [email protected]

www.drewhyundai.

com

importorder@dre

wauto.com1-619-668-7782 Direct

Genuine OEM Volkswagen Parts!Genuine OEM Volkswagen Parts!Genuine OEM Volkswagen Parts!

VOLKSWAGENDREWDREWVOLKSWAGENDREW

www.drewvolkswagen.comEmail: [email protected]

• Large Inventory • Fast & Free Delivery• 17 Trucks Serving San Diego County• We Now Offer In-House Auto Glass Replacement and Repair. Call 619-569-5379

Monday - Friday: 7:00 am - 6:00 pmSaturday: 8:00 am - 5:00 pm

Hours:

8850 Grossmont BoulevardLa Mesa, CA 91942

1-888-839-07771-888-839-07771-888-839-07771-619-668-7782 Direct

When making repairs, collision pro-fessionals traditionally call on experi-ence, training and generally acceptedpractices to deliver a vehicle that sat-isfies the customer, the insurer andthemselves. That formula worked wellfor many years. Cars were pretty sim-ple and repairs were relatively straight-forward back in the “old days.” Sowhat has changed? Just about every-thing: the vehicles, customer expecta-tions, economic pressures and, last butnot least, insurer requirements.

What has not changed is the needto repair vehicles to their safe, pre-col-lision condition. As Dennis DeanGamba of Cranston Collision Centerin Cranston, Rhode Island, puts it,“For me, it’s all about knowing that weare doing the job right and that the ve-hicle is safe when it leaves here. I havea child and I want to know that anychild is safe in a vehicle we repair.”

So, how do you continue to adhereto high standards of safety and quality

while operating a profitable shop giventoday’s market realities? Efficiency isan absolute must. And, the key to effi-ciency is accurate information. Not justany information—OE information.After all, the factory built the cars,trucks, vans and SUVs, and the factoryknows how they need to be repaired.

From sophisticated collision avoid-ance systems, to new generation con-struction materials to hybrid technology,it seems as if vehicles are becomingmore complex by the minute. Mild steel,high-strength steel, ultra high-strengthsteel, aluminum, carbon fiber, advancedplastics—who knows what the nextmodel year will bring. How do you keepup? With OE repair information!

OE repair information benefitsthe estimator, production manager,parts manager, body technician, me-chanical technician and the person re-sponsible for all of it, the generalmanager. OE information allows lev-els of efficiency and accuracy that can-

not be duplicated by any other source.A system such as ALLDATA®

CollisionSM S3500 provides a preciseblueprint for sectioning, welding,panel replacement, mechanical repairs,

electronic system reset procedures, hy-brid precautions, detailed upper bodydimensions and more. And, don’t for-get manufacturers’ technical servicebulletins (TSBs), which alert you toknown problems that may have existedprior to a collision. ALLDATA Colli-sion S3500 is a single source for in-

formation on the vehicles you seecoming through your shop every day.

Here are a few examples of thekind of OE information available inALLDATA Collision S3500:

Always refer to ALLDATA Collisionfor safety procedures, identification ofmaterial types, recommended refinishmaterials, and removal and installationprocedures. Always refer to the vehiclemanufacturer for questions relating toapplicable or non-applicable warranty


Got Information?

with Kathy Steck-FlynnAutobody CSI

with Kathy Steck-FlynnAutobody CSI

with Dan EspersenALL OEM Information

with Dan EspersenALL OEM Information

with Tom McGeeALL OEM Information

with Tom McGeeALL OEM Information

Automaker Actions and Announcementswith Jeremy Hayhurst

Automaker Actions and Announcementswith Janet Chaney

Automaker Actions and Announcementswith Jeremy Hayhurst

I-CAR Tech

I-CAR Tech

Amaradio Explains CRAwith Lee Amaradio Jr.

Amaradio Explains CRAwith Lee Amaradio Jr.

Consumer Callout

Consumer Callout

The Right Causewith Mike Causey


with Ed AttanasioShop Showcase

with Ed AttanasioShop Showcase

Say What?!

Say What?!

Dan Espersen is ALLDATA® CollisionSM Program Manager. Dan is a Gold PinMember of the Collision Industry Conference (CIC) and holds an AA Degree inAutomotive Technology. He has 17 years of experience in the collision industryand 17 years of experience in the automotive industry.and Jeffrey Webster

See Got Information?, Page 21

2011 Kia® Sorento® and 2009 Kia Borrego®. Caution during Airbag Control Unit Servicing

Autobody News was under a collisioncloud in September this year. Three ofour employees, myself included, re-quired the immediate services of col-lision repair shops and insurers inthree unrelated accidents in theOceanside area of Southern Califor-nia. While all of us in the company ex-perience collision repair in the abstractas a course of reporting on the indus-try, we each got a real world experi-

ence this time. Both of our salesaccount managers, Christina Shu-bert and Joe Momber, also partici-pated in our ‘collision cluster.’

Although the damages occurredin different scenarios and were of dif-ferent severity, each experience pro-vided a first-hand look at the DRPmodel and its prevalence in moderncollision repair. What they under-scored was that, although the relation-ship between an insurer and a direct

repair shop within their network is avalued partnership, it is a strained one.Lots of repair shops havecome to rely on one or twoinsurers to send them theircustomers through their net-work of ‘trusted shops,’ butfeelings on behalf of colli-sion repairers on whether ornot this relationship is worththe trouble are mixed.

The tradeoff for a colli-sion repairer in aDRP is familiarand simple inprinciple. Al-though the shop will take adollars-per-job cut, in the-ory they have more cus-tomers coming in, asreferred by the insurer ad-vising customers whodon’t have a preferredshop. Insurers get a dis-

count on the repairs but they are scru-tinized on legal issues, including

steering, and sometimes get pushbackfrom shops. Learning to work with in-surers’ standards and requirementshas become a necessary obligation forDRP shops, but many don’t like hav-ing an insurer directing them as towhat procedures they have to follow


Three Autobody News Collisions Illustrate Balancing Act Between DRPs and Shops

See Three Collisions, Page 22

Christina’s choice: World Auto Body inEncinitas, CA

..but came back to life courtesy of World Auto Body

Christina’s car suffered a “double-reverse” rear-end impact...

with Ed Attanasio

Shop and Product Showcase

with Ed Attanasio

Shop Showcase

with Erica SchroederShop Showcase


Industry Insightwith John Yoswick

Erica Schroeder is a writer and editorial assistantfor Autobody News in Oceanside, CA. She can bereached at [email protected].

repair information.This bulletin describes precau-

tions necessary during Borrego (HM)

and Sorento (XM) Airbag Control Unit(ACU) related diagnosis/repair/re-placement to prevent accidental airbagdeployment during servicing. As anadded safety feature, a Rollover Sen-sor has been incorporated into the Bor-rego (HM) and Sorento (XM) ACUs.

This sensor deter-mines if a rollover in-cident is imminent,and if improperly andinadvertently trig-gered during vehiclerepairs may deployvarious safety fea-tures (side and curtainairbags as well as seatbelt pretensioners).As a result, the pre-

cautions listed belowmust be followed byall service personnelwhen diagnosing/ser-vicing the AirbagControl Unit (ACU)and related compo-nents.

WARRANTYALWAYS discon-nect both battery ca-bles from the batteryand bleed-off resid-ual voltage by hold-ing the positive and negative batterycables together for 10 seconds beforeservicing or removing the AirbagControl Unit (ACU).

ACU must be securely installedin its proper location/position duringdiagnosis/repair of the vehicle.

All ACU bolts must be tightenedto proper torque specifications and allgrounds must be attached during ve-hicle servicing.

NEVER turn the ignition ON un-less the ACU is securely bolted downin its designated location/position.

The application or use of paneladhesive is limited to the approved

procedures published in Toyota,Lexus, and Scion model-specificCollision Damage Repair Manuals.

The following illustration is anexample of specifications that in-clude the use of adhesive. Pleasereview collision repair manuals(www.techinfo.toyota.com) forcomplete instructions and symboltranslations.

INSTALLATION POINT• Apply adhesive (3MTM Au-tomixTM Panel Bonding adhesive #8115) to the area indicated by *1.


M L SPRAYBOOTH & INSTALLATIONwww.mlspraybooth.com

(562)944-2233Licensed, Insured, And Bonded

CA LIC. # 940748 B, D34

PROFESSIONAL SPRAY BOOTH SERVICES

Guaranteed To Pay For Itself In Energy

Savings & Increased Productivity Within

5 Years. *

Authorized Dealer For USI ItaliaAuthorized Dealer For USI Italia

* Compared To Traditional 10 HP Spray Booth.

● The Chronotech Model Is The Top Of The Line Down Draft Spray Booth Available In Today’s Market.● Water Base Ready Without The Need For Additional Components Or Fans.● Programmable Air Flow For All Phases In The Painting Process.● Increase Productivity By 50%*.● Reduce Curing Time By 35% And Energy Cost By 30%*.

● Sales Of Automotive, Aerospace, And Industrial Paint Spray Booths.● Spray Booth Installations And Relocations.● Training Of Clients In Automotive And Industrial Painting Fields.● After Sales Services. (Preventive Maintenance, Upgrades And Air Filter Solutions.)● Process And Expedite Local Building & Safety, Fire Department, AirQuality/Air Pollution Applications, Permitting Process And Inspections.


Got Information?

Item P/N Description1 02038 Cowl side panel – high-strength low alloy (HSLA) 350 steel2 16C274 Inner fender reinforcement – HSLA 350 steel3 02015 Cowl panel upper – HSLA 350 steel4 02030 Cowl top inner panel – mild steel5 01610 Dash panel – laminated steel6 02039 Cowl side panel – HSLA 350 steel7 16C275 Inner fender reinforcement – HSLA 350 steel8 16138A Radiator support – magnesium alloy9 16138B Lower radiator support – HSLA 350 steel

2009 Ford® F-150® Front Structure Material Identification

Toyota®, Lexus®, Scion® Vehicles Exterior Panel Adhesive

See Got Information?, Page 35


in order to be a part of the direct repairrelationship.

Christina’s damage was causedwhen she and another vehicle backedinto each other in a parking lot. Her

claim was handled through her in-surer, Mercury Insurance. She tookher ‘06 Honda Civic to World AutoBody in Encinitas, CA, which is partof Mercury’s CARS network of cus-tomer authorized repair shops. Mer-cury receives a $14/hr labor ratediscount and a parts discount onlywhen they recommend their customersgo to World Auto Body, according toowner Reily Wilder.

One of the other benefits forWorld Auto Body when Mercury cus-tomers come in is the level of com-munication between the shop and

Mercury. The customer does not haveto be the middleman between insurerand repair shop when a DRP shop isused. Wilder said the shop usesMitchell’s E-Claims Manager whichallows information from repair shop togo directly to insurer without theclaims adjuster having to make multi-ple visits to the shop. It is an easy wayfor collision repair shops to have theirestimates quickly approved by insur-

ance adjusters and start making the re-pairs sooner. This also has added valuefor the customer, who not only doesn’thave to be the liaison for communica-tion between the two, but also benefitsfrom quicker repairs.

“My insurance agent and the bodyshop communicated directly after Ibrought my car in,” said Christina,

“They took pictures of mycar and put them in thesystem, andshowed me thethe estimation process onthe computer screen thatthey were going throughfor my insurer.”

Christina consulteda couple of shops beforechoosing World AutoBody and saw dramaticdifferences between theestimation process be-tween shops where shehad estimates taken at that

were not part of Mercury’s CARS pro-gram.

“One place didn’t even open mytrunk,” said Christina, “They didn’twalk me through their estimationprocess at all.”

As for me (Erica), I took my bat-tered ‘08 Toyota Yaris to Len’s Auto-body in Oceanside, CA, after I wasrear ended by a heavier vehicle in traf-fic. I went through the other driver’sinsurance (USAA), since they were atfault. Over the phone the USAAClaims Department told me I couldchoose any shop I would like to have

my repairs done at. I choseLen’s because I had beenthere recently to do an in-terview and liked theirshop and their staff. Len’sjust happens to be a USAAdirect repair shop—Iwould have taken my carthere either way.

Len’s offers a labordiscount to USAA whencustomers come to Len’sthrough them, but USAAdoes require that Len’s usecertain aftermarket cos-

metic parts. In my case, USAA required that

Len’s use an aftermarket rear bumpercover on my car. I was told by BodyShop Manager Alex Torres that if Iwanted an OEM rear bumper cover,the difference in price would come outof my pocket. This is one of the nega-tives for customers in body shops hav-ing a direct repair relationship with aninsurer.

Our other Sales Manager, JoeMomber, had his car hit in the park-ing lot of his gym in what amountedto an early morning hit-and-run. Thedriver who hit his car bolted withoutleaving any information. Joe’s frontbumper had been side-swiped and washanging off the car.

Joe took his ‘04 Dodge Stratusinto Central Autobody Repair inOceanside, CA, because he knewthe owner, Sam. Joe decided not togo through his insurer since the as-sessed damages were under his$500 deductible. His estimate wasprepared as a ‘cash’ transaction andCentral Autobody offered a modest

discount to customerspaying cash for theirrepairs.

What we all learnedis that there are a lot ofgood options for con-sumers out there and a lotof ways to get good re-sults if you ask the rightquestions and consult theright people. And yes,we’re all still drivingcarefully.

World Auto Body140 N Coast Highway 101 # AEncinitas, CA 92024-3227(760) 753-0035Worldautobody.com

Len’s Autobody510 Jones RoadOceanside, CA 92058-1218(760) 757-7547lensautobody.com

Central Autobodyand Repair Shop1702 South Coast HighwayOceanside, CA 92054-5320(760) 722-2152


Three Collisions

Erica’s car took a hit to the rear-end

Len’s Autobody in Oceanside, CA

Erica’s car accident


Kearny Mesa SubaruSan Diego

(800) 548-9124(858) 300-3331 Fax

Mon.-Fri. [email protected]

www.kearnymesasubaru.com/parts

Subaru of GlendaleGlendale

(818) 550-1500(818) 549-3850 Fax

Mon.-Fri. 7-6; Sat. [email protected]

Sierra Subaru ofMonroviaMonrovia

(626) 359-8291(626) 932-5660 Fax


Subaru of OntarioOntario

(909) 605-5655(909) 390-0104 Fax


www.ontario-ca.subaru.com

Timmons SubaruLong Beach

(888) 489-5001(562) 426-3550 FaxTue. 7-8; Mon., Wed.-Fri. 7-6;Sat. 8-4, Sat. No Delivery

[email protected]

Marin SubaruSan Rafael

(415) 257-4690(415) 257-4684 FaxMon.-Fri. 7:30-5:30; Sat. 8-4

[email protected]

Subaru of Santa CruzSanta Cruz

(800) 549-8490(831) 420-1402

(831) 420-1923 FaxMon.-Fri. 7:30-6; Sat. 8-5

[email protected]

Anderson SubaruLake Havasu City(928) 764-5177

(928) 764-2574 FaxMon.-Fri. 7:30-5:30; Sat. 8-2www.andersondeals.com

www.andersondealssubaru.com

Power SubaruScottsdale

(480) 425-2950(480) 425-2948 Fax

Mon.-Fri. 7-6; Sat. 7-4

SO. CALIFORNIA

NO. CALIFORNIA

ARIZONA

NEVADA

TEXAS

OKLAHOMA

LOUISIANA

NEW MEXICO

ARKANSAS

COLORADO

MISSISSIPPI

KANSAS

UTAH

SO. CALIFORNIA

NO. CALIFORNIA

ARIZONA

NEVADA

TEXAS

OKLAHOMA

LOUISIANA

NEW MEXICO

ARKANSAS

COLORADO

MISSISSIPPI

KANSAS

UTAH

SO. CALIFORNIA

NO. CALIFORNIA

ARIZONA

NEVADA

TEXAS

OKLAHOMA

LOUISIANA

NEW MEXICO

ARKANSAS

COLORADO

MISSISSIPPI

KANSAS

UTAH

The following dealerships are eager to serveyour needs. Call your local Subaru collision

parts specialist today!

SO. CALIFORNIA

NO. CALIFORNIA

ARIZONA

NEVADA

TEXAS

OKLAHOMA

LOUISIANA

NEW MEXICO

ARKANSAS

COLORADO

MISSISSIPPI

KANSAS

UTAH

SO. CALIFORNIA

NO. CALIFORNIA

ARIZONA

NEVADA

TEXAS

OKLAHOMA

LOUISIANA

NEW MEXICO

ARKANSAS

COLORADO

MISSISSIPPI

KANSAS

UTAH

Ahead of a visit to its Kokomo, Ind.,facilities by President Barack Obamaand Vice President Joe Biden, Chryslerconfirmed that it is planning to invest$843 million into its existing transmis-sion manufacturing facilities inKokomo for production of a new ad-vanced front-wheel drive automatictransmission for future Chrysler Groupvehicles.

With this latest announcement,Chrysler’s total investment in U.S. fa-

cilities would climb to nearly $3 billionsince June 2009.

When combined with previouslyannounced investments totaling $343million in its Kokomo facilities, thiswould make Kokomo the recipient ofthe largest investment, $1.1 billion, in asingle year in a single community,pending the Kokomo City Council’sapproval of Chrysler Group’s taxabatement application on Dec. 13,2010. The investment would fund the

installation of equipment and specialtooling to modernize the Indiana Trans-mission Plants and the Kokomo Cast-ing Plant. The project would extend thelife of these manufacturing facilitiesand help retain nearly 2,250 jobs.

Chrysler Group will be partneringwith Friedrichshafen, Germany-basedZF Group on the next generation front-wheel drive transmission, which is mak-ing its designs and technology availableto the Company and its Kokomo plants.

“For years, Kokomo has been atthe center of our powertrain strategyand the potential of an additional in-vestment reaffirms that position,” Ser-gio Marchionne, CEO of Chrysler, saidin a statement. “When introduced, thisnew front-wheel drive transmission,along with the previously announcedeight-speed transmission we will alsoproduce in Kokomo, will transform ourfuture products and position them asleaders in the marketplace.”

Chrysler Confirms $840 Million Investment in Kokomo, Indiana Plant

The site itself looks completelydifferent now then it did when I firststarted it. I was fortunate enough tohave phenomenal mentors to call andask for advice when I was creating thesite and even to eventually call and askto join and create a page once it wasdone. It would not have launched sosuccessfully without my mentors inthe collision and insurance sides of theindustry joining the site. It definitelygrew by word of mouth after that.When it first got started, I rememberthinking, ‘if people from both sides [ofthe industry] were willing to join, I haddone something right in my career.’

ABN: You have a family backgroundin collision repair, don’t you ?KF: I was born into this industry. MyDad owned a collision repair shopwhen I was growing up and I reallyspent my life in it. I worshipped myDad, so I was in the shop every daywatching him work. I did a little bitof everything to help once I gotolder; frame, body and paint, to namea few. Looking back I wasn’t thatgreat of a technician, so I went to col-lege and got a job working with StateFarm Insurance in their marketingdepartment. While working there myperspective on the insurance industrychanged a lot, but I missed the peo-ple in the body shops. Car people willdo anything for anybody—they’re re-ally good people. That’s one thing Ireally enjoy about Collision Hub, itlets people see both sides of the in-dustry.

ABN: Where do you see the relation-ship between social media and thecollision repair industry in 5 to 10years? Do you think it’s a long-last-ing, valuable tool?KF: I think in 5 years we will seeeverything involved in the social mediaenvironment. Facebook, youtube, andtwitter will become complete newssources and information sharing medi-ums. These sites promote friendshipand respect and open up some channelsfor users. I think we will also see a lotmore people plugged in this industryspecifically.

ABN: What are CollisionHub.com’snumbers when it comes to number ofpages and traffic?KF: CollisionHub.com currently hasabout 3,000 personal pages in 22

countries. The pages break down to54% body shops, 14% insurance andthe rest are vendors and educators. Asfar as views, Collision Hub gets about50,000 page views a month fromabout 13,000 individual IP addresses.Most of our traffic is organic; not a lotof people are coming to the site froma link on another site.

ABN: The last two years have beenespecially tough in the industry. Whathave your first two years been like forCollisionHub? Have there been anymajor problems or challenges?KF: It’s been hard. There have beensome hard months. There are highsand lows with every business, but forCollision Hub the lows haven’t beenso low recently.

ABN: What are Collision Hub’s goalsbusiness-wise 5 to 10 years down theroad?KF: Overall we want to develop acommunity that is accepting and re-spectful of everyone in the industry,no matter if they’ve been a top-levelCEO of a major body shop for 30years or are just starting out as a tech-nician. We want everyone to have anequal voice and equal footing and re-ally create a community for this in-dustry online. We want newcomers tothe industry to have a place to shareideas and have them be heard, as wellas a place for them to learn and gainindustry mentors.

ABN: Tell us about your plans forCollision Hub TV.KF: I think that the size and scope ofthis industry isn’t really appreciated;what all we are involved with isn’t ap-preciated. Collision Hub TV just pro-vides another way for people to seewhat goes on, to be there without hav-ing to buy a plane ticket. CH TV willgive more stories a face. For example,one thing I’m hoping CH TV will beable to do is to help SkillsUSA winnerKayla Toncik be able to get enoughexposure to get some more financialsponsorships for her WorldSkillsevent in 2011. Participants from theUSA have to earn their own way toWorldSkills, unlike some participantfrom other countries whose ways arepaid. Through CH TV people can seeher, see her train and connect to herstory. CH TV provides people with away to see it, feel it and hear it; to be

more involved and plugged in. Colli-sion Hub TV is the site’s number onedriver right now.

ABN: What are some new features inthe works at CollisionHub.com?KF: Well, there are quite a few thingsin the works, some more completethan others. First, there’s CollisionHub University, which will probablybe launched in Q1 of 2011. Everyoneright now is training driven and the in-dustry wants more training, but it isexpensive and time consuming forbusinesses to send their staff to train-ing events and classes. So CH univer-sity would allow technicians to watch5 to 10 minute videos to gain moretechnical knowledge. We’re workingwith some of the training organiza-tions to set that up. We’re also work-ing on a classifieds/auctioning sectionof Collision Hub, which will hope-fully go live also in Q1 of 2011. Thiswould be a marketplace where peoplecould post job openings, for-sale itemsand jobs wanted posts. Also the GirlScouts project Collision Hub did at

NACE this year was very successful,so we will be expanding on that in thecoming months. We’re thinking ofdoing a Gear Heads Kids Car oppor-tunity where the Girl Scouts can at-tend some classes and work regularlyon projects to gain better knowledgeabout this industry. After the last GirlScouts project we also have tossedaround the idea of creating an 18 andunder section of Collision Hub wherepeople under 18-years-old can have aCollision Hub page and use it as avenue to learn more about this indus-try, but only be able to view certain,age appropriate content. We have alsobeen experimenting with the idea ofcreating virtual trade shows. CollisionHub would provide a program wherepeople can create avatars and visit vir-tual booths at any participating tradeshow. Then users can click on a boothand it will video call the physicalbooth where someone there will beable to answer questions and talk tothem as if they were physically at theshow. We’re thinking of trying this out


See Kristen Felder, Page 43

Kristen Felder INTERVIEW by Erica Schroeder Cover Story


ARIZONAMark KiaScottsdale

(480) 425-5318Watts Line (866) 800-6045

(480) 663-7503 FaxM-F 7:30am - 6:00pm, Sat 8:00am - 4:00pm

Local & Out of State Delivery

Salazar KiaAvondale

(800) 876-5199(623) 643-9609 Fax

www.crawfordeals.comM, W, F 7:00am - 6:00pmT, Th 7:00am - 9:00pmSat 8:00am - 5:00pm

Local & Out of State Delivery

Tempe KiaTempe

(480) 603-2587(480) 603-2597 [email protected] 7:00am - 6:00pmE-mail orders welcome!

NO. CALIFORNIADublin Kia

DublinWholesale Direct (925) 828-8251

(925) 829-2941 FaxM-F 7:00am - 6:00pmSat 8:00am - 4:30pm

Elk Grove KiaSacramento/Elk Grove(888) 244-3404(916) 753-1040(916) 753-1045 Fax

www.elkgrovekia.com

San Leandro KiaSan Leandro

(510) 347-3010(510) 347-3003(510) 895-1027 FaxFree Local DeliveriesShipping Available

SO. CALIFORNIACar Pros Kia

CarsonToll Free (800) 553-0940Parts Direct (310) 221-9101

(310) 816-9811 Parts Fax#1 Wholesale DealerServing So. California

Citrus KiaOntario

(800) 583-7042(909) 390-0948(909) 390-0982 Fax

[email protected] - Sat 7:00am - 6:00pm

Free Local DeliveryAsk for Ike, Jimbo, Chris, Juan, Sean, Jeff

Se Habla Español

First KiaSimi Valley

1-888-531-4785(805) 306-1085 FaxFree Local DeliveryM-F 7:00am - 6:00pmSat 8:00am - 5:00pmSe Habla Español

Ask for David or Julio

Fullerton KiaFullerton

(714) 871-6300(714) 738-0665 Fax

Kearny Pearson KiaSan Diego

(800) 635-6669(858) 560-5033(858) 560-9648 Fax

Largest wholesaler in San Diegowith 17 delivery trucks

Kia of El MonteEl Monte

(626) 450-0500(626) 443-9800 FaxM-F 7:30am - 6pmSat 7:30am - 3pm

www.kiaofelmonte.com

Precise fit and finish, easy instal-

lation and a limited warranty

direct from KIA — all genuine

advantages of genuine KIA

parts. Your local KIA retailer

has all the parts you need.

The Chrysler West Business Center(WBC) Service & Parts BusinessConference was held November 1–2,at Bally’s Hotel in Las Vegas.

The two day event was well at-

tended by approximately 175 keyDealer Personnel attending fromCA, AZ, NV, OR, WA, ID, AK, HIand Guam. The conference startedon Monday with opening presenta-

tions by Pietro Gor-lier, President andChief Executive Offi-cer MOPAR; SunilLahoti, WBC Service& Parts manager andGuest Speaker RandyJohnson, Car Peoplemarketing.

Two days of break-out sessions covering avariety of topics fol-lowed. The conferencetopics seemed to res-onate with the reener-gized Chrysler dealers.

“Having the op-portunity to talk withthe Mopar manage-ment team and view-ing Chrysler’s 2011new line really re-newed my faith in thebusiness. I came home

with 5 pages of notes and a laundrylist of improvements that I want toimplement in my department. I’mexcited to get to work,” said ChrisBrodeur, Parts Manager at Glenn

E. Thomas, Dodge-Chrysler-Jeep.The Monday night Vendor Fair fea-tured 60 vendors and was well ap-preciated by the Service and PartsManagers.


(818) 778-2090 FAXHOURS: M-F 7AM-6PM, SAT 8AM-5PM WWW.GALPIN.COM

We are authorized to sell Ford’s Recovered Original Equipment (ROE).

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnneeeeeeeeeeeee ooooooooooooooofffffffffffffffffffff SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSooooooooooooooooouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuttttttttttttttttthhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeerrrrrrrrrrrrrrrnnnnnn CCCCCCCCaaaaaaaaaaaallllllllllllllliiiiiiiiiiiiffffffffffffoooooooorrrrrrrrnnnnnnnnnnnniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiaaaaaaaa’’’’’’’ssss LLLLLLLaaaarrrrggggggggggggggggeeeeeeeessssssssstttt CCCCCCoooooollllllllllliiiiiissssssssiiiiiiiiioooonnnnnnn PPPPPaaaarrrrttttssss IIIIInnnnvvvveeeennnnttttoooorrrriiiiieeeessssOne of Southern California’s Largest Collision Parts Inventories

(866) 665-2365Call DIRECT

Wholesale HotlineGALPIN WHOLESALE7868 Orion Ave. • Van Nuys, CA 91406

5

5

210

405

27118

101 170

ROSCOE BLVD.

GALPIN WHOLE

SALE

7868 Orion Ave. •

Van Nuys, CA 91406

5

210

170

N

• 50,000 parts in stock and ready to ship• We do bulk buying so we can pass the savings on to you• 16 professional parts associates ready to help you • 30 delivery trucks serving Simi Valley, Thousand Oaks, Santa Clarita Valley, the San Fernando Valley and surrounding areas • Ask about our volume discounts • We ship around the U.S. and the world • Online ordering through OEConnection — Call for details

FORD EXPLORER ‘11

Chrysler West Business Center (WBC) Holds 2-Day Meeting in Las Vegas

(l to r) Barbie and Chris Brodeur and Joe Thomas, District Manager, WBCGuillermo Nava and Tony Walker

(l to r) Walter Brada, Mark Skinner, John Emmons, Luke Moore and Rich SchottMark Skinner and Susan McDaniel

www.autobodynews.comwww.autobodynews.com

NEWSNEWSNEWSNEWSService, Diagnostic and MechanicalService, Diagnostic and MechanicalService, DiagnosticService, DiagnosticService, DiagnosticService, DiagnosticService, DiagnosticService, DiagnosticService, DiagnosticService, DiagnosticService, DiagnosticService, DiagnosticService, DiagnosticService, DiagnosticService, DiagnosticService, DiagnosticService, DiagnosticService, DiagnosticService, DiagnosticService, DiagnosticService, DiagnosticService, DiagnosticService, DiagnosticService, DiagnosticService, DiagnosticService, DiagnosticService, DiagnosticService, DiagnosticService, DiagnosticService, DiagnosticService, DiagnosticService, DiagnosticService, DiagnosticService, DiagnosticService, DiagnosticService, DiagnosticService, DiagnosticService, DiagnosticService, DiagnosticService, DiagnosticService, DiagnosticService, DiagnosticService, DiagnosticService, DiagnosticService, DiagnosticService, DiagnosticService, DiagnosticService, DiagnosticService, DiagnosticService, DiagnosticService, DiagnosticService, DiagnosticService, DiagnosticService, DiagnosticService, DiagnosticService, DiagnosticService, DiagnosticService, DiagnosticService, DiagnosticService, DiagnosticService, DiagnosticService, DiagnosticService, DiagnosticService, DiagnosticService, DiagnosticService, DiagnosticService, DiagnosticService, DiagnosticService, DiagnosticService, DiagnosticService, DiagnosticService, DiagnosticService, DiagnosticService, DiagnosticService, DiagnosticService, DiagnosticService, DiagnosticService, DiagnosticService, DiagnosticService, DiagnosticService, DiagnosticService, DiagnosticService, DiagnosticService, DiagnosticService, DiagnosticService, DiagnosticService, DiagnosticService, DiagnosticService, DiagnosticService, DiagnosticService, DiagnosticService, DiagnosticService, DiagnosticService, DiagnosticService, DiagnosticService, Diagnostic

MechanicalService, DiagnosticService, DiagnosticService, DiagnosticService, DiagnosticService, Diagnostic

andandandandandandandandandandandandandandandandandandandandandandandandandandandandandandandandand Mechanicaland Mechanical Mechanical Mechanicaland Mechanical Mechanical MechanicalService, Diagnostic

Mechanical Mechanical Mechanical MechanicalService, Diagnostic

Mechanical Mechanical Mechanical Mechanical Mechanical Mechanical MechanicalService, Diagnostic

MechanicalService, Diagnostic

Mechanical Mechanical MechanicalService, Diagnostic

and MechanicalService, Diagnostic

and Mechanical Mechanical Mechanical Mechanical Mechanical Mechanical Mechanical Mechanical Mechanical Mechanical Mechanical Mechanical Mechanical Mechanical Mechanical Mechanical Mechanical Mechanical Mechanical Mechanical Mechanical Mechanical Mechanical Mechanical Mechanical Mechanical Mechanical Mechanical Mechanical Mechanical Mechanical Mechanical Mechanical Mechanical Mechanical Mechanical Mechanical Mechanical Mechanical Mechanical Mechanical Mechanical Mechanical Mechanical Mechanical Mechanical Mechanical Mechanical Mechanical MechanicalService, Diagnostic


MechanicalService, DiagnosticService, DiagnosticService, DiagnosticService, DiagnosticService, Diagnostic


andandand MechanicalService, Diagnostic and MechanicalWestern Edition December 2010CALIFORNIA • NEVADA • ARIZONA


by Jim Lang, Lang Marketing

Foreign vehicles (imports and trans-plants) more than doubled their shareof new car and light truck sales in theU.S. between 1997 and 2010.

Over this 13-year span, foreignvehicles made more progress in ex-panding their new vehicle marketshare in the U.S. than they achievedin the previous 50 years.

Foreign models captured 26.1%of 1997 new vehicle volume in theU.S., topping 28% of the 2000 mar-ket. Over the next five years, foreigncars and light trucks recorded steadygrowth in new vehicle share, climb-ing to 35% of the 2004 market.

Then, foreign new vehicle shareexploded. By 2007, foreign cars andlight trucks accounted for 49% of newvehicle sales in the U.S. with theirshare soaring to 53% in 2008 andreaching an estimated 55% of the2010 market.

Japanese Cars and Light TrucksJapanese models captured 37% of2007 new car and light truck sales,and will account for an estimated39% of the 2010 market. Growth ofJapanese models would have beenstronger had it not been for Toyota’srecent safety issues, which reducedToyota’s 2010 sales share below its2007 performance. Over the nextseveral years, Japanese models willregain sales momentum and con-tinue expanding their new vehicleshare.

European VehiclesEuropean vehicles, lead by Germannameplates, captured 7% of 2007light vehicle volume. European carsand light trucks are expected to cap-ture 8% of the 2010 market. Notachieving the strong share growthprojected for Japanese models overthe coming years, European vehicles

will, nevertheless, steadily expandtheir U.S. new vehicle sales posi-tion.

Korean Surge Hyundai, along with Kia, added dra-matic punch to foreign vehicle sharegrowth over the past 24 months. Rap-idly adding dealerships, Koreannameplates will record nearly 20%sales growth during 2010, pushing-up their market share more than two-thirds from 2007.

Covering a wide range of marketniches, Korean vehicles will continueexpanding their sales and marketshare, growing at a much faster pacethan European or Japanese models.

Chinese EntryChinese nameplates will begin mak-ing a strong impact on the U.S. newvehicle market in five to seven years.Their growth will be rapid in the U.S.,particularly if acquiring another car-maker is part of a Chinese marketentry strategy, or Chinese vehicles aresold through an existing dealer net-work.

2021 New Vehicle SalesLang Marketing expects foreign ve-hicles (imports and transplants) toaccount for at least two-thirds ofnew car and light truck 2021 sales inthe U.S. This projection allocatesonly 4% of 2021 sales to Chinesevehicles. If Chinese models exceedthis estimate, foreign vehicle sharecould rise higher than two-thirds by2021.

Aftermarket ImpactThe aftermarket impact of this newvehicle sales trend will be dra-matic and irreversible. By 2021,foreign models will top 60% of ve-hicles in the so-called age sweetspot for vehicle repair (five to tenyears).

Surging foreign vehicle after-market product share will have a rev-olutionary impact on product brandssold in the aftermarket, how productsare distributed, as well as where partsand service are purchased.

Retailer Commercial Market GainsA recent in-house study by Lang Mar-keting found Retailers are makinggains in the commercial (wholesale)market against several leading Pro-grammed Jobber groups. Retailers aregetting high marks from Installers ona number of key competitive issues inseveral markets studied.

Each of the battleground citiesstudied by Lang Marketing containsAutoZone, Advance, and O’Reillystores as well as NAPA and CAR-QUEST Jobbers.

While it is not possible to gener-alize with great confidence from thisin-house study to the commercialmarket nationwide, some major find-ings are significant: Retailers are im-proving commercial services, ServiceStations and Garages are willing toexplore alternative buying sources,and a large portion of Installer volumeis “in play”.

ConvenienceThe growing convenience of buyingfrom Retailers cannot be underesti-mated as a major reason they aregaining commercial business.

This convenience reflects severalfactors: Retailers (at least in the citiesstudied) have inventories to supportInstaller business, Retailers have de-livery capabilities which meet In-staller expectations, and, because oftheir growing numbers, Retailersoften are closer to Installers than areProgrammed Jobbers.

More “Commercialized” Retailers While the Jobber population is de-clining nationwide (at a slowing

pace), the Retailer count continues torise. Although some leading Retailershave not rolled out commercial pro-grams to all stores, where they areemphasizing commercial business,“commercialized” Retailers often out-number Jobber locations.

Pricing IssueThe in-house Lang Marketing studydid not focus on pricing in-depth, butthere is evidence sharp pricing by Re-tailers is a critical issue in some mar-kets covered. In other researchconducted by Lang Marketing overthe past several years, sharp pricingwas found to be a tactic of some“commercialized” Retailers in com-petitive markets.

While availability and servicestill rank highest as product buyingcriteria among Installers, the issue ofpricing can be ignored only “at peril.”

Commercial Market is FluidIn battleground cities covered byLang Marketing’s in-house study,Service Stations and Garages, for themost part, were open to explore alter-native products sources, with In-stallers generally free of strongnegative feelings toward purchasingfrom Retailers.

Jobbers Still Control CommercialMarketProgrammed Jobbers still control thelargest share of auto parts sales to In-stallers in the battleground cities cov-ered by Lang Marketing’s in-housestudy.

That said, the major underlyingfinding of this study is that the com-mercial market is more fluid than everbefore, with a large share of Installerbusiness “in play.”

From Aftermarket Insight™ by JimLang, President of Lang Marketing Re-sources, Inc., www.langmarketing.com.

Detroit Sales Erosion 1997–2010 and Retailer Market Gains


GM to Phase out Goodwrench Brand NameGM will phase out the Goodwrenchbrand name effective Feb. 1, 2011 inthe United States. GM is dropping theGM Goodwrench car mechanic brandin the United States as the companymoves to redirect the marketing em-phasis around its four core vehiclebrands. The company says the moveis to better connect GM’s brands withcustomers, Chevrolet, Buick, GMCand Cadillac will each receive its ownCertified Service brand: ChevroletCertified Service, Buick CertifiedService, GMC Certified Service andCadillac Certified Service.

GM marketing chief Joel Ewan-ick wants the vehicle brands, not cor-porate, to be the stars of GM, and thatincludes service and repairs, said onesource familiar with the new campaign.

“This is another part of the ef-fort to clear out brand clutter,” thesource said.

“Our number one priority isproviding a world-class ownershipexperience that creates positive longlasting relationships with our cus-tomers,” said Steve Hill, vice presi-dent and general manager, GMCustomer Care and Aftersales. “Cer-tified Service supports GM’s strategyto focus on the four brands – Chevro-

let, Buick, GMC and Cadillac -- andis a natural extension of the cus-tomer’s vehicle purchase experienceat the dealership.

“This is more than a namechange—it is a declaration of ourcommitment to our customers, withexclusive vehicle diagnostics and con-nectivity via OnStar, competitivelypriced services and parts, increasedadvisor and technician training, andworking jointly with our dealers tofocus on customer satisfaction.”

Customers will continue to re-ceive competitively priced serviceperformed by trained experts whoknow their vehicles best at dealershipsacross the country. Service is an inte-gral part of vehicle ownership, andcustomers who are satisfied with theirservice experience are much morelikely to return to the dealership.

The brand, launched as Mr. Good-wrench in 1974, was once a householdname when GM was a much bigger au-tomaker. The name, which GMchanged from Mr. Goodwrench toGoodwrench Service Plus in the ‘90s,also was a major sponsor of NASCARracing—including Dale Earnhardt Sr.’scar—for several years until it droppedits involvement in 2007.

General Motors captured a significant in-novation award from the Society of PlasticsEngineers (SPE) for rapidly adopting a newlightweight plastic developed by DuPont.

The General Motors EcotecTurbo engine cover won a materialsinnovation award for adopting newlong-term, heat-aging DuPont nylonjust 90 days after launch, helping un-derscore the role of DuPont innovationin the automotive industry.

“The automotive industry is hun-gry for long-life, lightweight materialsthey can quickly use to cost-effec-tively cut weight to improve fuel econ-omy and reduce emissions,” saidDuPont Performance Polymers Presi-dent Diane H. Gulyas. “The speedwith which this remarkable materialwas adopted shows how collaborationcombined with materials expertise canaccelerate cost-effective innovation.”

General Motors capitalized on newDuPont™ Zytel® PLUS nylon just 90days after it was introduced and earnedthe “Most Innovative Use of PlasticsAward” for an engine-appearance andacoustic cover on the Ecotec 2.0-literTurbo powering Cadillac CTS vehicles.Nearly 70 percent of new small- andmid-sized engines scheduled to belaunched between now and 2016 will

use charged air induction to boost per-formance, according to IHS Automo-tive, Englewood, Colo.

“This trend toward downsized, tur-bocharged engines to meet fuel and emis-sions regulations without sacrificingpower drives up heat, pressure and chal-lenges many traditional plastics,” saidGulyas. “New materials must withstandincreasingly demanding engine environ-ments without adding cost or complexity.”

DuPont introduced four Zytel®PLUS nylon products in March and re-cently added three new polymers thatstand up to long-term exposure to hotoil, calcium chloride, impact afteraging and temperatures as high as 230C. All are based on DuPont™SHIELD Technology, which providesthe kind of long-term protectionagainst aggressive environments thatcan double the life of a component.

Zytel® PLUS nylon was used inthis turbo application because it retainsmechanical properties and great sur-face appearance despite long-term ex-posure to hot temperatures—180 Cand above —common in turbo-charged engines. The award-winningengine-appearance and acoustic coveris molded by Camoplast Polymer So-lutions, Richmond, Quebec, Canada.

GM Wins Award with New DuPont Plastic


One of Southern California’s Largest Collision Parts Inventories

GALPINGALPING WALPIN HOLESALE WHOLESALE W PHOLESALE ARTS PARTS P DARTS IVISIONGALPIN WHOLESALE PARTS DIVISION

A ONE-STOP SHOP FOR ALL YOUR WHOLESALE NEEDSServing the greater Los Angeles metropolitan area Multi-Million $$ Inventory & 50,000+ Parts in Stock

We are authorized to sell Ford’sRecovered Original Equipment (ROE).

• Extremely competitive prices!• OEM fits right the first time, every time. Genuine FORD parts reduces repair cycle time. We help you save time and money so you can move on to the next job faster.• When you order your parts at Galpin we simplify the order process.

Call TODAY!




5

5

210

405

27118

101 170

ROSCOE BLVD.

N

With EVERY purchase of $100 or more, you will Automatically be entered to win a:

Earn 1 additional entry by convert-ing an aftermar-

ket part to an OEM part via

OECollisionlink online ordering.

Promo runs from DEC. 1st to DEC. 17th.Prizes will be delivered by DEC. 24th.

GRAND PRIZE42” HD LCD TV

OR

1 of 3$100 Visa Gift Card

• Over 50,000 parts in stock and ready to ship• We do bulk buying so we can pass the savings on to you• 20 professional parts associates ready to help you• Ask about our volume discounts• 30 delivery trucks serving Simi Valley, Thousand Oaks, Santa Clarita Valley, the San Fernando Valley and surrounding areas• We ship around the U.S. and the world


One of Southern California’s Largest Collision Parts Inventories

One of Southern California’s Largest Collision Parts InventoriesOne of Southern California’s Largest Collision Parts InventoriesOne of Southern California’s Largest Collision Parts Inventories

GALPIN WHOLESALE PARTS DIVISION

A ONE-STOP SHOP FOR ALL YOUR WHOLESALE NEEDSYOUR WHOLESALE NEEDSServing the greater Los Angeles metropolitan area Multi-Million $$ Inventory & 50,000+ Parts in Stock

We are authorized to sell Ford’sRecovered Original Equipment (ROE).

• Extremely competitive prices!• OEM fits right the first time, every time. Genuine FORD parts reduces repair cycle time. We help you save time and money so you can move on to the next job faster.• When you order your parts at Galpin we simplify the order process.

Call TODAY!




5

5

210

405

27118

101 170

ROSCOE BLVD.

5

210

N

With EVERY purchase of $100 or more, you will Automatically be entered to win a:

Earn 1 additional entry by convert-ing an aftermar-

ket part to an OEM part via

OECollisionlink online ordering.

One of Southern California’s Lar

g

est Collision Parts Inventories

One of Southern California’s Largest Collision

Parts Inventories

One of Southern California’s Largest Collision

Parts Inventories

One of Southern California’s Largest Collision Parts InventoriesOne of Southern California’s Largest Collision

Parts Inventories

Promo runs from DEC. 1st to DEC. 17th.Prizes will be delivered by DEC. 24th.

GRAND PRIZE42” HD LCD TV

OR

1 of 3$100 Visa Gift Card

• Over 50,000 parts in stock and ready to ship• We do bulk buying so we can pass the savings on to you• 20 professional parts associates ready to help you• Ask about our volume discounts• 30 delivery trucks serving Simi Valley, Thousand Oaks, Santa Clarita Valley, the San Fernando Valley and surrounding areas• We ship around the U.S. and the world


with Rick WhiteShop Management

with Stefan GesterkampPaint Management

with Gonzo WeaverGonzo’s Toolbox

with Richard ArnoldJobber Journal

with Dale DelmegeAsk Dale

Mainstream Media

Automakers’ Actions and Analysisby Autobody News Staff

Shop Showcaseby Autobody News Staff

with Ed AttanasioShop and Product Showcase


with Erica SchroederShop Snapshot

This is a new story by Scott “Gonzo” Weaver as posted on his website,www.gonzostoolbox.com. See his book “Hey Look! I Found The LooseNut”, which provides a Good Laugh for Mechanics of Any Age. The bookis available at amazon.com. Contact Gonzo at [email protected]

When it comes to dealing with cus-tomers, there are always a few thingsthat are sure to be an issue, i.e., Cost?,how long will it take? and When is itgoing to be done?

Then there are those times whenthe unexpected happens. When thatfront door opens and a new customercomes in and your expectations arehigh. Will this customer become aregular? Then there is the type thatmake you say to yourself: What’s itgoing to be this time?

The other day I was in the officewhen in walked a young man withthat “clean-cut, kid-next-door” look.He looked to me like a nice kid whohad his head on his shoulders.

At the time I was busy finishingup with an aggravated customer whowas having a fit over paying for hercar’s outcome. The lady’s car hadbroken a cam which took out the en-gine. It was going to need a new one.She couldn’t afford the engine re-placement, and her frustration wasaudible. She was completely out of itbecause a cheaper solution wasn’tpossible. So she let the shouting com-mence at the front desk. Who wouldya think had a front row seat to thisshow of shows? You guessed it…me!

As the lady continued with herrant, the young customer sat in thebackground waiting for his turn at thecounter. She soon left with her cellphone stuck to her ear calling for atow truck.

The lad walked up to thecounter with a concerned look onhis face. “Do ya need a minute?How about you take a deep breath,just inhale slowly and exhale.Wow, dude… she gave you an ear-

ful. How do ya deal with that kindof thing?”

“Oh, I guess you could say youget used to it. It’s nothing; she’s justupset that she’ll have to buy anothercar. Thanks for asking, it’s no bigdeal… what can I do for you?” I saidas I took that deep breath.

“My headlights go off if I tilt mywheel all the way up.”

“No problem to look at it. Doyou need to wait on it?”

“If it won’t take long, that wouldbe nice.”

I filled out the paperwork and putthe truck in the shop. Sure enough, ifyou put the wheel all the way up, thelights would go off. Down theyworked fine.

Removing the steering columntrim revealed the problem. The mainwire that leads to the dimmer switchhad come free from the multifunctionswitch connector. Every time the col-umn was up the wire would separate.It was quick fix… nothing special.Just push it back into place, make sureit “clicked” into place and strap itdown to the other so it couldn’t pullfree again. I even adjusted the entireharness so there was a tad bit moreroom for the swinging motion of thecolumn.

Before I put all the trim back on

I tried it several times. It worked fine.I pulled the car around front, and hepaid for my time and was back on theroad. He was the kind of person whomakes your day special. Especiallyafter dealing with a lady and her deadengine… (‘Maintenance’ people… itmakes a difference… but that’s an-other speech.)

A day or so later the sameyoung lad was back with a different

attitude… but now it wasn’t becausethe headlights wouldn’t come onwhile tilting the wheel. It was be-cause the headlights blinked off andon. He seemed very stern with hisexplanation. He made his point, andthen stood there waiting for my an-swer.

Normally, I would be thinkingit’s time to get defensive. I just fixedhis “no headlight” problem the otherday and now this. The wheels areturning in my head. I could feel thesteam reaching the flash point. Thiskid was looking at me with that samelook the lady with the dead enginewas looking at me with… (You knowthe look).

I didn’t want to blow my topover this but I kept thinking ‘this guyis going to tell me it’s doing the samething. I just know it.’

He stood there staring me down.

I was waiting for “It’s doing the samething” response.

With his arms folded across hischest, sure enough: “It’s doing thesame thing.”

I’m about to go ballistic. Mydaughter, Mandy, was running theservice desk that afternoon. I couldsee she was looking for that “safezone” to get out of the reach of dad’ssoon-to-explode tantrum. But this kid

Dude, Meet My Daughter

Gonzo takes a moment between repairs toman the service desk himself

Second daughter Amanda (Mandy) checkingto see what her dad wrote about her this time

First daughter Katrina (Katie) taking a breakwith Autobody News


was so concerned with my well beingthe other day I figured I’d give himone more chance.

I looked outside at the truck,turned to look at him and growled outsomething like, “Doors unlocked?”

He answered, “Sure are.”Without another word I walked

out and turned the headlights on whilehe followed me out to the truck. Hestarted to tell me how the headlightswould fail, and how often it wouldhappen. As he explained the situationhe seemed more concerned that I wasgoing to blow my top. He was sorryto bother me, but he wanted to be sureto tell me it only blinks after he’s beendriving for more than an hour or so,and not when it’s tilted as it did in thepast. He noticed when the headlightsdo start to blink he could wiggle theheadlight switch knob and they wouldcome back on.

“Well, that’s NOT what waswrong with it the other day. Whatmade you say it was the same thing?”I asked.

“Just wanted to razz ya man. Ithought it would be funny. You seemlike an uptight guy who doesn’t get a

lot of laughs. Thought you might get akick out somebody playing ya,” he an-swered, chuckling and patting me onthe back. I don’t know how this kidpegged me for an uptight guy, but I’mstarting to like him.

OK, ya got me. Good one kid. I’llgive you that. I had to laugh. There’snothing like somebody from outsidethe industry seeing the difficulty andstress that this job can put you under.

We struck up a friendly conver-sation about college, family, andwork, while we were waiting to see ifthe headlights would blink. Afterabout a half hour or so the headlightsdid exactly what he predicted. It was afaulty headlight switch. After wastingthe better part of an hour just chattingand small talk, the two of us wentback into the office and asked Mandyto order a new headlight switch.Mandy was expecting me to come in,

slam something on the counter, say afew choice words, and rant my wayback to the shop kicking doors openall the way. But instead I had a bigsmile on my face, and my new foundbud alongside.

“Dude, meet my daughter,Mandy.” You can guess her reaction.(Mandy wasn’t all that impressed withthe guy.)

When the switch made it to theshop I went right to work installing it,and sent my friend down the road. I’msure he’ll be back. He made my daywith his quick observations of the go-ings on at the repair shop. I just wishmore people acted that way. It wouldmake my life a lot easier.

As for Mandy… she hasn’t de-cided yet. I guess my buddy wasn’ther type.

Hey, but a Dad can dream, can’the?

[email protected] us!write us!write us!www.autobodynews.com

CHECK IT OUT!


CALL 800-699-8251



[email protected]

800-699-8251




800-699-8251









[email protected]


write us!write us!





Honda Accord, Buick Enclave, Chevy Traverse get 5 starsThe Honda Accord, Buick Enclaveand Chevrolet Traverse became thelatest vehicles to get a five-star over-all crash rating, under new strictergovernment tests.

The National Highway TrafficSafety Administration issued its re-vised, tougher five-star crash ratings,releasing 34 vehicle ratings.

NHTSA is posting additional rat-ings as they complete testing of 2011model vehicles on its safercar.govwebsite.

The Accord got five stars inthree tests: side, frontal and rollover.

The Buick Enclave and Chevro-let Traverse got five stars for side im-pact—and four stars on frontal androllover—but still got the five-starhighest rating overall.

Two of the first 34 vehicles gotfive stars—the BMW 5 Series andHyundai Sonata—and the Hyundaionly reached that pinnacle after it wasmodified and retested.

Of the first batch tested, 29—in-cluding the Ford Fiesta and Taurus,Jeep Grand Cherokee, Cadillac Es-calade, Audi A4, Infiniti M37 andM56, Kia Sorento, Toyota Sienna,Honda Pilot and Chevrolet Malibu—got four stars in the overall score thattakes into account frontal, side androllover crash test ratings.

The new ratings won’t appear on ve-hicle window stickers until the 2012model year.

Under the old frontal tests, morethan 95 percent of vehicles got fouror five stars; that figure fell to 83 per-cent after the first batch of new tests.Grades dropped in several or all testsfor many older models.

The Toyota Camry, the best-sell-ing car in the United States since2002, got three stars, as did theCamry hybrid.

The Buick Lucerne also got athree-star overall rating—after it gottwo stars on side impact—and fivestars on both rollover and frontalcrash tests.

The Buick got one star on theside impact for the driver and twostars for the passenger.

GM spokesman Alan Adlernoted that the tests have gotten moredifficult—and the vehicle hasn’tchanged. The Lucerne, which is in itslast year of production, got four starson side impact last year.

“You’ve got new numbers. butthe Lucerne didn’t change—just theratings,” Adler said.

The compact Nissan Versa re-ceived two stars, after getting a lowscore on the new tougher side-crashtests.

NHTSA May Probe HybridAccord’s AccelerationThe National Highway Traffic SafetyAdministration will decide whether toopen a full-fledged investigation intopossible acceleration problems withthe Honda Accord gas-electric hybrid,according to documents posted on theagency’s Web site.

A woman, who was not identified,filed a complaint seeking an investiga-tion and recall of the 2005 Accord Hy-brid after a crash in July 2005 thatdisabled her and left a passenger dead.She said her car crashed into oncomingtraffic after she drove over rumblestrips on the side of a highway. The ve-hicle lost braking power then acceler-ated on its own, the woman said. Aninvestigation would affect about25,000 vehicles, the NHTSA said.

The NHTSA said it will decidewhether to investigate the Accord Hy-brid for possible recall because ofproblems with antilock brake con-trols. Its documents said the womanfound 22 similar complaints in itsdatabase involving Accord and Civichybrids. The similar incidents in-volved inadequate brake performancewhile driving over uneven surfaces,the documents said.


951.785.1612951.352.5760 Fax

BMW of RiversideThere’s no place like it.

Original BMW Parts

bmwusa.com

Over $1 million in inventory - Original BMW PartsPrompt, professional, courteous serviceThree delivery trucks serving the Inland EmpireOrders accepted via fax or email:[email protected]

Wholesale Direct:

3060 Adams St. • Riverside, CA 92504

SAVE TODAY!

3740 Cherry Ave., Long Beach, CA 90807

888886666666666--999997777766666--44444000007777700000866-976-4070 [email protected]

wwwww.w.hahaharbrbrboror-h-h-hyuyundndndaiaiai.c.comomwww.harbor-hyundai.com

Daryle Jones, Parts Manager

Mon-Fri 8am - 5:45pm • Sat 8am - 1:45pm

Daryle Jones

,

Parts Manager

• Huge Inventory• Experienced and Qualified Staff• Fast Delivery• Genuine Hyundai Parts

SCRS Thanks Repairer Education Sponsors at SEMA 2010The Society of Collision Repair Spe-cialists (SCRS) is thanking the groupof sponsors that provided significantfinancial support to get the inauguralRepairer Driven Education (RDE)program off and running.

The sponsors were: BASF, GM,PPG, LKQ, and 3M.

RDE’s introduction cycled over125 individuals through two days ofeducational offerings.

“As a collision repairer, I have at-tended this show numerous times, butthis one was the best. The one thingmissing from the past SEMA Shows Ifelt was a stronger presence of the col-lision industry segment and there wastruly a big difference this year,” saidJoel Lofton, RDE attendee and ownerof Barnett’s Body Shop in Ridgeland,Mississippi. “The Repairer Driven Ed-ucation courses were fantastic! All ofthe speakers were great and left atremendous impression on all who at-tended.”

“Now, more than ever, the indus-try needs relevant education,” saidBASF OEM and Industry RelationsManager, Joseph Skurka. “The com-plexity of modern vehicles and theproducts and techniques needed to re-pair them is growing all the time.BASF’s philosophy is to make our

customer, the shop, more successful,and they can’t be successful withoutthe up-to-date information and train-ing that a program like RDE provides.SCRS provided a great opportunity forthe industry that we were more thanhappy to support.”

“I was so impressed with howgreat the SCRS RDE training classeswere at the SEMA Show,” added For-est Holt, Owner of Southwest BodyShop in Amarillo, Texas. “The seriesadded so much relevance to my expe-rience at the show, and I received veryusefull information that will help mein my business tomorrow. As an in-dustry we need this information des-perately, and I can’t thank SCRS or thesponsors of the series enough for pro-viding this opportunity to the indus-try!”

“The magnanimous contributionof our RDE sponsors demonstratestheir understanding of the need forquality instruction,” SCRS ExecutiveDirector Aaron Schulenburg said ofthe sponsoring companies, “Their vi-sion and foresight in being involvedduring the first of many years for thisevent, helped SCRS to address a criti-cal industry need, and create a solidfoundation that RDE can build upongoing forward.”

ASRW Announces Improved Technology for NACE & CARSAutomotive Service & Repair Week(ASRW) recently unveiled a new web-site and portal design for its two flag-ship events, the InternationalAutobody Congress and Exposition(NACE) and the Congress of Automo-tive Repair and Service (CARS).

Features of the web design onNACE and CARS include a modern,streamlined look, access to all theevents’ social networks (including anew Flickr photo gallery and YouTubevideo library), videos from key ses-sions of the 2010 event, and a newcommunity section featuring real-timenews and updates from various indus-try organizations. In addition, the on-line applications for 2011 exhibitspace at NACE and CARS are alsonow available on their respective web-sites.

A completely new feature is thecustom landing page for ASRW. Lo-cated at www.ASRWevents.com, thissite was created to serve as a conven-ient starting point for all ASRWevents, and will strengthen the brand-ing of ASRW.

“Our overall goal was to createclean, sleek sites with improved ease-of-use for our attendees and ex-hibitors,” said Lindsay Roberts,ASRW/NACE/ CARS show director.

Additionally, significant modificationswere made to the “CONNECT” at-tendee and exhibitor portals. Furtheraligning them with the online socialnetworking system of the same name,the portals personalize the attendeeand exhibitor experience. The sites en-able interaction between attendees andexhibitors throughout the year. Thenew portals feature a new layout, colorscheme and easy-to-use navigation.The portal is accessible by e-codethrough the NACE, CARS and ASRWsites to attendees and exhibitors whohave previously participated in theevent.

“We’ve taken some excellentsteps forward this week with the re-sources we’re able to provide our au-dience. The value of these toolscontinue to differentiate this event,and we are confident they will have apositive impact on our attendees andexhibitors,” said Roberts.

The new sites are located atwww.NACEexpo.com,www.CARSevent.com, andwww.ASRWevents.com.

For more information on exhibit-ing at ASRW 2011, contact JeffRogers at [email protected] 972-536-6367.

• Perform spot-welding on theflange indicated by *2.

Note: Panel-bonding and weld-

bonding are not approved procedures. Definitions:

• Panel-bonding is a substitution of

any specified welds with adhesive ma-terial. • Weld-bonding is squeeze-type re-sistant spot-welding through adhesive.For more information on OE repair in-formation, please visit http://www.all-data.com/promo/abn8tt/

NOTE: This Repair/Service Pro-cedure is excerpted from a TechnicalService Bulletin published by the ve-hicle manufacturer, and is intended foruse by trained, professional techni-cians with the knowledge, tools andequipment to do the job properly andsafely. It is recommended that thisprocedure not be performed by “do-it-yourselfers.”



OOOnnee oofff SSSoouuttthhheerrnn CCCaallliiifffoorrnniiiaa’’ss LLLaarrggeessttt CCCoolllllliiissiiioonnnn PPPaarrttssss IInnnnvveennntttooorrriiieeesssOne of Southern California’s Largest Collision Parts Inventories



5

5

210

405

27118

101 170

ROSCOE BLVD.

GALPIN WHOLE

SALE

7868 Orion Ave. •

Van Nuys, CA 91406

5

210

170

N

• 50,000 parts in stock and ready to ship• We do bulk buying so we can pass the savings on to you• 16 professional parts associates ready to help you • 30 delivery trucks serving Simi Valley, Thousand Oaks, Santa Clarita Valley, the San Fernando Valley and surrounding areas • Ask about our volume discounts • We ship around the U.S. and the world • Online ordering through OEConnection — Call for details

SUBARU IMPREZA ‘11

2010 Hyundai® Genesis® Sedan Selected Upper Body Dimensions


Got Information?

2010 Toyota® Corolla® Selected Manufacturer Positions

by Ed Attanasio

Dr. Kenneth Zion is an auto body in-structor and the owner of AutomotiveCollision Consultants, a private acci-dent investigation company in LongBeach, as well as a third-generationbody tech and a consultant for variouscompanies worldwide. He specializesin detecting automotive fraud by con-

ducting automo-tive accidentinvestigations anduncovering thefacts by using awide range of evi-dence collection,analysis and care-fully documentingeach case in detailevery step of theway. It’s like thepopular TV showCSI, but withoutDavid Caruso. AndZion isn’t catching

murderers, but he is active in identify-ing people who are committing auto-motive repair fraud in a variety ofdiffering ways.

Dr. Zion was the featured speakerat the California Autobody Associa-tion (CAA) Santa Clara chapter’squarterly meeting at the Three Flamesrestaurant in San Jose, CA, in Octo-

ber. Even with a San Francisco Giantsplayoff game happening the samenight, a decent crowd of 60-plus CAAmembers, vendors and industry lead-ers were on hand to listen to a very in-formative talk by Dr. Zion.

Zion illustrated his investigation

techniques and processes by present-ing a series of slides, outlining ap-proximately a dozen of what hedescribed as “the most fascinating andmemorable” cases that he’s encoun-tered during his more than fourdecades in this role, he said. His ex-amples dealt with issues surroundingvehicles that were doctored in variousways. Some of the more sophisticatedfraudulent techniques that were com-mitted by individuals, car dealers andbody shops, probably wouldn’t havebeen detected, without Zion’s expert-ise on the job.

Automotive repair fraud is a hugeproblem and it isn’t going away any-time soon, Zion said. “More than $5billion is lost in auto body-relatedfraud every year. It’s an enormousproblem and a huge drain on the in-dustry, because in the end it results insub-par work and puts unsafe, im-properly repaired vehicles back on theroad, in many cases.”

The most common instances in-volve repairs that are listed in the es-timate, but then don’t occur, forobvious reasons, Zion said. Most bodyshops are honest and won’t risk theirbusinesses by committing fraud, butthere are still shady operators out therewho will try to save money and timeby cutting corners, Zion explained.

Zion discussed many of the most

common fraudulent practices he’s en-countered, including rigged airbags;using inferior parts or installing usedparts that are camouflaged to appearnew; falsely reported work and carowners who stage accidents, ques-tionable vandalism or thefts, just to

name a few.It’s not easy to uncover many of

the more sophisticated cases of fraud,but by using chemistry, physics, and

the latest technologies while tappinginto his extensive reservoir of knowl-edge and experience, Dr. Zion is ableto catch even the sneakiest cheatersout there, he stated.

“This was a very intriguing pres-entation and auto body fraud is some-thing we should know as much we canabout it,” CAA officer Steve Sturken,

owner of Sturken Auto Body in SanJose said. “If we can see these telltalesigns of fraud, we can deal with thembefore we run into larger problemsdown the road.”


Auto Body Fraud Investigator Dr. Kenneth Zion Speaks at CAA Santa Clara Chapter Meeting

www.bmcd.comwwww.bmcd.co

m

wwww

.

bmcd

.

c

om

• Great Inventory• Great Inventory and service and service• Great Inventory and service

• Very knowledgeable and• Very knowledgeable and efficient parts team efficient parts team• Very knowledgeable and efficient parts team

British Motor Car Distributors

www.bmcd.c

om

Parts Dept.415-776-7700800-752-2893

Monday - Friday 8:00AM to 5:00PMHours:

Kathy Mello, owner TGIF Collision, Fremont, Calif.; Gregory Buseman, sales and service represen-tative for WURTH USA; Gavin Lawrence, collision field sale representative for ALLDATA Collisionand Matt Patterson, owner of Airbag Service.com listened to an informative talk about investiga-tion fraud presented by Dr. Kenneth Zion

Accident Investiga-tor and ConsultantDr. Kenneth Zionspoke to membersand guests at theCAA Santa Clara

chapter’s fall meet-ing in San Jose in

October.

(l to r) Dean Blomquist, general manager for Pro Star Towing in Milpitas; Jason Piper, generalmanager of FCC Collision Center in Milpitas; Greg Folden, assistant manager at FCC and RichGundo, FCC parts manager were all on hand for the CAA Santa Clara chapter’s October meeting


Score a TouchdownScore a TouchdownWhen it comes to Ford Genuine Parts, go with a winning team.

Use Genuine Ford Parts for your customers late model Ford,Lincoln and Mercury vehicles.

You're always guaranteed thatthey will fit right the firsttime, every time.

Take it to the End Zone.

Call your local AuthorizedFord Wholesaler today!

with Genuine Ford Parts

Taurus 2011

SO. CALIFORNIA NO. CALIFORNIA

Airport MarinaFord

LOS ANGELES888-590-6622

310-306-2899 [email protected]

Antelope Valley FordLANCASTER

Wholesale Parts Dept.661-945-0881

661-945-3501 Faxwww.avford.com

[email protected]

Bob Wondries FordALHAMBRA

Wholesale Direct888-238-5415


Buerge FordWEST LOS ANGELES310-820-1431

310-826-0221 Fax

Citrus FordONTARIO

909-390-0948909-390-0982 Fax

[email protected]

Colley FordGLENDORA

Wholesale Parts877-441-3673

909-592-8577 FaxE-mail your [email protected]

Drew FordLA MESA

800-648-7431619-668-7765

619-668-7719 Faxwww.drewauto.com

Fairview FordLincoln MercurySAN BERNARDINOWholesale Direct909-386-0220

909-889-1741 Fax

Ford of MontebelloMONTEBELLOWholesale Direct888-566-5240


Future Fordof ClovisCLOVIS

800-350-2552559-294-0816 Fax

Fritts FordRIVERSIDE

951-343-7556951-687-3044 [email protected]

Galpin FordVAN NUYS

818-778-2005818-778-2090 Fax

Kearny PearsonFord

SAN DIEGO858-560-5033800-635-6669

858-560-9648 FaxLargest wholesaler in SanDiego with 17 delivery trucks.

Pacific FordLONG BEACH800-353-7224


Palm Springs MotorsCATHEDRAL CITY760-328-7149

760-328-5092 Fax

Super FordLincoln Mercury

(Formerly Puente Hills Ford)CITY OF INDUSTRY800-965-1055


Tuttle-Click FordLincoln Mercury

IRVINE949-472-5230

949-472-0327 Fax

Vista FordLincoln Mercury

OXNARDWholesale Direct805-983-4551

805-278-0554 Fax

WorthingtonFord

LONG BEACH800-622-4225562-421-4033


Harrold FordSACRAMENTO916-922-8355


Serramonte FordCOLMA

Wholesale Parts Dept. Phone:650-301-7190

Wholesale Parts Dept. Fax:650-301-7087

www.serramonteford.com

Sunnyvale FordLincoln Mercury

SUNNYVALE408-738-1530

408-738-3125 Faxwww.fordautodirect.com

The Ford Store ofSan LeandroSAN LEANDRO800-690-6906

510-347-4160 Fax

Walnut Creek FordWALNUT CREEK925-932-2901

925-937-7460 Fax

Ford CountryHENDERSON702-558-8100

702-566-7037 Faxwww.fordcountrylv.com

Friendly FordLAS VEGAS702-877-6546

702-870-6280 Fax

Gaudin FordLAS VEGAS702-796-2762

702-792-5370 Fax

Team FordLincoln Mercury

LAS VEGASWholesale Parts Dept.702-395-5144

702-395-5196 Faxwww.teamfordparts.com

Camelback FordLincoln Mercury

PHOENIX602-248-8396

602-240-5645 Fax

Earnhardt FordCHANDLER

480-763-6233480-783-4655 Faxwww.earnhardtford.com

Power FordNorth Scottsdale

SCOTTSDALE480-998-0652

Sanderson FordGLENDALE

800-367-3673623-842-8762

623-842-8799 Faxwww.sandersonparts.com

ARIZONA

NEVADA

NO. CALIFORNIA

ARIZONA

Make us your one-stop shop today!

These dealers are Genuine Ford Parts wholesale specialists.

ABN: How has the BAR changedmost significantly since you took theposition of Chief?

SM: I took the position four years agoand I think the organization haschanged a lot in a relatively shorttime. Establishing open communica-tion was the first step. I’ve been toevery industry associations and groupthroughout the state, many of themmore than once in my four years inthis job. I wanted to get out and makesure that I was hearing from the in-dustry what their issues were whattheir problems were so that I could goabout resolving those issues. Any timeyou take on a new job, you want to beable to hear from your constituents.And then we started having our regu-lar BAR Advisory meetings on a quar-terly basis. Any time we got out to doregulations we also have a series ofworkshops throughout the state, any-thing that’s going to implement the in-dustry, anything involving somethingwe need to do or mandate that theyhave to do something that imposes on

them, we try to get them in the loopearly on and making sure that we hearall of them concerns and address thoseas we go through the process.

I heard a lot of horror storiesabout the BAR, but when I had go outand told to these groups, I would findout that these things had occurredmany years ago. So, I was askingthem can somebody tell me somethingthat’s currently going on. I gaveeveryone my business card and toldthem, e-mail me, and call me if thereis ever a particular issue with the BARthat is impacting you in any way. Ifound that many people contacted meand we were able to rectify their situ-ation, in almost every case or workthrough it. I think the word got outthere after that, which was good. It allstarts with being very open, I believe. From an internal perspective, a lot ofthe management team had left when Icame on, so I had the opportunity toput in various experienced leadersfrom throughout the Department ofConsumer Affairs that I had workedwith over the years, and I actually re-

placed roughly 80% of the top man-agement. So that made a huge change,training and re-structuring the entiresystem BAR itself statewide. Wechanged how we interact with em-ployees; how we hired employees andmade huge impact in that area. So, Ithink there’s been a substantialamount of significant change with theBAR, much of it revolving around thechanges we made at the top.

ABN: “Midnight” Body Shops whoaren’t licensed and are operatingunder the radar still seem to exist inconsiderable numbers, according tobody shop owners I’ve talked to. Howhas the BAR dealt with shady shopsand how can they be controlled?

SM: Many people don’t realize thatwe don’t have citation and fine au-thority on the repair side. So, we haveto go to a District Attorney to get themto file criminal charges. So, that’s re-ally the only way that we can take ac-tion against them. We can go in andtake action against their license, but if

they’re unlicensed, then we’re unableto do anything. If we can’t convince aDA to take action, our hands are tiedin some cases. Recently, we’ve beenworking on citation and fine authorityin unlicensed activity and we’re prob-ably 2-3 months away from imple-menting that, which gives us theauthority to go in and actually cite un-licensed activity without having in-volved the DA’s office. The otherthing we’ve been doing is setting upstings through Craig’s list and throughthat we’ve been working with DA’sfor all types of auto repair stings, in-cluding auto body. And that’s beenvery successful. We make the phonecalls, set up the appointments, andusually do it in a public area, workingwith the DA in each region with thelocal police department, to make surethat we have people there to make ar-rests on the spot. And they show up,give us the estimate, and then we walkthem around to the back of the build-ing and they get to meet the sheriff orthe local police department. Whenpeople tell me unlicensed body shops


One of the largest wholesalers in California

FREE DELIVERY Monday thru Friday from our fleet of parts delivery trucks

Efficient and committed to excellence

Call our courteous wholesale specialists:Duane, Gabriel and Pedro Original BMW Parts

Our parts come equipped with their own experts.Pacific BMW

www.pacificbmw.com(818) 552-4747

Original Thought #89:

4648 San Fernando Rd., Glendale, CA 91204www.pacificbmw.com

Pacific BMW

818.552.4760818.246.8261 Fax

818.552.4760818.246.8261 Fax

818.552.4747818.552.4753818.552.4747818.552.4753

BAR Chief Sherry Mehl INTERVIEW by Ed Attanasio Cover Story

are still out there in operation, I tellthem we’re fully aware of that factand I’m hoping that once we get moreauthority, we’ll be able to get out thereand quickly cite those unlicensedshops. Hopefully that will have someimpact. Obviously, the economy isplaying a role and I think people aredesperate; there hasn’t been a widespread of authority for us to do a lotabout it. In some areas, this is a lowpriority for the DA, because they’redealing with things like murders andburglaries, for example, and these areindentified as being more importantthan unlicensed body shops. It’s hardto get their attention.

ABN: When you took the job, one ofyour main promises was that the BARwould be a kinder and gentler organi-zation. How has that been achieved?

SM: The first thing we did after get-ting out to the public and finding outwhat their issues were, was workingon making sure that everything we dois fair and equitable and that our poli-cies are consistent and that if we dohave bad employees—all those thingsin conjunction have contributed to us

proving that we’re an organizationthat cares and that we’re an organiza-tion that tries to help people and notjust being a punitive force in the in-dustry. One of the things I did was re-structure our operation by breaking itout into two sections, north and south.Previously, we handled the entire statethrough our Sacramento office. Plus,we combined our auto body and oursmog department, because before theywere in the same office before, butthey never talked to each other. So, wecombined those offices and basicallybroke down the previous system.Now, we now have a manager in thenorth and another manager in thesouth who manages both programs.Then, we broke it down even further,to the point where we now have a totalof eight regions throughout the stateand each under the direction of itsown manager. So now you have a con-sistent message being disseminatedfrom the top manager who overseesthese regions. This way, we’re closerto what it’s happening in the field andmore connected on the ground in theseregions. This way, the message does-n’t get diluted or misinterpreted. Is-sues in the field could now be

identifying them sooner than later, sothat we could deal with them proac-tively as a team. We wanted our man-agers to know that they’re never justout there by themselves and thatthey’re supported by a large team ofexperts who know what to do and howto do it.

ABN: Many people have suggestedthat the BAR should conduct industryrate surveys in order to guarantee ob-jective surveys that can be trusted byboth all parties involved. Is this plau-sible in your opinion?

SM: We have no authority to take sur-veys, so we obviously we can’t makeanyone respond to us. We had talkedto a couple of the associations to seehow we might be able to set up a vol-untary system, but we’re surely whatthe value of a voluntary survey wouldbe. We had agreed to do it, but thenwith all of the budgetary problems, wewere unable to do a contract to get itdone. Now the budget is signed, hope-fully things we’ll settle down and wecan hopefully re-visit the voluntarysurveys, because the offer is still onthe table to do the voluntary survey.

We just don’t know at this point whatthe value of it will be, but we’re will-ing to do it and find out. I’ve asked theassociations to help us in putting to-gether the survey and we’re looking atit closely. We’re also waiting untilafter the election, to see who the newInsurance Commissioner will be.We’ll be obviously meeting with who-ever gets the job and hopefully devel-oping an ongoing relationship, andwe’ll see what comes out of that.

ABN: The BAR’s Auto Body Inspec-tion program has gained a lot of expo-sure and I’ve received positive reportsabout it from people within the colli-sion industry. How did you change itand have you done more or less in-spections within the past year?

SM: It was a program that was in ex-istence when I came onboard, I askedbasically why it was eliminated andthey said there was no funding for it.So, we brought it back and it’s donewell. We kept it going and continued itand last year we did 196 inspectionsand so far we’ve done 176 this year.So, we anticipate breaking 200 in-spections by the end of 2010. It really


CHEVROLET1450 South Shamrock Ave.Monrovia, California 91016

• Exceptional Service• Full-time Experienced Wholesale Specialists• Ready to Serve You• Genuine OEM Tires

626-249-0032Parts Dept.:

Hours:Mon.-Fri. 7am - 6pm; Sat. 8am - 4pm

Fax: 626-932-5660www.sierraauto.com

[email protected]

SUBARU1450 South Shamrock Ave.Monrovia, California 91016

• Wide Delivery Area• Competitive Pricing• Ready to Serve You• Genuine OEM Tires

Fax: 626-932-5660


626-359-8291Parts Dept.:

[email protected]

HONDA1450 South Shamrock Ave.Monrovia, California 91016

• Open Saturdays• Serving all of San Gabriel Valley for over 30 Years• 5 Delivery Trucks• Genuine OEM Tires

Fax: 626-932-5660


800-320-9065 Parts Dept.:

[email protected]

MAZDA735 East Central Ave.

Monrovia, California 91016

• Extensive Inventory• Free Delivery• Dedicated Wholesale Parts Staff• Genuine OEM Tires

Fax: 626-932-5660


800-245-8509Parts Dept.:

[email protected]

provides consumers with a peace ofmind. We make it convenient for themand make it easy for them.

ABN: Of the complaints receivedevery year, how many of these are col-lision repair-related and how many ofthese are acted on?

SM: Last year, we received 1,645 autobody complaints and this year to-datewe’re at 1,596, so it runs very similaryear-to-year. 10% of these are autobody related. Last year, we filed 18accusations based on the complaintsreceived and this year we’ve acted on12 of these. As of the dozen we filedthis year, 10 were fraud and the aver-age amount in question was $5,000 ineach case, so these are substantialnumbers so we’re talking about verybad cases. But, in most cases thefender bender stuff and the differencein paint colors—those things are usu-ally easily fixed and they never makeit to the level where we need to act onthem. The cases that we go after arepretty severe violations.

ABN: In a recession, do you see morebody shops cutting corners to save and

capture more revenue?

SM: Our complaints aren’t going upand our auto body inspections havestayed primarily the same, so we don’tsee it. Some people are fixing theirown cars or foregoing the cosmetic re-pairs in this recession, but we’re notseeing more shoddy work or receivingmore complaints, so it’s hard to tell.People put repairs on hold duringtough economic times, I think, so thatwhen things get better, maybe therewill be a lot more work out there forbody shops.

ABN: One of the main goals statedin your 2008-2012 Strategic Planwas to unify and synergize youroverall approach organization-wide.Have you achieved this and, if so,how?

SM: Once we started on a path wherewe award good employees and takeaction against the bad ones, you startto attract more and more good em-ployees. We’re also seeing a group ofour senior employees who are now re-tiring, so we’re now working with theState Personnel Board to put our

exams online, so that now we haveopen exams online available 24/7.People can go online and take theexam and put be on the list. We nowmake our interviews very competi-tive, so that the best candidate has thebest chance at getting the job. We’vedone new job analysis for each of ourpositions; we advertise in newspapersand we’re going to recruitment/jobfairs; we’re reaching out to tradeschools; we’ve developed a widerange of assessment tools, so that wenow know what we’re looking forspecific skills to fill a position. We’remaking sure that it’s a fair system, sothat we’re hiring the best personavailable. We’ve hired 53 new em-ployees within the last year, and that’swith a hiring freeze, so we continueto find ways for getting the best andthe brightest to work for the BAR,and that was one of our main goals. Ithink it’s definitely been a success. Alot of people are looking for jobs inthis economy, due to businesses clos-ing or getting laid off, so there is ahuge pool out there of very qualifiedpeople looking for work and we’vebenefitted greatly by tapping into thatpool of talent. One of the best things

we’ve done is about two years ago westarted a program called EducationFirst. Every shop that gets a new li-cense gets a visit from BAR, we bringout the laws and regulations so thatthey understand them; our field repfrom their area comes down to theshop and introduces him or herself; toanswer any questions they may have;to spend time with them in their shop,and to get to know them on a personallevel, prior to any complaints thatmight take place. What we found inthe past, is that many shops got theirfirst visit from BAR based on a prob-lem or a complaint, and the first in-teraction was negative, so I wantedthe first contact to be positive. It’s allabout building a relationship, and ac-countability on our end, so that theshops know that they can call theirfield rep or their manager any time forany questions. In many cases, shopsmake mistakes, and I wanted to givepeople an opportunity to get the rightanswer. We’re striving for consis-tency straight across board, and is itperfect? No, but we’re continuing tomoving in the right direction, and thisEducation First program has been abig part of that and a huge success.


At their annual meeting the weekendof Nov. 20 in Austin, Texas, the Na-tional Conference of InsuranceLegislators (NCOIL) Property andCasualty Insurance Committee “in-definitely tabled” the Model Act Re-garding steering.

After a meeting to hear com-mentary on the proposed model, thecommittee made the decision to ef-fectively kill the measure that hadonly existed as a stand-alone bill sinceMarch of this year.

What began as a three-sentencesub section of the Crash PartsModel Act (still under considerationby the committee) evolved into aone page stand-alone document andsoon became a multiple page, con-tentious proposal that drew plentyof comments and criticism from in-surers, repairers and the auto glassindustry.

As originally introduced, thesteering proposal banned requiringuse of a facility or recommending it,except by consumer request.

After inviting interested partiesto submit proposals for amending themodel this summer, the committee re-ceived numerous suggestions.

The insurance groups AmericanInsurance Association (AIA), theNational Association of Mutual In-surance Companies (NAMIC) and

the Property Casualty Insurers ofAmerica (PCI) submitted a proposalto add a whole new section of the billcontaining a list of repair facility pro-hibitions, among them: repair facili-ties would be required to wait threedays after an accident before theywere allowed to solicit a vehicleowner and would be banned fromseeking a power of attorney from avehicle owner for the repair of the ve-hicle.

Another suggestion came fromthe California Autobody Associa-tion (CAA) which proposed that in-surers be required to disclose tovehicle owners that the insurer re-ceives discounts and other financialconcessions from its preferred repairfacilities as a condition of becominga preferred facility, unless no suchagreement exists.

The Society of Collision RepairSpecialists (SCRS) has vocally ob-jected to the Crash Parts model, bothduring in earlier debates held duringthe previous decade, and since it wasreintroduced to the committee in2008.

SCRS’ overarching objections tothe model have remained unaddressedby legislators through the last severalhearings, and include, but are not lim-ited to concerns that:

NCOIL Tables Model Steering Act, for Now

Parts Department:Mon.-Fri. 7:30am-5:30pm / Sat. 8am-4:30pm

• Large Inventory• Exceptional Service

• Genuine Mazda Parts• Wide Delivery Area

At Perry Mazda, We Make It Easy So You Can Save TIME AND MONEY!

At Perry Mazda, We Make It Easy So You Can Save TIME AND MONEY!

[email protected]

800-227-5132805-456-3409 Parts Fax805-682-9203 Parts Direct

www.perrymazda.com440 Hitchcock Way, Santa Barbara, CA 93105

www.pe

rrymazda.com

Parts Department:Mon. - Fri. 7:30am - 5:30pm / Sat. 8am - 4:30pm

• Competitive Pricing• Quality Staff

• Fast Delivery• Ready To Serve You

[email protected]

805-682-2411805-456-3409 Parts Fax805-682-9203 Parts Direct

www.perryford.com

440 Hitchcock Way, Santa Barbara, CA 93105

Com

petitive Pricing

• Qua

lity Staff

See NCOIL Model Act, Page 47

Toby Chess is again asking for the sup-port of collision repairers to contributeto a toy drive to benefit the families ofmarines at Camp Pendelton. It’s not thefirst time he’s done it.

Back in December 2007, a groupof California collision repairers led byToby completed their mission to bringa happy and toy-filled Christmas to thefamilies of Marines deployed overseas.Chess and a group of fellow collisionrepairers raised approximately $8,000to supply Marine families with over600 toys and 32 bikes at Camp Pendle-ton in Oceanside, CA. Autobody Newswas there to document the event and itwas a heartwarming success.

Recognizing that the Marineshave given generously of their time toToys for Tots for civilian children, buthaven’t received in kind, the CollisionRepairers mobilized their own troops.

Chess and his colleagues droppedoff the toys and were greeted by sev-eral dozen troops who helped unloadthe gifts. In return they received a cer-tificate and heartfelt thanks for theircontributions.

“[In 2007], I got a call about two

weeks before Thanksgiving asking ifthey could rely on us to bring toys fortheir families, as we had in 2006, itonly took a couple of seconds for me

to decide that I wanted to help outagain,” explained Chess. “I knew Iconvince friends and colleagues to getinvolved. Approximately 30 collisionrepairers from the west coast volun-

teered their time and resources in thiseffort. Sgt. Major Larock Benford toldAutobody News: “I can’t believe thequality of toys (especially the bikes)

my Marines and Sailors received fromthe California Collision Repairers.Thank you for doing your part in mak-ing this a more enjoyable X-Mas sea-son for these kids.” See photo caption.

ABN: Another of your stated goalswas to embrace the technologiesavailable you to be more effective,including updating your Web siteand using the Internet/Intranet tomore effectively communicate anddisseminate relevant informationmore quickly. How has this workedout?

SM: We’re now making all of thenewest technology available to ourpeople in the field, so that we canmake their lives easier and make themmore effective. Implementing video-conferencing here in our headquarterswas a big step, so that we could meetwith all of our managers in the vari-ous regions. This way, they were hear-ing things from us first-hand, todiscuss issues in the field and get theinformation they need quickly. I thinkit really brought the span of controldown to a more manageable levelthan from before. Now, we also havetheir Blackberries connected to ourlaptops, so that they can stay on theroad and get more done. All of ourdocuments are available to them onour Intranet, so that all of our corre-spondence is consistent as well.


Car Bench systems start at less than $25,000

See Car Bench at NACE and SEMA

Celette universal conversions less than

$800/month

The NEW Muraena PM system

Car Bench ®

The most versatile and cost effective bench system

Car Bench Universal System eliminates obsolescence, fixture rental, freight,down time and increases productivityRepair multi-strength uni-body and conventional vehiclesAligns with drive train in or out to +/- 1MM accuracy without a separatemeasuring systemMore OEM approvals than any other bench system

CAR BENCH®

AMERICA

888-300-0290 www.AESJOE.com

California Repairers’ Donations Needed to Give Back to Marines

On December 17, 2007, Toby Chess and fellow collision repairers completed their mission to bringa happy and toy-filled Christmas to the families of Marines deployed overseas. They raised ap-proximately $8,000 to supply Marine families with over 600 toys and 32 bikes at Camp Pendletonin Oceanside, CA. To contribute, contact Toby at 310-995-7909, or [email protected].

by Stefan Gesterkamp

I am not sure how many AutobodyNews readers attend SEMA on a reg-ular bases. This year was noteworthyto me for several reasons.

First of all, attendance was verystrong from day one. Looking back intime, I can’t remember seeing crowdslike this on opening day. This is par-ticularly true when the opening dayfalls on a Tuesday. I don’t have the of-ficial attendance number for the show,but it was clearly a jump up from pre-vious years. The strong attendancewas coupled with a noticeable upbeatmood by all, visitors and exhibitorsalike. It was a joy walking the hallsand seeing people in our industrymaking an effort and clearly decidingthat they will no longer be depressedby our economy. I hope this attitude iscontagious!

While walking the show floor,you couldn’t help but notice improve-ments in vendor’s displays. There washigh-quality eye candy everywhereyou looked. Companies from all as-pects of our industry came to play andshowcase what they have to offer andwhat they are all about. There were in-credible displays of custom cars andmotorcycles, new tools, and productsthat made this a worthwhile trip.

The size of the auto body sectorat the show has improved from previ-ous years as well. Many new productswere unveiled at SEMA, demonstrat-ing a strong commitment by manufac-turers and vendors to be part of thisshow. Although I personally missedNACE this year, I would venture toguess that the vast majority of the col-lision repair industry sector that at-tended NACE was also represented atthis show.

SEMA has always been some-what of a trend setter, and to me it’s agauge for where we are heading.

One of the big eye openers for methis year was the drifting community.This segment of the custom markethas dramatically grown in size overthe last two years and is well on itsway to become one of the prime fo-cuses in the custom segment of theshow. What the “Hot Rod” representsfor most of us old geezers, 40+ carnuts, is being replaced by the driftinginspired cars with the younger gener-ation. This is an important trend foranybody in our industry to recognize.It doesn’t matter if you are currently

doing work in the custom segment ornot, this new trend is opening doorsfor new revenue and work flowinginto your shop. You may not be well

prepared for a ground-up build of ahigh-end roadster, eating up hundredsof hours, or ready to chop the top onan old Mercury in your shop. But

when it comes to modifying and paint-ing body kits, installing vinyl graph-ics, smoking tail lights and modifyingmuffler systems and other mechanicalwork, collision shops are actually wellsuited to pick up additional business.The products and the tools used inthis segment of the market are mostlikely already in your collision busi-ness. This is not always the casewhen it comes to building a Hot Rod,or restoring vehicles to concourselevels.

The good news is that young peo-ple continue to invest large amountsof money in their vehicles and thiscould be an added revenue stream forsome shops that have extra capacity


OF DOWNTOWN LA Best Delivery Service (Twice Daily) to LA County <$500,000 Genuine Parts Inventory <

6,000 Numbers in Stock <

Service Hours:8:00am - 6:30pm

MARLON L.Parts Manager

1900 S. Figueroa Street

Los Angeles, CA 90007

www.porschedowntownla.com

Tel 213.748.4624Fax 213.222.1278

$500

,000 Genuine Parts Inventory

> Best Delivery Service (Twice Daily) to LA County> $750,000 Genuine Audi Parts Inventory> 8,000 + Parts in Stock


FAUSTO G.Parts Manager

Audi of Downtown LA1900 S. Figueroa Street


www.audidowntownla.com

Tel 213.747.7248Fax 213.222.1261

$750,000 Genuine Audi Part

s Inventory

> Best Delivery Service (Twice Daily) to LA County> $750,000 Genuine VW Parts Inventory> 8,000 Numbers in Stock


CARLOS L.Parts Manager

1900 S. Figueroa Street


www.vwdowntownla.com

Tel 213.747.7246 • 213.747.7247Fax 213.222.1272

$750,000 Genuine VW Parts Inv

entory

GENUINEPORSCHE PARTS

GENUINEAUDI PARTS

GENUINEVOLKSWAGEN PARTS

SEMA 2010, A Glimpse of Hope and New Revenue Opportunities

The BASF Display at SEMA 2010

at next year’s ASA Vision show.

ABN: I know a lot of social media sites

have had issues generating much in-come from usage, how has CollisionHub done and how do you pay the bills?

KF: Collision Hub runs on a spon-sorship model. I went to companies Ihad existing relationships with frommy insurance background when Ifirst had this idea and asked them ifthey would like to participate.

Those companies make yearlydonations to Collision Hub and inturn Collision Hub does advertisingand product videos on our site forthem. I picked products I believe infor these positions. It meant a lot thatthese companies had faith in my ideaso early on, it was a big vote of con-fidence. Our founding sponsors were3M, PPG and Enterprise and we re-cently landed Chief as a sponsor justbefore the SEMA show.

ABN: What is your sense of the valueof social media for collision repairers?KF: People don’t want to choose aproduct anymore that they don’t havea connection to. Social media allowscustomers to have more of this con-nection easily. Social media allows abusiness to be there before, during,and after the customer’s need is met. Ireally think social media is the bestbusiness and marketing tool we’veever had. If you’re not on social medianow, get there and get there now.

Thanks, Kristen. Sign up forfree at www.collisonhub.com.



Kristen Felder

Crevier BMW

www.crevierbmw.com(714) 835-2025

Mon - Fri: 7:00 am - 7:00 pm Sat: 7:00 am - 6:00 pm Sun: 10:00 am - 6:00 pmParts Hours:

Original BMW Parts

1500 Auto Mall Drive, Santa Ana, CA 92705www.crevierbmw.com

(800) 945.1618 Wholesale Direct(800) 945.1618 Wholesale Direct(714) 835.4359 Wholesale Direct Fax(714) 835.4359 Wholesale Direct Fax

CREVIER BMW

The most awarded BMW dealership in the United States is here to help you with all your Original BMW Parts.

Experienced, Knowledgeable and Friendly Staff

5 Delivery Vehicles

$3,000,000 Parts Inventory means great parts availability and quicker vehicle turn rate for you

Serving All of Orange County & Beyond

Kevin: [email protected]: [email protected]

— 2008 winner of BMW’s “Center of Excellence”.

Our parts. Your peace of mind

BMW Z4 ‘[email protected] us!write us!www.autobodynews.com

CHECK IT OUT!


CALL 800-699-8251



[email protected]

800-699-8251




800-699-8251









[email protected]


write us!write us!





not utilized by collision repair today.I know that many collision repair

shops don’t see enough potential inthe custom sector and feel it is a veryspecialized small niche market. Onceyou get to see SEMA with what Iguesstimated was 130,000 attendees,you may think twice.

Yes there are only a couple ofweeks between NACE and SEMA andI am the first one to admit that manyof us can’t financially, time, or other-wise afford to visit both show in oneyear. But if you have never been toSEMA, you should make it a point.Not only can you brush up on the lat-

est and greatest in the collision indus-try, you can also reignite your excite-

ment and passion for all the fun stuffthat likely got you into the industry in

the first place. I even met a person thisyear that had SEMA on his ‘bucketlist’—as in things you have to do be-fore you kick the bucket.

SEMA is a very internationalshow. You will meet people attend-ing the show from all over the world.It is a great place to network andmeet old friends. I have been toldthat this is the largest show of itskind in the world. Prepare for at leastthree days if you would like to seemost of it, four days for all of it.Don’t forget to wear your most com-fortable shoes.The venue is huge.You’re going to need them.

Chip Foose Greets Fans at the BASF booth


by David Brown

Kristen Felder believes that membersof the collision repair industry shouldmeet and meet often — and not by ac-cident.

Her Web site, www.collision-hub.com, is a network for those in thecollision repair and related industriesto share information, talk shop, dis-cuss issues and get to know eachother. Benton, Arkansa-based Colli-sionHub.com encourages technicians,shop owners, suppliers, insurancecompanies, auto glass installers, tow-ing companies and rental car agenciesto log on and join in.

“After looking at groups in Face-book and LinkedIn, I determined weneeded our own safe space with somecontent controls,” says Felder, whonotes being “born” into the collisionrepair through her dad, Ted, whobegan working in the business in 1965after leaving the Air Force. He openedhis first shop in 1970 with a businesspartner and retired in 1997.

She began Collision Hub quietlyin May 2009 and then officially atNACE 2010 as a social networkingsite for professionals within the in-dustry, she explains. “It was a way tobring a successful open model offriendship and communication to lifeand make it accessible to our industryas a whole,” she says.

Two years earlier, at NACE 2008,she and a group of collision industryprofessionals had discussed commu-nication among themselves—espe-cially as they represented differentsegments of the industry.

“We came to the conclusion thatour friendships were at the core of thisability to communicate openly andhonestly and wondered how we coulduse this social model to bring that

level of open communication to ourindustry as a whole,” recalls Felder,who earned a public relations degreefrom Arkansas State University, in-terning for State Farm Insurance.After graduation, she worked for StateFarm as a claims representative, thenmoved to Nationwide. In November2009, she began running CollisionHub full time.

“I like to tell people that I spent 20years in collision repair and 14 years ininsurance,” she adds. “It is that experi-ence on both sides of the fence that re-ally drives Collision Hub. I see and feelboth sides of our industry’s issues.”

Felder realized that four or fiveannual industry events wouldn’t ac-complish connectedness. After NACE2008, she returned home, thought andresearched. She saw a study on Gen Xand Next Gen which discussed the im-portance of social connections on sitessuch as Facebook and MySpace andhow those relationships will revolu-tionize business.

“The participants interviewed forthe study stated theyhad stronger connec-tions with their ‘vir-tual’ friends throughsocial networkingthen their ‘real’friends,” she says.“Could we forge

strong bonds and notbe at a social cocktailreception duringsome industry event?Could we forgestronger bonds ‘virtu-ally’ so that our facetime was more pro-

ductive and respectful?” Because Col-lision Hub is a social media businesssite—and not news based— Feldersays that this establishes neutralground for insurers, vendors and re-pairers to participate freely. “We focuson the positive and what should be cel-ebrated in our industry,” she says. “Wemonitor and control the site to ensureinteractions are professional and re-spectful.”

As a result, the site focuses onother aspects of the industry to discussand develop content such as TheWomen’s Project, Girl Scout NACEDay and Future Leaders. “We wantCollision Hub to be a fun place to con-nect, learn and grow,” Felder says.That makes us different and refresh-ing in the industry.”

The site also facilitates connec-tions according to specific interests,she says. The Collision Hub platformis based on topical communities suchas pets, diet and health, women, shopowners and marketing, allowing usersto find niche groups and build rela-tionships within them. In addition, theCollision Hub has broadcast NABC,

I-CAR, CIECA events and will fea-ture live upcoming shows fromNACE and SEMA. Kristen: “We un-derstand the power and importance ofvideo and using the Internet to bringthe industry to everyone that cannottravel to industry events.”

She notes, too, that the site’s spon-sor support allows content to be mem-ber driven, providing photos, blogsand discussions. Sponsorship packagesare annual or for specific events suchas NACE/SEMA, she explains. Lim-ited spots can be purchased such as fora featured product, job postings andhot links. “Collision Hub is whateverthe industry wants it to be or needs it tobe at any given moment,” she says.

Still, some analysts cautionagainst an overemphasis on social net-working, urging caution about socialnetworking hazards such as phishing,identity theft, reputation damage, de-creased employee effectiveness andother cyberdangers.

“Social networking and collabo-rative Web sites can offer their users agreat wealth of resources at their fin-gertips. However, they do have theirplace and should not come withoutlimits,” says Mike Carson, a formerbodyman, insurance appraiser, andowner of Joliet, Ill.-based IntegratedTechnology and Design, an Internettechnology company.

“Collision shop owners need to beaware that these Web sites can offervaluable industry-related information

but can also waste employee re-sources,” he explains. So, too: “Anemployee may say something damag-ing on these Web sites and discussionboards without even realizing that heor she has done harm to your com-pany.”

Many collision repair industrymembers, however, are using Colli-

sion Hub regularly—and lauding it.“Collision Hub isgreat way for the in-dustry to come to-gether via theInternet,” says GigiWalker, president ofthe California Auto-body Association.“It’s an open formatfor everyone relatedto the industry to talkshop: estimator to ap-praiser, shop owner toshop owner.”

Dave Henderson, CEO ofBrighton Mich.-based AutoWatch, hasbeen involved with Collison Hub al-most since start-up — posting items, re-ceiving feedback and connecting withcustomers and potential customers.

“I have found it a great media toget the AutoWatch name in front ofmany in the industry,” he says. “I alsolike that I can look up others in the in-dustry and keep up on what is goingon. This is for sure going to be an iconin the industry and a good forum tothe global market.”

Alex Hahn, lead estimator/bodyshop manager for Fairfield, Calif.-based Fairfield Auto Body, agrees:“Collision Hub is a first of a kindplace for the whole auto body indus-try, from preppers all the way up tocorporate CEOs. It’s a communitysoap box where anyone can reach outto another or ask for specific help inany aspect of the business.”

He recently used it to learn moreabout establishing a DRP, ensuring theaccuracy of estimates, and finding an-swers to technical questions that oth-ers at the shop couldn’t answer.“Searching for autobody resourceswas almost impossible. In the infor-mation age, I was astonished that therewas not a central site,” he recalls.

“It took many weeks of searchesbut finally I stumbled across CH in itsinfancy and was instantly addicted. Iposted questions and got answers—most times within minutes.”

Collision Hub Implements its Social Media Strategy

Kristen interviews Dan Bailey from CARSTAR at NACE 2010

Kristen Felder interviews (l to r) I-CAR’s Jeff Peevy with SCRS’Barry Dorn and Aaron Schulenburg at SEMA 2010


Kristen Felder, founder and CEO ofCollision Hub, and Jordan Hendler,with Admin Concepts, taught the So-

cial Media 101session on Thurs-day, November 4at the SEMA showas part of SCRS’Repairer DrivenEducation. Bothsocial media gurusexpressed that so-

cial media has become a necessity forbody shops.

Felder began the session by talk-ing about the pervasiveness of socialmedia in business these days.

“Your customers and competitionare both using social media,” saidFelder. Facebook, youtube and Twit-ter are the three sites that she sees asbeing really necessary for body shopsat this point.

“We want you to be there whenthey come looking for you,” saidHendler, suggesting that bodyshops’ online presence and the so-cial presence in their physical wait-ing rooms should be connected.Their online presence should re-flect their store presence and viceversa.

Both speakers told attendees dur-ing the session that they should focuson customer loyalty, repeat businessand referrals when it comes to offersand posts they put on their socialmedia pages.

“People do not care about colli-sion until they have one,” saidHendler.

One tip Hendler offered was forbody shops to have a presence andshare news that’s relevant.

“Make it interesting, just startwith having a presence,” said Hendler,

“If they get it [information] fromyou, they will feel like you care.”

Felder explained that socialmedia is really a portal; a two-way in-teraction between body shop and thecustomer, unlike a regular websitewhere the information is dispersedone way, from body shop to the cus-tomer. This gives customers a way tointeract with a business outside of thephysical location.

“If you’re going to do your own[social media pages], it’s about a 20minute per day commitment from youor someone in your office,” saidFelder.

When it comes to content, Felderand Hendler both told shops to focuson local issues, causes and events.

“Don’t let irrelevant stuff get onyour page,” said Hendler.

Felder told shops to try to focuson creating a local network by posting

on other local pages and posting aboutthings your specific community caresabout.

“Social Media isn’t just aboutyour presence, it’s about your com-munity involvement,” said Felder.

At the end of the session the pairlaid out some do’s and don’t’s forbody shops using social media.

DON’T: Use closed statements,put up strictly ads or engage in politi-cal or religious debates.

DO: Listen to posts on your page(accept the negative comments anddon’t just delete them), engage in con-versations, not just campaigns andmeasure your success through follow-ers and comments.

“Everyone is a potential customer... but on social media you don’t needto treat them like one,” said Felder.

For more information visit colli-sionhub.com or admin-concepts.net.

Social Media 101: Why Social Media Matters in Collision Repair

Jordan Hendler

Recently a shop owner in my areaconverted a 12-by-14 foot space in hisshop into a conference room to hostmeetings for insurance managers andagents, dealership principals, andother group sources of business. Healso put in a computerized projectionsystem and screen. The cost of creat-ing this space wasn’t cheap. Was it re-ally worth it?

Like most of you, he found thattrying to call on these people gener-ally resulted in very little if any facetime. He finally decided if going tothem didn’t work, he would try bring-ing them to him. The last time I spoketo him it was beginning to work verywell. He had hosted an insurancemanager and agent meeting and hadan excellent turnout. Plus he saw someimmediate increase in business fromthat insurance company. He was al-ready planning another insurancegroup meeting and possibly a dealer-ship group as well.

This shop owner already had sev-eral major insurance DRPs. Was it re-ally necessary to go to this expense? I’venoticed many shop owners who, oncethey finally get a DRP they’ve beenseeking, sit back and wait for the jobs tocome flowing in. It makes me think of a

friend who told me about his first mar-riage when he was a young guy. He saidafter the honeymoon he and his newbride settled into their new apartment.Both sat down and breathed a sigh of re-lief, as much as to say, “Now I’ve gother (or him). I can relax now, and stopputting on the big act.” You can imag-ine how long that marriage lasted.

If “interest” could be described asa commodity, it would be one of themost sought after commodities in theworld. A young woman seeking a hus-band wonders, “Is he interested inme?” He wonders, “Is she interestedin me?” The shopkeeper hopes theyoung woman will be interested in theclothing he sells. The film producerhopes the public will be interested inhis film. And a collision shop ownerhopes he or she will be able to interestvehicle owners who have accidents incoming to his or her shop.

The amount of attention given tosomething is generally proportionateto the degree of interest in it. It’s easyto study “interest” in a baby. The babysees something bright and shiny andis CURIOUS. The object has capturedthe baby’s INTEREST. But now wecan see the complete “interest spec-trum.” Next the baby DESIRES to

touch, play with, or eat the object. Ifno one responds to the baby’s interestby giving her the object to touch, playwith, or eat, she may DEMAND it bycrying, screaming, or otherwise tryingto get her desire fulfilled. Assumingthe child is given the (inedible) objectto play with, eventually the child willLOSE INTEREST and REJECT(throw on the floor) the object.

We now have a complete “interestto no-interest” attention spectrum, be-ginning with CURIOSITY, INTER-EST, DESIRE, DEMAND, LOSTINTEREST, and ending with REJEC-TION. The duration of the spectrummay be only a few minutes with thebaby, or many years from the time agirl is interested in a guy, marries him,has children, cohabits for years, losesinterest and finally rejects (divorces)him. The same sequence may occurwhen a shop has entered into a DRParrangement with an insurance com-pany or a contractual agreement with adealership. The sequence will usuallymove from curiosity, interest, and de-sire to the satisfaction of demand. Ofcourse not every set of circumstancesthat begins with curiosity and interesteventually declines to “no interest” and“rejection.” But in a society obsessed

with entertainment, excitement andcelebrity, the full spectrum is experi-enced by many people in a wide varietyof situations from school to jobs to re-lationships, whether personal or busi-ness. When interest and attention aregone, a decline begins.

Once a shop has entered into aDRP arrangement with an insurancecompany or a contractual agreementwith a dealership, after the sequencehas moved from curiosity, interest,and desire to satisfaction of demand,to keep the relationship continuingwithout declining to no interest andrejection periodically at least one ofthe parties must take the initiative tore-fire the curiosity and interest. Andso we come to the question of whetherthe shop owner who invested in con-ference space and presentation equip-ment made a good investment.Certainly there can be other ways tostimulate interesting interactions withDRP coordinators, dealership princi-pals and other referral sources, but thisseems to be a particularly attractive re-source from the viewpoint of those in-vited to use the space (and be fed -- heprovided the food for the meeting hehosted). I’m inclined to think it was agood investment.

Promotion Up Close and Personal

Custom Cornerwith Rich Evans

On Creative Marketingwith Thomas Franklin

Action Countswith Lee Amaradio Jr.

with Sheila LoftusYour Turn

Opinions Countwith Dick Strom

Shop Showcasewith Janet Chaney

Industry Overviewwith Janet Chaney

Industry Interviewwith Janet Chaney


Tom Franklin has been a sales and marketing consultant for forty-five years. He haswritten numerous books and provides marketing solutions and services for many busi-nesses. He can be reached at (323) 871-6862 or at [email protected]. See Tom’s columns at www.autobodynews.com under Columnists > Franklin


by Joe Overby,Auto Remarketing Staff

General Motors enjoyed the most sub-stantial initial public offering thecountry has seen this year, generatingat least $16 billion in its much antici-pated IPO that launched the morningof Nov. 18.

GM chief executive officer DanAkerson rang the opening bell of theNYSE, which, in this case, was ac-companied by the sound of a 2011Chevrolet Camaro SS engine revvingand tires squealing.

GM stock began selling, andeventually the IPO would reach one ofone the highest levels in history.

“General Motors returns to theNYSE as a company with a greatglobal brand and heritage, and a re-newed focus on innovation, qualityand the customer,” stated DuncanNiederauer, CEO of NYSE Euronext.

“We welcome GM to the NYSE,and we are committed to providing thehighest levels of market quality andservice to the company’s leadershipteam, employees and shareholders.”

The IPO began selling on theToronto Stock Exchange on Nov. 18,as well.

GM had priced the 478 millionshares of common stock it issued at$33 per share. There were also 87 mil-

lion shares of mandatory convertiblejunior preferred stock that totaled$4.35 billion.

GM had estimated the offering tobe $20.1 billion, and if underwriterspick up their option, a total of $23.1billion.

Shortly after the market openedThursday, Akerson and GM vicechairman and chief financial officerChris Liddell had a teleconference todiscuss the IPO.

Liddell said the company hadbeen speaking with several investorsin the last few weeks and had reallyhoned in on three key points.

For starters, the CFO stressed toinvestors that GM’s profile was verylow risk , regarding both cost and bal-ance sheet.

Second, he said: “We believewe’ve got tremendous growthprospects both in mature markets,such as here in North America, butalso in emerging markets, like Braziland China.

“And third, and probably mostimportantly, we believe in the conceptthat we have talked about a lot, whichis designing, building and selling theworld’s best vehicles,” Liddell added.

Retail, Mutual Fund DemandWhile he was not able to name anyspecific mutual funds that bought in,Liddell said during the call that “therewas a huge amount of interest both onthe retail side and the mutual funds.

“And we saw, essentially, all ofthe largest mutual funds over the lastcouple of weeks and I know—at leastI think I know—that virtually all ofthem put orders in and I hope they cer-tainly got an allocation,” he added.

As far as the retail side, GM saw

“a very strong retail demand and wewere, through the underwriters, verykeen to see as much retail participa-tion as we could,” he added.

Government InvolvementU.S. government’s share will decrease“not quite by half,” Akerson said. Look-ing at it on a basic basis, the govern-ment’s ownership would drop from justover 60% to 33%, Liddell explained.

Looking at it on a fully dilutedbasis and accounting for things likeoptions, the government’s share fallsto the 26% to 27% range, Liddellpointed out.

When asked the potential impactthe reduction in the government’sownership with have on the au-tomaker’s image, Akerson said thatconsidering the “excitement through-out the United States and Canada,”GM having repaid its federal govern-ment debt with interest and all the pre-ferred shares to the U.S. governmentand the fact that the government’sownership has been reduced, the pub-lic reaction would likely be positive.

“I would say that the average tax-payer in the United States would look atthis particular transaction as very, verypositive and we’re seeing that,” Akersonshared in the conference call Nov. 18.

“There’s no question Ford took adifferent path. We arrived at about thesame location. We’re both viable,strong competitors with a level play-ing field,” he continued. “And at thisstage of the game, the best car wins.

“We’re going to have to continueto prove ourselves. At the end of theday, the quality of the product, the de-sign of the product will rule in themarketplace. And that’s where we in-tend to participate,” Akerson added.

Possible Debt Offering AheadWhen asked if GM would considerdebt offering, Liddell said: “Over theshort term, we may look to do a smalldebt offering simply to establish acredit benchmark. But that will bemodest, at most … it will be in thecontext of just providing some moreliquidity and moving toward, eventu-ally, the concept of repaying all ourdebt.

“So, we may take some actions overthe next year, but there’s nothing of anysignificance from a debt point of viewthat you’re going to see,” he added.

ReactionSharing her perspective, Speaker ofthe House Nancy Pelosi released astatement Nov. 18 that lauded theIPO, calling it a “sign of progress.”

“General Motors’ initial publicoffering is a sign of progress forAmerica’s auto industry, for our na-tion’s workers, for our manufacturersand our long-term prosperity. In themidst of a severe recession, Congres-sional Democrats and PresidentObama took difficult emergency ac-tion to rescue American auto compa-nies and strengthen critical pillars ofour manufacturing sector, while pro-tecting taxpayers,” the statement said.

“Today we have more evidencethat those actions are paying off, andthe American people are one stepcloser to being made whole,” Pelosicontinued.

“Preserving, bolstering and ex-panding our manufacturing base iscentral to our economic growth, ournational security and our competitive-ness on the global stage, and key to es-tablishing America’s manufacturers ascenters of innovation.”

General Motors IPO, One of Two Largest in History, Generates $16–23 Billion

GM Revving up at the Opening Bell of NYSE

AutoTrader.com to Purchase Kelley Blue BookAutoTrader.com, the Internet’s ulti-mate automotive marketplace and con-sumer information web site, announcesthat it has signed a definitive agree-ment to acquire Kelley Blue Book(www.kbb.com), one of the most rec-ognized and influential brands in theautomotive industry.

As part of the deal, Auto-Trader.com will also acquire KelleyBlue Book’s sister companies CDM-data and CDM Dealer Services.

Details of the transaction are notbeing disclosed. Kelley Blue Book willoperate as a subsidiary of Auto-Trader.com and continue to be head-quartered in Irvine, CA.

The deal is expected to close bythe end of the year. J.P. Morganacted as Kelley Blue Book’s exclu-sive financial advisor through thisprocess. Goldman, Sachs & Co.acted as financial advisor to Auto-Trader.com.

“AutoTrader.com is excitedabout becoming the new owner ofKelley Blue Book because we be-lieve the company has a great fu-ture,” said AutoTrader.com Presidentand CEO, Chip Perry. “Kelley BlueBook has a wonderful history as aniconic brand and trusted provider ofvehicle information to generations ofcar buyers and sellers, and as we

look into the future we believe to-gether we can bring a host of newtechnologies and tools to market thatwill significantly improve the carshopping process for consumers, andhelp auto dealers and manufacturersbetter capitalize on the fundamentalefficiency advantages of the Inter-net.”

“The future that lies before us isfull of potential,” said Kelley BlueBook President and CEO Paul John-son. “Becoming part of the Auto-Trader.com family of companies willhelp us accelerate our growth in the ve-hicle valuation and consumer car shop-ping spaces.”

AutoTrader.com strongly believesin maintaining Kelley Blue Book’s in-dependent and unbiased position in themarketplace. Furthermore, Auto-Trader.com is committed to maintain-ing and strengthening Kelley BlueBook’s role as The Trusted Resource®for vehicle valuation and other impor-tant industry information among con-sumers, dealers, manufacturers,financial and governmental institu-tions.

Paul Johnson and the rest of Kel-ley Blue Book’s leadership team willremain in place and continue to en-hance the company’s brand in collabo-ration with AutoTrader.com.


Electric Vehicles to Sell About1.4 M Units in Asia by 2015Pike Research anticipates that Chinawill be the largest Asia Pacific marketfor PEVs over the next five years, rep-resenting 53% of the region's totalsales during that period. The vast ma-jority of China's PEV fleet will be bat-tery electric vehicles (BEVs), drivenby a strong push behind this categoryby the central government. Plug-in hy-brid electric vehicles (PHEVs) will bethe largest category in Japan, which isexpected to be the region’s second-largest market for all PEVs.

a. The model does not place greater re-sponsibility on the part manufactur-ers/distributors to improve overallquality, or limit the market to only re-ceiving high quality parts, but insteadshifts the burden onto the repair facil-ity that is repairing the vehicle and in-creases their liability in the processunduly.b. Parts are sold interstate and this

model has the potential to be adoptedor ignored on a state-by-state basis,thus negating its effectiveness even instates which pass the model. Partsregulation needs to be a federal initia-tive.c. Establishing equivalence betweentwo different types of parts simply dueto a certification insinuates that part ofthe certification process is to be equiv-alent in EVERY way, versus meetingcertain established criteria by the cer-tifying body. There is a tremendousdifference between acceptable partsand equivalent parts.

d. There is no requirement for testingof the parts outlined in the model, notany mention of traceability, and mostimportantly there is seemingly no re-sponsibility resting with the insurershould they choose to involve them-selves in repair decision such as partselection.

The latest version of the Model,including suggested amendments fromall interested parties is available fromthe NCOIL website.

See http://www.ncoil.org/ forcommittee meetings, laws and resolu-tions.

ployment to it ‘will’ change the airbagdeployment,” Massie said.

Massie showed video of the test-ing, which found that a Mustang withthe non-OEM reinforcement beam,energy absorber and isolator sustained$2,982 in damage in a 5-mph crash asopposed to $1,224 in damage to thesame vehicle when equipped withFord service parts. Massie said therewas only about $400 difference in theestimated repair costs in an 8-mphcrash, unless the reduced energy ab-sorption of the non-OEM parts re-sulted in airbag deployment. Fordengineer Dave Bauch said such a de-ployment is more likely with thechanged “crash pulse” that the testingshowed is a result from the use of thenon-OEM parts.

Also at CIC, CAPA announcedits new standard and certificationfor non-OEM bumper-related parts,saying that as it developed the newstandard, it found “very few bumperparts that actually matched the carcompany brand parts in terms ofperformance, materials and durabil-ity.”

Jack Gillis of CAPA said that inorder to confirm that its new standardaccurately identifies parts that matchOEM, CAPA worked with the InsuranceInstitute for Highway Safety (IIHS) tocrash test some non-OEM bumper parts.IIHS tested some bumper reinforcementbeams that met CAPA’s certificationstandards and some that did not.

A non-OEM beam for the 2009Toyota Camry that wouldn’t have metCAPA’s new standard didn’t bucklesimilarly to the OEM version in a low-speed crash. One for the 2005 Ford F-150 actually resulted in lowerestimated repair costs than the OEM

version, but only because the fog lamprecesses were different than the OEM;the difference actually protected thefog lamps better, but still would pre-vent the part from being certified asmatching the OEM.

But a non-OEM bumper rein-forcement beam designed for the2008 Dodge Ram pick-up and that

does meet CAPA’snew standard wasalso crash tested;the resulting esti-mated damagecosts to the vehi-cle were virtuallyidentical to thedamage costs sus-

tained when the OEM version wascrash-tested at low and high speeds.

Ford’s Massie was asked to com-ment on the CAPA crash testing.

“I’ve got to say, I think whatJack showed today was promising,”Massie said. “The IIHS piece of itadds a lot of credibility. I thinkthere’s a lot more we’ve got to knowbefore we could put our stamp of ap-proval on it, if we ever put our stampof approval on it, but I think it was acompelling effort.”Also at CIC, Bob Frayer of NSF

International spoke about his com-pany’s non-OEM parts certificationprogram launched in February ofthis year. He said about 100 partshave been certified through the pro-gram to date, with 100 more ex-pected to be certified by the end ofthis year. He said he expects thatnumber to be close to 2,000 by theend of 2011.

Like CAPA, NSF certification re-quires the manufacturer to meet qual-ity control requirements, and that partsundergo testing to determine theymatch OEM in terms of content, fitand function. But unlike CAPA, NSFdoes not require that its labs conduct

the actual testing of the parts; NSFmerely audits that the parts manufac-turer has had testing done by a quali-fied facility.

“The manufacturers control test-ing,” Frayer said. “We can do the test-ing, but we only require the testing bedone at an ISO 17025 accredited fa-cility. I worked very closely with theOEMs in a previous life, and this isthe same criteria they held us to in ourtesting.”

NSF-certified parts bear the NSFmark, Frayer said, and certification re-quires the manufacturer to have a sys-tem in place to conduct a part recall ifthere is a safety concern. AlthoughCAPA accepts and investigates com-plaints about parts it certifies, underthe NSF program the parts manufac-turer must have a system in place to

accept and re-spond to com-plaints. How doesa shop know howto file such a com-plaint? Frayer saida phone number oremail address forthe manufacturermust be included

on either the part or packaging.Gillis and Frayer were asked how

the industry should view the fact thatthere are now multiple standards andcertification programs for non-OEMparts. Gillis said he doesn’t see it as agood thing, and could create confu-sion, just as it would if competingdrug stores had different standards foraspirin that consumers had to try tosort through.

“Multiple standards often signifya diminution of the concept of stan-dards,” Gillis said.

He welcomed critics of CAPA tocontact him to get a better under-standing of what it takes to meetCAPA standards, saying that thosewho have often are surprised and im-pressed by what they learn. He ac-knowledged that all of the significantchanges to the CAPA program overthe decades have been the result ofchallenges by collision repairers.

“We want that. We welcomethat,” Gillis said.

Frayer pointed out that when NSFlaunched its program, it began with astandard for non-OEM bumper parts,a category of parts CAPA wasn’t cer-tifying until this fall. He also said hedoesn’t see multiple standards as a badthing.“If we were interested in only onestandard, we would probably be buy-ing only OEM parts and say that’s thestandard and why don’t we stopthere,” Frayer said. “I’d argue thatboth CAPA and NSF are not the firststandard but the second and third inthe industry (after OEM). I don’t per-sonally think that’s a bad thing.”

Frayer was asked at CIC why hethinks the NSF program will succeedwhen CAPA still struggles to gain ac-ceptance by shops, insurers, partsmanufacturers and distributors.

“I think the people in this roomwill make that decision over time,”Frayer said. “I’m not going to com-ment directly on that. I think a yearfrom now we’ll be talking again andsee how we’re doing.”


CIC: Bumper Testing

CAPA’s Jack Gillis

NSF’s Bob Frayer

[email protected] us!write us!www.autobodynews.com

CHECK IT OUT!


CALL 800-699-8251



[email protected]

800-699-8251




800-699-8251









[email protected]


write us!write us!


Autobody News WebsiteAutobody News WebsiteAutobody News Websiteat www.autobodynews.com




NCOIL Model Act

The CAA San Diego Chapter held their6th annual Holiday Event on FridayNovember 19 at Tom Ham’s Light-house in San Diego. Dinner and drinkswere served and holiday games wereplayed at this annual mixer.

For more information please visitCAA website: calautobody.com. Photoscourtesy Drew Ford in La Mesa, CA.


We have the Real Volkswagen Collision Parts that make your job easier and your customers happier. With your skill and our parts, every collision repair will be a bang-up job. And that will add up to more repeat business for both of us. Call your order in today.

Want every job to be a bang-up job?We want to be your source for Real Volkswagen Parts.

These dealers are Genuine VW Parts wholesale specialists.

So. California

City VolkswagenSAN DIEGO

880000--992277--22227777FAX: 619-276-2414

M-F 7:30am - 6pm; Sat 8am - 5pmwww.cityvolkswagen.com

Volkswagen ofDowntown LA

LOS ANGELES

221133--774477--77224466FAX: 213-222-1272Ask for Carlos or Erasmo

No. California

Dirito Bros. WalnutCreek Volkswagen

WALNUT CREEK

11--880000--VVOOLLKKSSWWAAGGEENNFAX: [email protected]

Arizona

CamelbackVolkswagen

PHOENIX

880000--887766--55119999FAX: 602-200-1192

www.camelbackdifference.com

TimmonsVolkswagenLONG BEACH

11--888888--448899--55000011FAX: 562-426-3550

[email protected]

Drew VWSAN DIEGO

888888--883399--00777777DIRECT: 619-668-7782FAX: 619-460-4082

[email protected]

CAA Holds 6th Annual Holiday Party in San Diego

(l to r) Hilary Castro, George Coronel, Angie Hernandez, Amanda Smith and Shereen Najati (l to r) Ed and Sheri Mossuto and Nancy and Louis Pieper, from Bradley Allen Autobody

(l to r) Larry Haley, Sam Porter, Kyle Bickford and Curtis Wood from Enterprise Drew Ford’s ‘Crazy Wives Club’ & Hop Sanchez

The Drew Ford table Games hosted by Emcee Baron Vaughn


Our parts in the trained hands of a professional.

Corvette ‘10

818-832-1660Fax: 818-832-1692

[email protected]: 6:00 AM - MidnightSaturday: 8:00 AM - 6:00 PMSunday: 8:00 AM - 6:00 PM

We are YOUR Sources for GM Partsin Los Angeles!

Extensive inventory — Delivery trucks are in your areaAccountable, responsible & unconditionally

dedicated to excellence

AUTOMOTIVE GROUP

San Fernando Valley

www.gmgoodwrench.com©2010 GM Corp. All rights reserved

Wholesale Direct: 925-828-8251Fax: 925-829-2941

Parts Phone: 866-709-3379Fax: 916-338-5477

4811 Madison Ave. Sacramento, CA 95841

Our wholesale staffs are always ready to helpyou out whether you simply have a question

or wish to place an order for a new part.

Serving the Capital Region.Performance Chevrolet

Hours: Mon-Fri 7:30 AM - 5:30 [email protected]

Chevrolet•Cadillac•GMC•Buick•PontiacOldsmobile•Saab•Saturn•Hummer

4200 John Monego Ct., Dublin, CA 94568

Hours: Mon. - Fri. 7am - 6pm Sat. 8am - 4:30pm

Serving Contra Costa, Alameda,San Joaquin Counties.

An Authorized Saturn Wholesaler.

WWW.CITY-CHEVROLET.COM

• Large Inventory of Mechanical and Collision Parts• Fast Delivery/7 Delivery Trucks

• Over 250 Years Combined Parts Experience

San Diego

800-927-2277Toll Free:619-276-6900Parts:619-276-2414Fax:

Hours:Mon-Fri: 7:30am - 6pm;Sat: 8am - 5pm

CITYCHEVROLET

GM PartsFinish Second to None.

Togetherit’s a

Masterpiece

Virginia Body Shop Wins Vista Print ‘Make an Impression’ ContestVistaprint, a leading online provider of pro-fessional marketing products and services tomicro businesses, announced that DRP Col-lision Repair of Powhatan, Virginia has beenselected as a winner of the Vistaprint “Makean Impression” contest. This unique microbusiness will receive a marketing makeovervalued at $10,000 from Vistaprint.

Over 875 U.S.-based micro businessesentered Vistaprint’s contest for a chance toreceive one of four $10,000 marketingmakeovers. The grand prize packages includea $600 HP gift card, a Web commercial pro-duced by Pixability and a full marketingpackage—including a targeted direct mail

campaign—designed by Vistaprint’s creativedesign team. The goal of the contest was togive four deserving businesses the chance totake that next step and truly market them-selves like they never had before.

DRP Collision was the lone “start-up”to be selected as a contest winner. The reasonthey were chosen was based on ownerKendall Ickes’ compelling stance on customersatisfaction. Despite being a new businessshop, the company is focused on customersatisfaction and making a big first impression.DRP Collision has already seen some successwith a small marketing push, but expects tosee more with the prize package.

“We are very excited to be selected asone of the contest winners,” said Ickes. “Get-ting your name out there as a new company isvery tough. We have seen some success fromour initial marketing efforts with brochuresand flyers and can’t wait to work withVistaprint to create our new materials. Hope-fully it will help us drive more business.”

Founded in 2010, DRP Collision Re-pair says it strives to achieve 100% satisfac-tion and backs up all of their work with alimited lifetime warranty. The company’smission is to provide repairs and service thatmatches their 100 percent satisfaction guar-antee and also offers free estimates and claim

handling. DRP Collision is fully-staffed withgraduates or current enrollees of the J. Sar-gent Reynolds Community College AAS De-gree program for Auto Body Collision andholds I-CAR Platinum certifications.

“In this economy it is extremely diffi-cult for new companies to get their name outto the community. We have heard from manybusinesses that one of the areas they cut backon first is marketing,” said Bridget O’Brien,vice president of marketing communicationsat Vistaprint. “Kendall’s team is focused oncreating lasting relationships with their cus-tomers and our team is very excited to helpthem catch the eyes of potential customers.”


DO THE RIGHT THINGENOUGH TIMES,AND PEOPLE BEGINTO NOTICE.

�e Hyundai Genesis—2009 North American Car of the Year.

Hyundai Sales Up More than 14% (year on year). In 2008 Hyundai became the world's ��h-largest automaker, with 7% market share in the United States.

See these Hyundai dealers below for all your collision parts needs!

�ink About It

NEVADA

Kearny Mesa HyundaiSAN DIEGO

800-469-9731858-300-3331 Fax

Mon-Fri 7am - 6pmSat 8am - 5pm

[email protected]

Henderson HyundaiSuperstore

LAS VEGAS - METRO AREA702-565-9643

702-564-7756 FaxMon-Fri 7am - 6pm

Sat 7am - [email protected]

San Leandro HyundaiSAN LEANDRO

510-347-3010510-895-1027 Fax

Lithia HyundaiFRESNO

800-462-2231559-436-6041

559-436-0743 FaxMon-Fri 7am - 6pm

Sat 8am - [email protected]

SO. CALIFORNIA

NO. CALIFORNIA

Tuttle Click HyundaiIRVINE

800-428-7485949-472-7430

949-586-5104 Fax949-586-7093 Fax

Mon-Fri 7am - 7pmSat 8am - 5pm

[email protected]

Harbor HyundaiLONG BEACH

866-976-4070562-989-1317 Fax

Mon-Fri 8am - 5:45pmSat 8am - 1:45pm

[email protected]

Drew HyundaiSAN DIEGO

888-839-0777619-668-7782 Direct


www.drewhyundai.com

China’s Largest AutomakerPlans 1% Stake in GM IPOSAIC Motor, China’s largest au-tomaker, is in talks to acquire about a1% stake in General Motors, accord-ing to the Wall Street Journal’s website. The stake would be worth about$500 million. The automaker is pre-pared to sell more than $1 billionworth of shares to sovereign wealthfunds in the Middle East and Asia, giv-ing foreign investors about 16% of theIPO’s shares. The IPO will mark GM’sreturn to being a publicly traded com-pany after it filed for bankruptcy pro-tection in June 2009.

Tesla Offers Battery andEV Tech to Toyota, OthersTesla Motors has offered to license its bat-tery and other EV technologies to Toyotaand others, according to its CEO ElonMusk. Tesla has already contacted tie-uppartners Toyota and Daimler and askedthem if they are interested in licensing itstechnologies, Musk said. Tesla is also in-terested in partnering with Toyota in thearea of customer service, Musk said,adding that Tesla’s cars can be serviced atToyota facilities. Musk expects Japan tobecome the company’s largest market out-side of the US. Two of Tesla’s majorshareholders are Toyota and Panasonic.

China to become GM’’sLargest Market in 2011This year, for the first time, GM couldsell more vehicles in China than in theUnited States. So far in 2010, GM says itsChinese joint ventures sold 1,977,000units, up nearly 36 percent. Over the sameperiod, GM sold 1,819,000 vehicles in theUnited States, up 6 percent. Since indus-try sales in China are expected to exceed17 million units this year—well above theU.S. market’s likely 11.5 millionunits—China is virtually certain to be-come GM’s biggest market this year.GM’s sales were up 20% from Oct. 2009.

Toyota Expects 13% RiseToyota Motor Corp sees U.S. new lightvehicle sales rising as much as 13 percentnext year, buoyed by several factors in-cluding a slight rise in sales of pickuptrucks. Bob Carter, sales chief for theToyota brand in the United States, saidthe company expects 2011 industry salesat between 12.5 million and 12.9 million,up from this year’s expected rate of 11.4million to 11.5 million.

U.S. sales are slowly recoveringfrom the low of 10.4 million new carsand trucks sold in 2009, after a 10-yearstretch when annual sales averaged 16.4million vehicles.

Daimler Financial Services has changedits name to Mercedes-Benz FinancialServices USA. The change is the last stepin a “clean sheet of paper” approach tothe U.S. market, according to a companystatement. The company separated fromDaimlerChrysler Financial ServicesAmericas in 2007 after Daimler soldChrysler to Cerberus Capital Manage-ment. Nothing else will change for thefinancier, which remains the financialunit for Mercedes-Benz USA, its dealersand customers, as well as Smart USAdealers and customers.

A factory-owned Chrysler dealership indowntown Los Angeles will be the firststore to sell Fiat-brand vehicles in theU.S. when it opens the first week in Jan-uary. Motor Village of Los Angeles willhave three showroom floors and sell Fiatvehicles, along with Chrysler, Dodge,Jeep and Ram vehicles, said RamonCabral, sales manager at the dealership. The dealership has been known as LaBrea Chrysler Jeep, is currently locatedabout five miles west of downtown LosAngeles. Chrysler has owned La BreaChrysler Jeep for about five years.

Ford will be transferring the majority ofits shares in Mazda to various businesspartners of the Japanese automaker, thuslowering its ownership stake. However,the two OEMs will remain strategic part-ners, according to Mazda. Ford has 11%ownership stake in Mazda. Ford willhold on to a 3.5% stake in the automakerand is transferring the rest of its sharesto Mazda’s business partners. “Ford willremain one of Mazda's largest share-holders, and both companies are com-mitted to continuing our strategicpartnership,” said a Mazda spokesper-son.

AutoNation CEO Mike Jackson is aboutto take advantage of industry stabilityand the falling price of dealerships. With13 million in annual U.S. light-vehiclesales expected shortly, AutoNation plansto renovate or expand 24 stores (ninerenovations will cost more than $5 mil-lion each) and open 11 completely newstores, including seven Fiat stores. Thecompany is taking advantage of dramat-ically lower dealership and real estatecosts. Jackson wants to have at least oneof every brand in each of AutoNation’s25 major markets.

Mercedes-Benz Financialis new Daimler Financier

LA Dealership to be first tosell Fiat brand in the U.S.

AutoNation Sees MajorAcquisitions in 2011

Ford Cuts Mazda Stake

As 2011 approaches and we move for-ward into another year in the collisionindustry, we can be sure of one thing:vehicles are changing. The way we ascollision repairers do business is alsochanging. We are running our compa-nies leaner. We are measuring our ef-ficiencies and comparing our numberswith other shops around us. We haveall become better at running busi-nesses. We have changed drasticallyin how we manage our customer. Wehave improved our customer service.Many of us have started our own cus-tomer marketing campaigns. We haveCSI programs that measure our cus-tomers’ satisfaction down to the lastdetail. It would be safe to say that wehave become customer-oriented com-panies. We communicate with ourcustomers better. We return their ve-hicles faster. We give them completedpaperwork at the same time we givethem their vehicles. We take the time

to explain even the smallest details tothem and even offer them a cup of cof-fee while they wait. We are concernedabout them and we want them to betreated in a professional and honestmanner.

The entire collision industry hasreally “stepped up” and made the cus-tomers experience with collision re-pair a much better experience thanever before. Our customers trust usand we are beginning to replace the‘alley body shop’ image of the pastwith a new service-oriented ‘dealer-ship’ image.

BUT...While we were staffing upour offices and updating our claimsprocessing and watching our numbers,there were few resources left over topurchase training and equipment thatactually fixes the cars. Most shopshave found themselves so caught upin the claims process that the repairhas become secondary to the handling

of the claim. Getting the vehicle outwithin the cycle time allowance andmaking the metrics look right is moreimportant than doing the research toknow if you are even equipped andtrained to repair the vehicles.

In this economy very few shopswill turn work away and this becomesvery dangerous for the shop and thecustomer. So, while you may have theblessing of the insurance companyand your numbers may look good andeven your customer leaves happy, youunknowingly have sent them out in anunsafe vehicle because you really did-n’t understand the proper repair pro-cedure or use the proper OEM partsfor that particular vehicle.

Many argue that “Safety” is NOTa problem because there is no docu-mented proof of a vehicle passengergetting hurt because of aftermarketbumper reinforcements or aftermarketstructure parts such as core supports,etc. This is a foolish argument. Are youreally saying there cannot be a safetyissue because there is no proof yet?

This argument is analagous tosaying: ‘This intersection doesn’t needa RED LIGHT until we have somedead bodies.’ The tobacco companiesknew that smoking was unsafe yearsbefore the bodies started piling up.They took the same stand: “There IsNo Proof Smoking is Dangerous,” andcontinued doing business as usual.Big Tobacco cited the longevity ofsome smokers to ‘prove’ smoking wasnot hazardous to your health.

We as a repair industry havestepped up our claims processes butwe have neglected the collision repairitself. We reap the benefits of the onewhile the insurance company reapsthe benefits of the other. We need tobe efficient in both, but NEVERshould the insurer control the repairprocess. It is not their business to re-pair collisions. It’s their business tohandle claims and keep the costsdown. No matter how many classestheir adjusters attend, you wouldnever assume they could repair a ve-hicle.

We are still the ones liable forwhat we do, or don’t do, to each andevery vehicle that rolls through ourdoors. We are the ones responsible for

the parts we use and for every cir-cumstance in which we use them, soit is important to know the facts. It isimportant to invest in the training andto purchase the equipment necessaryto call yourself a collision expert.

We have a lot of so-called Colli-sion Experts within our industry but asa shop owner you must be the real col-lision expert with the credentials toback up what you say and do. If youwere a surgeon you would have yearsof training and certificates to justifywho you claim to be. A surgeon can’tjust talk some one into a surgery byinviting them into their garage that isset up as an operating room.

Shame on those insurers thatknow about the crappy repairs that arebeing performed with crappy partsand crappy repair procedures. Shameon the crappy parts people for tryingto deceive the insurers into thinkingthat a component test is a thoroughand complete crash test when theyknow it is not. Shame on those colli-sion shops that repair vehicles without the proper knowledge and equip-ment. And shame on all of us for al-lowing this to happen when we allknow the truth and the consequences.

Would you send your kid to beoperated on by an unlicensed doctorin a back yard clinic because therewas a sign on the door? No. Youwould demand credentials that provedeveryone knew what they were doing.You would want to see a sterile oper-ating room, properly equipped to per-form the necessary procedure. Youwould want to know the doctor was anexpert and had only your kids’ besthealth in mind.

I am a collision expert and Iknow there are some serious issues re-lated to safety. I know that things mustchange because, as we speak, our cus-tomers are being used as crash dum-mies by those that continue to makefalse claims without the credentials toeven have an opinion. The industrymay never be fixed to the point itshould be, but as collision shop own-ers the buck stops with you. Are yougoing to change the way you repaircollisions or are you going to continueto make your customer a Crash TestDummy?


My Customer, the Crash Test Dummy



















Lee Amaradio, Jr. is the president and owner of “Faith” Quality Auto Body Inc. in Murrieta,California. Lee is president of the CRA as well as an advocate for many other industrygroups. He can be contacted at [email protected]

Imagine the negative impact a lack ofreliable transportation has on alifestyle. Getting to work, going to thedoctor, or even grabbing a quart ofmilk at the store becomes a challenge.Most of us probably can’t imagine ex-isting without a car at our immediatedisposal, yet the United States Bureauof Transportation estimates that over15 million Americans have difficultygetting the transportation they need.

For this reason, the National AutoBody Council (NABC) is pleased tosay that the lives of five deserving LasVegas families was dramatically im-pacted on Thursday, November 4, atthe SEMA Show located outside of the

Las Vegas Convention Center. Each ofthe families received the gift of a re-furbished vehicle from NABC mem-bers through its Recycled Rides™program. Las Vegas Mayor OscarGoodman was in attendance, as he waslast year.

This was the second time withinweeks that such a donation has oc-curred. Five other families also re-ceived vehicles from Recycled Ridesat the NACE Show that took placeTuesday, October 12 at the MandalayBay Convention Center.

Insurance companies Esurance,Allstate and State Farm donated thevehicles to be repaired. NABC mem-bers Sterling Collision, 911 Collisionand Gerber Collision & Glass were re-sponsible for refurbishing the vehicles.

The recipient families were allgraduates of the Family Promise ofLas Vegas program, a non-profit in-terfaith network that provides supportto families in crisis.

The first family included a motherof three that could no longer afford herapartment after being recently laid off.After only 44 days in the program she is

back on her feet and the Chrysler Paci-fica she received will be used to get herto her new job and her children to school.

The second recipient is a father oftwo boys, one of whom is a specialneeds child. The Mazda they receivewill be used to get the father to workand his boys to school.

The third recipient is a singlemother of three daughters. All arehonor students. One is graduating highschool this year in anticipation of at-tending a prestigious college. Theirvehicle will help keep their scholasticwinning streak alive.

The fourth family consists of acouple with two children who were in

the Family Promise program twoyears ago and who married while inthe program. Their donated Chryslervan will get mom to school and getdad to his job helping him to maintainhis perfect attendance record at work.

The fifth recipient is a singlemother of two toddler daughters forcedto take the bus to get to work, and toget her daughters to preschool. By re-ceiving her recycled Acura MDX,mom will be able to breathe easierknowing that the only schedule she willnow have to follow is her own.

“We’re really happy to be back inLas Vegas to give five more familiesthe vehicles that will help providethem a fresh start,” said RecycledRides Chairman and President of Ster-ling Autobody Centers, Nick Notte.

“These are just ten examples ofthe 150 families who this year will re-ceive the gift of reliable transportationto make better lives for themselvesdue to Recycled Rides and its partici-pants. I am grateful to be part of aproject that clearly illustrates the giv-ing nature of NABC members and thecollision repair industry in general.”


Order Genuine Honda and Acura Parts from the following dealerships.from the following dealersh

ips.

‘09 Acura TSX

Order Genuine Honda and Acura P

rts

Order Genuine Honda and Acura P

rts

‘09 Honda Accord

The Collision Parts that Fit the Best

They’re here to serve your collision parts needs!

Acura & Hondaof the Desert

Cathedral City

760-770-0828 Honda760-321-2700 Acura760-328-2489 Shared Fax

M-F 7-6 Honda/AcuraSat 7-5 Honda

SO. CALIFORNIA

Matrix System Walks Away as a Winner with Salt Eraser®Matrix System Automotive Finishes,a leader in aftermarket paint products,won the New Product Showcase inthe Individuality category at the Au-tomotive Aftermarket Products Expo(AAPEX) for its Salt Eraser.

Matrix System arrived at theAAPEX Show for the first time everand won an award in the Individual-ity category. This included productsthat enhance the appearance of a ve-hicle or the appearance of specificcomponents on a vehicle, such aschemicals, paints, decals, waxes andlights. Salt Eraser was featured as aninnovative new product and wasprominently showcased for all buyersto see.

Salt Eraser is a revolutionarynew product that removes stubbornsalt stains from any fabric quickly andeffortlessly — without scrubbing. Itpenetrates the fiber deeply and breaksup and evaporates the salt within min-utes of application. Salt Eraser safelyeliminates salt from floor mats, car-pets, rugs, and runners. It cleans,freshens, and revitalizes complete carinteriors without any odor.

Salt Eraser is an ideal solution inthe salt states located in New Eng-land, Middle Atlantic, and Mid-Westareas of the United States. Addition-ally, this product is great for manyhome and business applications such

as: cloth seats, rugs, carpet, shoes, andpants. Just spray…salt stains disap-pear.

“The advantage of Salt Eraseris its unique formulation has beendesigned to specifically to removesalt stains from carpet and fabricand outperforms general interior andfabric cleaners,” says Jim Capor-uscio, director of business develop-ment.

“It also provides consumers inthe Snow Belt states with a fast, sim-ple, colorless and odorless cleaningsolution to remove crusty winter saltto restore their vehicles interior, andretailers with stores in Snow Belt mar-kets an excellent seasonal sales op-portunity to increase their car care andgeneral cleaning sales.”

About Matrix SystemMatrix System Automotive Finishes,subsidiary of Quest Specialty Coat-ings, is one of the industry’s most suc-cessful manufacturers of high qualitycolor, clearcoats, primers, hardeners,and reducers.

With an excellent product line,Matrix System has been able to con-vince body shops once loyal to a par-ticular brand to convert and experiencehuge cost savings.

For more information please visitwww.matrixsystem.com.

Five More Las Vegas Families Receive Reliable Transportation at SEMA from NABC

Auto Zone Representatives with some of theSEMA Recycled Rides recipients

Nadeeryah reacts after Nick Notte presentsher with her new recycled ride

Airbrush artist, Mickey Harrisshowed off his most recent art flour-

ishes on a 2011 Camaro at the Spe-cialty Equipment Marketing Associa-

tion (SEMA)show this year.The AmericanPride Camarocar was commis-sioned by GM inthe summer of2010 and was atop secret projectfor the artist.

The carwas painted atMountain Mus-cle Cars inCosby, TN, andtook about three

months from start to fin-ish. This car was thebrainchild of Scott Set-tlemire from GM’s Showcar division.

Mickey Harris hasbeen painting for 30 yearsand has produced thou-sands of murals on metal.

Mickey began hisprofessional career with

the airbrush at the age of 19, in Ft.Walton Beach, Florida. He mas-tered the airbrush, becoming one ofthe leading airbrush artists in theworld.Mickey also founded Airbrush

Magazine in 1994 and has been the

President of the International Air-brush Association twice, once in 1992and again in 1999. Mickey has beenteaching the art of airbrushing forover twenty years. Mickey is nowworking with Badger Airbrush Co.of Chicago.


Mickey Harris’ American Pride Camaro Commands Attention at SEMA

Detailing right down to the rocker panels on the American Pride Camaro

American Pride Camaro on the prowl Painter Mickey Harris (R) with Marine guard and the American Pride Camaro on the SEMA floor

Genuine Nissan and Infiniti OEM Wholesale Parts are superbly crafted to strict quality standards. Use of genuine OEM Wholesale Parts is a shift in the right direction toward trouble-free repairs and quicker turnaround. The following dealers proudly stock genuine parts for your Nissan or Infiniti repairs. Call your local distributor today!

2010 Altima Coup

Shift into Genuine Nissan and Infiniti OEM PartsShift into Genuine Nissan and Infiniti OEM Parts

S. CALIFORNIA N. CALIFORNIA

CORONA NISSANCORONA

800-553-7438(951) 549-6564 FaxServicing L.A., Orange,

Riverside & San Bernardinocounties

INFINITI OFBAKERSFIELDBAKERSFIELD

661-617-2020(661) 617-2039 Fax

M-F 8-5www.infinitiofbakersfield.com

MOSSY NISSANNATIONAL CITY

800-300-7251(619) 474-4347 FaxSame Day Delivery

Throughout All San DiegoLargest Inventory in San Diego

NISSAN OFBAKERSFIELDBAKERSFIELD

888-402-6915(661) 835-0389 FaxM-F 7-6, Sat. 8-5

www.nissanofbakersfield.com

DIRITO BROTHERSNISSAN

WALNUT CREEK800-865-5792

(925) 934-8459 &(925) 934-8221 Fax

LITHIA NISSANFRESNO

800-870-7779559-436-6040 Parts Direct

559-438-0183 FaxM-F 7-6, Sat. [email protected]

DOWNEY NISSANDOWNEY

888-444-1355(562) 334-1195 Fax

Billy Smith-Parts ManagerM-F 7-6, Sat. 7-5

www.downeynissan.com

METRO NISSANINFINITI OF MONTCLAIR

MONTCLAIR800-243-5575(909) 625-4087 FaxAsk for Rita or Steve

Large inventory available


SEMA Week Collision Meetings Focused on Industry Standards and Estimating Systemsby John Yoswick

Collision industry meetings held inLas Vegas in November centeredaround significant changes in the esti-mating systems, the development offormal industry standards, and relatedindustry issues.

The meetings were held in con-junction with the Specialty Equip-ment Market Association (SEMA)tradeshow in Las Vegas, a massiveautomotive aftermarket event that inrecent years has been working to at-tract more exhibitors and attendeesfrom the collision repair industry.During the previous six years, theInternational Autobody Congressand Exposition (NACE) was alsoheld in Las Vegas the same week asSEMA, but NACE organizersmoved that event several weeks ear-lier this year because of competitionfrom SEMA.

The Society of Collision RepairSpecialists (SCRS) said its first-timepartnership with SEMA this year wassuccessful and that the associationwill participate in the event againnext November. Although only about125 people attended the first-everSCRS-sponsored classes at the event,SEMA attracted about 115,000 peo-ple overall, up about 20 percent fromlast year. The “Paint, Body andEquipment” section of the show in-cluded more than 120 exhibitingcompanies, with many other compa-nies that sell to the collision repair in-dustry—including most of the majorpaint companies and many automak-ers—exhibiting elsewhere among the9,000 booths and 2 million squarefeet of SEMA exhibit space.

SCRS also held a board meetingduring the event, reporting on the as-sociation’s recent and upcoming ac-tivities. At the meeting, for example,

SCRS ExecutiveDirector AaronSchulenburg saidthe association isbuilding a matrixshowing which in-surer direct repairprograms (DRPs)require use of a

specific vendor for such services as

rental vehicles, estimating systems orcustomer service indexing. The goal,Schulenburg said, is to show thatsome programs are more restrictivethan others in terms of vendor choice,and to show the burden and addedexpense such requirements can haveon shops participating in multipleDRPs.

Also at the meeting, SCRS boardmember and industry trainer TobyChess made a presentation on theneed to recalibrate the steering anglesensor that is part of the electronic sta-bility control system on an increasing

number of new ve-hicles. Such sys-tems are standardequipment on 85percent of 2010new vehicles, andwill be required onall new vehicles asof model year

2012. The recalibration is an addi-tional procedure that must be doneafter the vehicle alignment.

“It’s an added step, and there’salso no more 2-wheel alignments withthese systems,” Chess said. “Thatwon’t work.”

Chess said he has not yet seen thisnecessary step added to the estimatingsystems. He’s also concerned becauseeven though no “trouble light” will belit on the dash and the vehicle mayhandle properly under normal drivingconditions even if the system is notcalibrated, the electronic stability con-trol function may not work properly ina subsequent “emergency maneuver.”

Estimating system changes discussed At the meeting, Schulenburg also pre-sented the association’s discussionswith Audatex regarding the automated“prep raw bumper cover” feature thatAudatex added and then retractedfrom its estimating system this fall.The change provided an automated 20percent of the bumper refinish time(plus refinish materials) for the rawbumper prep operation. But Audatexremoved the feature from the system amonth after launching it, citing con-cerns raised by the industry.

Indeed, in October, the Automo-tive Service Association (ASA) an-

nounced that a majority of the mem-bers of its “Collision Operations Com-mittee” said they felt the 20 percentformula was adequate enough to re-move the issue as an ongoing point ofnegotiation or friction.

But Schulenburg said he voicedto Audatex SCRS members’ view thatthe system should only prompt the es-timator when a raw bumper has beenadded to the estimate, allowing the es-timator to determine the necessarylabor time to be entered.

Audatex has said it plans to re-store some type of raw bumper prepprompt to the system based on inputfrom the industry and review by itstechnical advisory council.

In other discussion at the meet-ing, Bud Center of the Database En-hancement Gateway (DEG) shared

several examplesof changes to theestimating sys-tems that have re-sulted based onDEG inquiries.The DEG, devel-oped and sup-ported primarily

by three national repairer associa-tions, allows users to submit concernsvia website (www.DEGweb.org)about the accuracy of any of the BigThree estimating databases and sys-tems.

Center said one such inquiry, No.2839, submitted in late October, raiseda concern about data in the Motor In-formation Systems’ database (used bythe CCC Information Services esti-mating system) related to the replace-ment of rear floor pan on the 2006Toyota Rav4. The inquiry indicatedthat this procedure requires the pur-chase and welding of five bracketsand cross-members. The need forthese parts isn’t indicated in the sys-tem, the inquiry points out, and nolabor time is listed in the system forthe parts.

Within three days, Center said,Motor had responded by adding labortimes of 1.5 hours for the seat cross-member and 1.3 hours for the rear re-inforcement, and doubling the labortime for the third-row seat cross-mem-ber to 2 hours.

“That’s almost four additionallabor hours,” Center said. “And thiswas on a 2006 vehicle. I’m curioushow many of those we’ve repaired inthe last four years. It’s a big change.” Next step on standards

In another meeting held duringSEMA week, the effort to develop for-malized industry standards for colli-sion shops and repairs took anotherstep forward with the formation of acommittee to hire and fund a short-term consultant to oversee the nextstage of the process.

About 30 people attended ahalf-day meeting organized by theCollision Industry Conference (CIC)“Repair Standards Committee.” At-tendees discussed the committee’sefforts on the project to date, anddiscussed the pros and cons of de-veloping formalized industry stan-dards.

At the conclusion of the meet-ing, the group formed a planninggroup that will work to hire a tempo-

rary project man-ager to develop aplan, timeline andbudget for com-pletion of formal-ized standardsand for the cre-ation or designa-tion of an entity

to oversee and implement adoptionof the standards within the industry.

“We’re building that broad indus-try consensus to take this massiveamount of work the CIC committee hasdone, and the massive amount of workthat still needs to be done, and give itthe right structure and put it into per-spective for everybody to be able touse,” said Scott Biggs, who helpedchair the meeting.

with Ed Attanasio

Shop and Product Showcase

with Ed Attanasio

Shop Showcase




John Yoswick is a freelance writer based in Portland, Oregon, who has been writingabout the automotive industry since 1988. He is the editor of the weekly CRASHNetwork (for a free 4-week trial subscription, visit www.CrashNetwork.com).He can be contacted by email at [email protected].

Bud Center

Toby Chess

Aaron Schulenburg

Scott Biggs


CHECK IT OUT!


CALL 800-699-8251



[email protected]

800-699-8251




800-699-8251









[email protected]


write us!write us!





President Obama Says Auto Industry is “Again on the Rise,” Republicans Still SkepticalPresident Barack Obama said GM’s re-turn to the stock market shows the U.S.auto industry is on the rise and will re-

sult in taxpayers getting their moneyback from a government bailout.

“Today, one of the toughest tales of

the recession took another big step to-wards becoming a success story,” Obamasaid at the White House after GM raisedmore than $20 billion from investors.

GM received a $49.5 billion taxpayerbailout last year and the U.S. Treasury willget as much as $13.6 billion from the ini-tial public offering. For taxpayers to befully repaid, the remaining shares held bythe government would have to be sold atan average of about $53 each to make backits total investment, Bloomberg data show.GM gained 3.6 percent to $34.19, paring aclimb of 9.1 percent.

Obama defended the politically un-popular bailout of GM and Chrysler GroupLLC. Failing to act would have “resultedin economic chaos,” he said.

“We’ve still got a long road aheadand a lot of work to do to rebuild thiseconomy,” Obama said. “We are finallybeginning to see some of these tough de-cisions that we made in the midst of cri-sis pay off.”

He said taxpayers are “now posi-tioned to recover more than my admin-istration invested” in the company. TheIPO would lower the government’s staketo 37 percent from 61 percent.

White House press secretary RobertGibbs said earlier today that the admin-istration hopes the government can sellits stake in GM by mid- to late 2012.

The bailouts were cited by some Re-publican critics of the administration dur-ing the campaign for the Nov. 2 midtermcongressional elections. Republicans won amajority of seats in the House of Repre-sentatives and narrowed the margin held byObama’s Democratic Party in the Senate.

House Republican leader JohnBoehner of Ohio, set to become House

speaker in January, today continued criti-cism of the bailout. Boehner said GMcould “have been handled in a more or-derly way by a bankruptcy judge withoutthe heavy hand of the federal govern-ment,” apparently forgetting that the bank-ruptcy process itself cost $60 billion, andthat no private consortium stepped forwardor could have financed that much.

In an Oct. 7–10 Bloomberg NationalPoll, 34 percent of adults said they be-lieved the automaker bailouts would leadto a stronger economy, while 41 percentsaid it would weaken the economy. Forty-five percent of likely voters said they wereless likely to support a congressional can-didate who voted in favor of the aid.

GM has said repeatedly that itwants to shed its ‘Government Motors’image. As far back as August, CompanyChairman Ed Whitacre said he waseager for the U.S. to sell its shares be-cause it would boost employee moraleand help GM sell more vehicles.

The Obama administration steppedin to aid GM and Chrysler with moneyfrom the $700 billion Troubled AssetRelief Program after Congress failed toact. The administration has cited a studythat shows the aid helped save more than1.3 million jobs. Obama made repeatedtrips to automobile factories over thesummer to highlight their success.

“A lot of the public animosity to thebailouts is based on principle as much asit is on performance,” said Chris Borick,director of the Institute of Public Opin-ion at Muhlenberg College in Allentown,Psylvania. “Even the good bottom-linenews from GM won’t necessarily over-come the broader dislike of governmentsupport for struggling corporations.”

The sign says ‘Future Home of the Al-abama Motorsports Park’. But it couldbe the home of the Revenge Supercar,according to Fox 10 TV News Ala-bama/Florida.

The Revenge is a high perform-ance car for the high tier of the market,said former Mobile Mayor Mike Dow.

Dow, who spearheads the race-track movement, said automobilemaker Revenge Supercars has itssights set on 200 acres of land on thePrichard-Saraland line. The land is onthe Highway 158 corridor and High-way 45.

Dow is asking the Mobile CountyCommission for support enticing theautomaker to move to the area. He saidRevenge Supercars would bring 600jobs, with an average pay of $50,000.

Revenge Supercars also plans tobuild a 4.2 mile endurance and highperformance track at the site, he said.

“Eighteen suppliers have shownan interest in our area if the automakercomes here. Three have committed tocoming, if it does,” said Dow.

Willie Lanier invested in theoriginal Motorsports Park idea tobuild a world class race track in northMobile. Lanier said he’s behind this

idea as well.“Many of us who took a risk

five, six years ago to bring somethinghere. Without us there would be no

Revenge, would be no noth-ing,” said Lanier.Dow won’t say how much

financial support he’s askingthe county for.“This is economic develop-

ment. You know me, I don’ttalk about the details. Regard-less this car will pay for itself,”added Dow.Mobile County Commis-

sioner Mike Dean said he ishesitant to jump on board sofast, since he isn’t sure how theplan would affect bond rates,

and what if it doesn’t perform as wellas Dow hopes it will. Prichard MayorRon Davis hopes commissioners willvote to support the project.

“I went in with a hope and a prayerto hope that their hearts are in touchwith mine. This could help everyone,especially the city of Prichard,” saidDavis.

Davis said it could completelychange Prichard’s tax base.

Residents in Prichard said thiseconomic boost is just what the cityneeds. Especially a city some consideris on its last leg. The city is strugglingto pay its pensioners, and facingheightened crime and poverty.

Officials said the automobileplant wouldn’t replace the racetrack,it would help jump start the project.It’s a project politicians, businessowners and residents alike are count-ing on in Prichard.


Mobile County, AL, Could Recruit High Performance Automaker, Region is Struggling

The $190,000 Verde Supercar, built by Revenge, hasan aluminum and carbon fiber body. At 3500 poundsit’s capable of 0-60 in less than five seconds


CHECK IT OUT!


CALL 800-699-8251



[email protected]

800-699-8251




800-699-8251









[email protected]


write us!write us!





Chief University, the trusted trainingarm of Chief Automotive Technolo-gies, introduced a new Design BasedRepair course for collision repair tech-nicians and estimators at the SpecialtyEquipment Market Association(SEMA) show this year.

“Design based repair” means fol-lowing OEM repair procedures to ef-ficiently, economically and properlyreturn a collision-damaged vehicle toits original design specifications.

As vehicle manufacturers con-tinue to develop new designs incorpo-rating a wide range of advancedmaterials, it is essential that techni-cians repairing those vehicles after acollision thoroughly understand thediverse metals, fibers and plasticsused, as well as the processes for re-forming, reshaping and replacingthem.

“Change is occurring at a stag-gering rate within the automotive in-dustry as manufacturers engineersolutions to meet federal mandates forimproved crash survivability and in-creased fuel economy,” says RichardPerry, Chief training manager. “What

was once a common misalignmentmay no longer be an obvious repair. Inmodern vehicles, collision damagemay be transmitted to areas that pre-viously would have been unaffected ina similar accident. Technicians whohaven’t been trained to look for thisdamage can easily miss it, resulting insupplements and longer repair cycletimes. As a leader in collision repairtraining, Chief is dedicated to provid-ing education and training on how tobest return damaged vehicles to pre-accident condition through designbased repair techniques.”

The Chief University DesignBased Repair course teaches a sys-tematic approach to damage analysisthat accurately reveals the structural,steering and suspension damage pres-ent in a vehicle, as well as proceduresfor correcting that damage. Becauseaccurate vehicle height, length andwidth measurements are critical to aquality repair that meets OE designspecifications, computerized measur-ing is also covered.

Technicians attending the two-day Design Based Repair course will:

•Become familiar with advancedsteels and other sophisticated materi-als currently used in vehicle design.•Understand how these materials areused and the repair methods they re-quire.•Understand the strategic placementof these materials in a vehicle’s struc-tural design.•Understand the principles of collisiontheory and how they apply to newervehicles.•Learn a systematic approach to struc-tural damage analysis.•Learn to measure collision damageand verify visual inspection findings.•Participate in hands-on repair meth-ods.

Chief University’s Design BasedRepair course combines classroomtraining with hands-on demonstrationsand practice. It is led by professionalcertified instructors in training facili-ties across North America. A $655registration fee includes comprehen-sive training materials and a certificateof completion.

Chief University offers coursesfor collision repair technicians, esti-

mators and insurance appraisers. Mostare approved for I-CAR pointsthrough the I-CAR Industry TrainingAlliance program.

Chief training also has been cer-tified by the National Institute for Au-tomotive Service Excellence (ASE)for compliance with the ContinuingAutomotive Service Education(CASE) Standards.

Additional Chief training topicsinclude: Computerized MeasuringTraining, Full Frame Analysis & Re-pair Planning, Unitized Body Analy-sis & Repair Planning, AdvancedSteering & Suspension, AdvancedFrame Analysis, and Structural Dam-age Analysis.

Design Based Repair will be of-fered twice in December and numeroustimes throughout 2011. To register,visit: www.chiefautomotive.com or callcustomer service at (800) 445-9262.


with genuine mazdaparts.

Genuine Mazda parts are specifically designed, engineered and tested for Mazda vehicles.Customers and repair professionals prefer the quality and satisfaction that only comes from genuine Mazda parts.

Galpin MazdaVan Nuys818-778-2005Fax 818-778-2090www.galpin.com

Neftin Westlake MazdaThousand Oaks800-238-6586Fax 805-497-7265Mon - Fri 7:[email protected]

Perry MazdaSanta Barbara800-227-5132Fax [email protected]

Give your customers what they deserve...The Best.

SO. CALIFORNIA

Order your Genuine Mazda Parts from one of thesetrained crash parts specialists in your area:

Mazda 3 2010

GeGeGeGeGeGeGeGeGeGeGeGeGeGeGeGeGeGeGeGeGeGeGeGenununununununununununununununununuinininininininininininininininininininininininininine e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e MiMiMiMiMiMiMiMiMiMiMiMiMiMiMiMiMiMiMiMiMiMiMiMiMiMitstststststststststststststststststststststststststststststsububububububububububububububububububububububububisisisisisisisishihihihihihihihi r r r repepepepepepepepeplalalalalalalalalalacecececececececececececececececememememememememememememememememememememementntntntntntntntntntntntntntntntntntntntntntntntntntntnt C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C Crarararararararararararararararararararashshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshsh P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P Pararararararararararararararararartststststststststststststststststststststs a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a arererererererererere c c c c c c c c c c c c c clololololololololololololololololololololololosesesesesesesesesesesesesesesese a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a at t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahandndndndndndndndndndndndndndndndndndndndndndndndndndndndndnd t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t thrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrououououououououououououghghghghghghghghghghghghghghghghghghghghghghghghghghghghghghghghghghghghghghghghghghghghghghghghghghgh t t t t t t t t t thehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehe f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f fololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololollolololololololololowiwiwiwiwiwiwiwiwiwiwiwiwiwiwiwiwiwiwiwiwiwiwiwiwiwiwiwiwiwiwiwiwiwiwiwiwiwiwiwiwiwiwiwiwingngngngngngngngngngngngngngngngngngngngngngngngngngngngngngngngngngngngngngngngngngng quququququququququququququququququququququququququququququququququququququququalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalitititititititititititititititititititititititity y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y dedededededededededededededededededededededededededealalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalerererererererererererererererererererererershshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshipipipipipipipipipipipipipipipipipipipipipipipipipipipipipipips.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s. T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T Thehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehey y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y o!o!o!o!o!o!o!o!o!o!o!o!o!o!o!o!o!o!o!o!o!o!o!o!o!o!o!o!o!o!o!o!o!o!o!o!o!o!o!o!o!o!o!o!o!erererererererererererererererererererererererererererererererererererererererererererererererererererererer e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e excxcxcxcxcxcxcxcxcxcxcxcxcxcxcxcxcxcxcxcxcxcxcxcxcxcxcxcxcxcxcxcxcxcxcxcxcxcxcxcxcxcxcxcxcxcxcxcxcxcxcxcxcxcxcepepepepepepepepepepepepepepepepepepepepepepepepepepepepepepepepepepepepepepepepepepepepepepepepepepepepepepeptititititititititititititititititititititititititititititititititititititititititititititititititionononononononononononononononononononononononononononononononononononononononononononononononalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalal c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c cusususususususususususususususususususususususususususususususususususususususususususususususususususustotototototototototototototototototototototototototototototototototototomemememememememememememememememememememememememememememememememememememememememememememememememememememememer r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r seseseseseseseseseseseseseseseseseseseseseseseseseseseseseseseseseseseseseseseseseseseseseseservrvrvrvrvrvrvrvrvrvrvrvrvrvrvrvrvrvrvrvrvrvrvrvrvrvrvrvrvrvrvrvrvrvrvrvrvrvrvrvrvrvrvrvrvicicicicicicicicicicicicicicicicicicicicicicicicicicicicicicicicicicicicicicicice,e,e,e,e,e,e,e,e,e,e,e,e,e,e,e,e,e,e,e,e,e,e,e,e,e,e,e,e,e,e,e,e,e,e,e,e,e,e,e,e,e,e,e,e,e,e,e,e,e,e,e,e, w w w w w w w w w w w w w w w w w w w w w w w w w w w w w w w w w w w w w w w w w w w w w w w w w w w w w w w w w wididididididididididididididididididididididididididididididididididididididididididididididididididididididididide e e e e e e e e e seseseseseseseseseseseseseseseseseseseseseseseseseseseseseseseseseseseseseseseseseseseseseseseseseseseseseseseseseseseseselelelelelelelelelelelelelelelelelelelelelelelelelelelelelelelelelelelelelelelelelelelelelectctctctctctctctctctctctctctctctctctctctctctctctctctctctctctctctctioioioioioioioioioioioioioion n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n ofofofofofofofofofofofofofofofofofofofofofofofofofofofofofofofofofofofofofofofofofofofofofofofofofofofofofofofofofofofofofofofofofofof i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i in-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-ststststststststststststststststststststststststststststststststststststststststststststststststststocococococococococococococococococococococococococococococococococococococococococococococococococococococococococococococococococococococock k k k k k k k k k k k k k k k k k k k k k k k k k k k k k k k k k k k k k k k papapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapartrtrtrtrtrtrtrtrtrtrtrtrtrtrtrtrtrtrtrtrtrtrtrtrtrtrtrtrtrtrtrtrtrts s s s s s s s s s s ananananananananananananananananananananananananand d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d ththththththththththththththththththththththththththththththththththththththththththe e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e exexexexexexexexexexexexexexexexexexexexexexexexexexexexexexexexexexexexexexexexexexexexexexexexexexexexpepepepepepepepepepepepepepepepepepepepepepepepepepepepepepepepepepepepepepepepepepepepepepepepepepepepeperiririririririririririririririririririririririririririririririririririririririririririririririririririririririririririenenenenenenenenenenenenenenenenenenenenenenenenenenenenenenenenenenenenenenenenenenenenenenenenenenenenenenenenenenenenenenenenenenenenenenenenenenenenenenenencecececececececececececececececececececececececececececececececececececececececececececececececececececececececececececececececececececececececececececececececececececececece n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n necececececececececececececececececececececececececececececececececececececececececesesesesesesesesesesesesesesesesesesesesesesesesesesesesesesesesesesesesesesesesesesesesesesesesesesesesesesesesesesesesesesesesesesesesesesesesessasasasasasasasasasasasasasasasasasasasasasasasasasasasasasasasasasasasasasasasasasasasasaryryryryryryryryryryryryryryryryryryryryryryryryryryryryryryryryryryryryryryryryryryryryryryryryryryryryryryryryryryryryryryryryryryryry t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t to o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o enenenenenenenenenenenenenenenenenenenenenenenenenenenenenenenenenenenenenenenenenenenenenenenenenenenenenenenenenenenenenenenenensusususususususususususususususususususususususususususususususususususususususususususususususususususususususususususususususususususususususususurerererererererererererererererererererererererererererererererererererererererererererere y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y yououououououououououououououououououououououououououououououououououououououououououououououououououououououououououououououououououououououououououououououour r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r rererererererererererererererererererererererererererererererererererererererererererererererererererererererererererererererererererererererererererererererererererererepapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapaiririririririririririririririririririririririririririririririririririririririririririririririririririririririririririririririririririrs s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s prprprprprprprprprprprprprprprprprprprprprprprprprprprprprprprprprprprprprprprprprprprprprprprprprprprprprprprprprprprprprprprprprprprprprprprprprprprprprprprprprprprprprprprprprprprprprprprprprprprprprprprprococococococococococococococococococococococococococococococococococococococococococococococococococococococococococococococococeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeed d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d smsmsmsmsmsmsmsmsmsmsmsmsmsmsmsmsmsmsmsmsmsmsmsmsmsmsmsmsmsmsmsmsmsmsmsmsmsmsmsmsmsmsmsmsmsmsmsmsmsmsmsmsmsmsmsmsmsmsmsmsmsmsmsmsmsmsmsmsmsmsmsmsmsmsmsmsmooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooththththththththththththththththththththththththththththththththththththththththththlylylylylylylylylylylylylylylylylylylylylylylylylylylylylylylylylylylylylylylylylylylylylylylylylylylylylylylylylylylylylylylylylylylylylylylylylylyly...............

Genuine Mitsubishi replacement Crash Parts are close at hand through the following quality dealerships. They o!er exceptional customer service, wide selection of in-stock parts and the experience necessary to ensure your repairs proceed smoothly.

PPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttsssssssssssssssss yyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyoooooooooooooooooooooooooouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddd...... PPPPPPPPPPPPPPPeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeoooooooooooooooooooooooooopppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppplllllllllllllllllllllllllllllleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee yyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrruuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuussssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssttttttttttttttttttttttttt...............Parts you Need. People you Trust.

Order your Collision Repair Parts from one of these Crash Parts Specialists near you:

2010 Outlander

Veracom MitsubishiSAN MATEO

866-509-0642(650) 340-6108 Fax

M-F 7:30 am - 5:00 pmSat 8:00 am - 5:00 pm

[email protected]

CCAALLIIFFOORRNNIIAA

Chief Announces Chief University, Design Based Repair Training at SEMA

Search:Autobody News

on Facebook


FIAT Plans Big for US Auto Sales in 2011Chrysler plans to have the new Fiat500, a mini-car with European stylingand reduced fuel emissions, in show-rooms by February or March.

Fiat took over management of afailing Chrysler Group last year and isclose to making a profit there as it re-vamps Chrysler’s cars and trucks.Now, Fiat sees an opportunity to rein-troduce its brand and get ahead in thefledgling U.S. small-car market.

Fiat introduced two Fiat 500s atthe Los Angeles Auto Show thismonth, a three-door hatchback and aconvertible version. The hatchback isset to go on sale in the United Statesnext month, with the convertible tofollow in 2011. Electric and high-per-formance versions are planned in2012, and a four-door version afterthat.

Fiat 500’s starting price will be$15,500 next year, according toChrysler—”significantly less” thanBMW AG’s Mini Cooper, a similarcar, which starts at $20,000.

The car will be assembled inToluca, Mexico. Its 1.4-liter, four-cylinder engine will be produced atChrysler’s Dundee, Mich., plant.

This is the first time Fiat hasshown a car bound for North Americasince it pulled out of the market in1983. Back then, cars like the FiatStrada were widely derided as rust-prone and unreliable.

But that’s ancient history to U.S.car buyers. Laura Soave, 38, who wasappointed head of the Fiat brand inNorth America earlier this year, saidthere is very little knowledge of Fiat’searlier poor quality among currentbuyers, who are drawn to the 500’shuggable look. The car has a roundedshape, high roof and circular head-lights, and is 7 inches shorter than theMini Cooper. The design evokes theoriginal Fiat 500, which sold from1957 to 1975 worldwide.

Fiat hasn’t totally erased its qual-ity problems. The brand ranked last ornear last this year in customer satis-faction surveys in the United King-dom, France and Germany, accordingto J.D. Power and Associates. But the500 was tops in the mini-car categoryin the French survey, and it’s beenpopular with Europeans. More than500,000 have sold since the car’s in-troduction in 2007.

Utility Companies Are Apprehensive About Electric CarsThe first mass-market electric cars goon sale next month, and the nation’selectric utilities couldn’t be morethrilled—or worried, according to theAssociated Press.

Plugged into a socket, an electriccar can draw as much power as asmall house. The surge in demandcould knock out power to a home, oreven a neighborhood. That has utili-ties in parts of California, Texas andNorth Carolina scrambling to upgradetransformers and other equipment inneighborhoods where the Nissan Leafand Chevrolet Volt are expected to bein high demand.

The main obstacles to wide-scaleuse of electric cars are high cost andlimited range, at least until a networkof charging stations is built. But utilityexecutives fret that difficulties keepingthe lights on for the first crop of buy-ers—and their neighbors— could slowthe growth of this new niche.

Auto executives say it’s in-evitable that utilities will experiencesome difficulties early on. “We are allgoing to be a lot smarter two yearsfrom now,” says Mark Perry, directorof product planning for Nissan NorthAmerica.

Electric cars run on big batteriesthat are charged by plugging into a

standard wall socket or a more pow-erful charging station. A combined30,000 Nissan Leafs and ChevroletVolts are expected to be sold over thenext year. Over the next two years,Ford, Toyota and every other majorautomaker also plan to offer electriccars.

Governments are promoting theexpensive technology as a way to re-duce dependence on foreign oil, cutgreenhouse gas emissions and im-prove air quality. Congress is offeringelectric car buyers a $7,500 tax creditand some states and cities provide ad-ditional subsidies that can total$8,000. The Leaf sells for $33,000and the Volt sells for $41,000.

Electric cars produce no emis-sions, but the electricity they arecharged with is made mostly fromfossil fuels like coal and natural gas.Still, electric cars produce two-thirds fewer greenhouse gas emis-sions, on average, than a similarlysized car that runs on gasoline, ac-cording to the Natural ResourcesDefense Council.

Driving 10,000 miles on electric-ity will use about 2,500 kilowatt-hours, or 20 percent more than theaverage annual consumption of U.S.homes.

I-CAR Premieres New Vehicle Technology and Trends Course at SEMAI-CAR, the Inter-Industry Conferenceon Auto Collision Repair, has an-nounced that it will introduce a newcourse on November 2 during theSEMA Show at the Las Vegas Con-vention Center. I-CAR’s new courseprovides training on the latest vehicletechnology and its implications dur-ing the repair process.

Vehicle Technology and Trends2011 (NEW11) is an instructor-ledcourse that offers students informa-tion on the many features surroundingnew vehicle designs and innovations.Students will learn about new materi-als and equipment, changes in vehiclemakers’ procedures, and governmentregulations.

Jeff Peevy, I-CAR Director ofField Operations said, “The ability torecognize new technology and its im-plications during the repair processcan be key to achieving a safer, morecomplete repair, and improved opera-tional efficiencies. This course will bebeneficial to anyone involved in therepair process.

Peevy continued, “This courseprovides detail on new featuressuch as electric vehicles, fuel-sav-ing tires, stronger aluminum, andside airbag pressure-based sensors.The course also touches on whatmight be expected in future innova-tions...”

I-CAR’s new course, VehicleTechnology and Trends 2011(NEW11) will help students:

- Recognize new vehicle materialsand designs, safety features, park-as-sist systems, collision-warning sys-tems, and alternative fuel systems- Distinguish newer model vehiclefeatures and technologies from theirpredecessors- Determine repair procedures forplug-in electrics, hybrid high-voltagebatteries, and pressure-based sensors- Understand how the economic cli-mate, new efficiency practices, andgovernment mandates are contribut-ing to rapid changes in vehicle tech-nology- Identify the newest technologies onNorth American, Asian, and Europeanvehicles- Identify the trends that will becometomorrow’s standard features

Registration for Vehicle Technol-ogy and Trends 2011 (NEW11) is cur-rently open and new classes are beingadded to I-CAR’s class schedule on acontinual basis.

Information on scheduled in-structor-led classes can be found onthe I-CAR website at www.i-car.comor by contacting I-CAR CustomerCare at 800-422-7872.

May Hail Storm ‘Disaster’ Now ConsideredBoon for Oklahoma City EconomyA disaster has turned into huge dol-lars for Oklahoma City. City leaderssay the massive hail storm that hitthe metro back in May has broughtbig bucks to the city’s economy.Since the hail storm five monthsago, the city has seen two or threetimes the spending increase com-pared to many other city’s aroundthe state. Roofing companies, for

one, have seen record business.“It’s the hardest I’ve ever

worked in the 10 years since I ownedmy business,” said Mike Curtis.

Curtis owns Crossroads Roof-ing, a local wholesale supplier ofroofing parts.

He says May’s hail stormbrought in more money than any

storm he’s ever seen.“I would say we’ve absolutely

sold 2 or 3 times more than we did theyear prior,” said Curtis.

“Normal growth in sales tax is4 percent. We’re looking at 14 per-cent for October, so it’s been a sig-nificant increase,” said OklahomaCity budget director Craig Free-man.

Specifically, comparingthis year to last, OklahomaCity’s sales tax collections areup 13.81 percent.Norman is up only 4.93 per-cent. Edmond is up 3.47 per-cent. Yukon is up only 1.49percent.It’s clear the impact the

May storm has had on thestate.“We believe right now,

two-thirds of the growthwe’re seeing in sales tax is re-

lated to the storms,” said Freeman.It’s not just roofs, auto parts

businesses have also been booming.Even hotels and restaurants saw

increases because of all the out oftown workers.

Unfortunately, city leaders saythe economic boost is just starting towind down.


Your Source for Wholesale Volvo PartsRight Part. Right Price. Right Now.

Trust your order to the collision parts specialists at these fine Dealers:

volvo Genuine parts

No.California

Carlsen VolvoPALO ALTO

650-493-3205800-70-VOLVOwww.carlsenvolvo.com

Sanderson Volvo of PhoenixGLENDALE

888-249-3673623-842-8799 [email protected]

Galpin VolvoVAN NUYS

818-778-2005818-778-2090 Fax

www.galpin.com

So.California

Arizona

No other replacement parts offer the same fit, finish and structural integrity as Authentic Audi parts. That’s because they’re built to the same blueprint specifications as original parts. So there are no surprises when it comes to installation or painting.

AudiGenuine Parts

Authentic Audi parts.Nothing else measures up.

Order Authentic Audi Parts from these select Dealers

Audi ofDowntown LALOS ANGELES213-747-7248213-222-1261 FaxAsk for Carlos or Fausto

Circle AudiLONG BEACH800-794-7955562-597-2854 FaxAsk for Dave or Pete

So. California

2010 S5 Cabriolet

12 Accused in Louisiana Staged Vehicle Crashes A Claiborne Parish family and a hand-ful of other individuals have been in-dicted by a federal grand jury inconnection with a series of staged ve-hicle crashes in several northLouisiana parishes over a five-yearperiod, according to the ShreveportTimes.

The 12 defendants were arrestedin November on charges of conspir-acy, mail fraud, wire fraud and healthcare fraud.

They include Bobby Lee Kim-ble, 39; Johnny Kimble, 45; LarryKimble, 30, of Athens; Roy Kim-ble, 31, of Arcadia; Tony Kimble,24, of Homer. Also, Monica Jenk-ins, 22, of Athens; Latiffy Robin-son, 27, of Homer; Mary Lee Tate,24, of Arcadia; Shuntorian Turner,30, of Minden; Joe Abbott, 51, ofArcadia; Marcus Kimble, 27, of Ar-cadia; and Damario Henderson,21, of Homer.

The state police, Minden PoliceDepartment, Claiborne Parish Sher-iff’s Office and the U.S. Marshal’sTask Force jointly apprehended nineof the suspects initially.

The next day, two surrendered tostate police investigators at the U.S.Courthouse in Shreveport. One of thedefendants, Henderson, is incarcer-

ated at the Claiborne Parish DetentionCenter on an unrelated theft chargeand will be taken into federal custodyat a later date.

State troopers assigned to the Re-gion II Criminal Investigation Divi-sion’s Insurance Fraud Unit/AutoTheft Unit at the Monroe field officeconducted the investigation that beganin May 2008.

Their investigation indicated theKimble family of Athens and the oth-ers were staging vehicle crashes,prompting fraudulent insuranceclaims to be filed with various insur-ance companies that netted over$40,000.

They were indicted Sept. 24.This is not the first time indict-

ments have been for staged carcrashes. In 2006, 15 people, most ofwhom were from Ringgold, were in-dicted for conspiracy to commit mailfraud and mail fraud. Some had addi-tional charges of health care fraud.

Another ring was busted in2004 in Red River Parish. Eighteenpeople, including 16 from Coushatta,were indicted on charges of conspir-acy and mail, wire and health carefraud. Twenty traffic accidents werestaged between June 1999 and July2001.

Wicklund’s CARSTAR Honors Kansas City Area VeteransOn November 9, Wicklund’sCARSTAR Collision Center hon-ored America’s active duty and mil-itary veterans with a specialcelebration as part of National Mil-itary Month.

The event featured a free cele-bration for all veterans and activeduty military members and theirfamilies, an appearance by theKansas City Royals and presentationof a vehicle to a Kansas City areaveteran by Cars 4 Heroes.

Wicklund’s CARSTAR, a mem-ber of the nation’s largest family ofauto body experts, owned and oper-ated locally for 40 years held theevent at their Liberty, MO shop.

Thanks to the support and gen-erosity of sponsors, the event wasfree to veterans, active military per-sonnel and their spouses. In additionto prizes, food, soft drinks and beer,the Kansas City Royals distributed t-shirts to the first 600 attendees.

At the event, Cars 4 Heroes pre-sented a vehicle to Greg and Deb-bie Kerr from Buckner, MO. Theywere submitted by neighbors and re-ceived a 1992 Toyota Camry.

The organization takes in do-nated cars, makes sure they are me-chanically sound and pass a

Missouri safety inspection for Veter-ans and their families.

As part of the celebration, Wick-lund’s CARSTAR partnered with theVFW Foundation on its “Return theFavor” national campaign designedto boost morale and fill-in govern-mental assistance gaps for troops (allService Branches) and military fam-ilies anywhere in the U.S.

Liberty-area customers can sim-ply make a donation of $5 and havetheir name featured on the “Returnthe Favor” donation cards featuredin the store.

All monetary donations raisedwill be split between the VFW Foun-dation and the local VFW post.

Wicklund’s CARSTAR is alsoholding an “Adopt a Troop” dona-tion program in conjunction withtheir local VFW to collect suppliesfor the troops.

Wicklund’s CARSTAR is lo-cated at 941 Sutton Place Liberty,Mo. 64038.


CHECK IT OUT!


CALL 800-699-8251



[email protected]

800-699-8251




800-699-8251









[email protected]


write us!write us!






AUTOBODY MARKETPLACEWWHHEEEELLSS AAMMEERRIICCAA

Nine Locations in the USA!

888-4-FIX-RIM$109 to repair with this ad

wwwwww.. ff iixxrr iimm..ccoomm

• Thousands of OEM Remanufactured Wheels in Stock

• Lifetime Guarantee• CNC Quality• Powder Coated

101

CONVERT WITH CONFIDENCE:PPG Envirobase® High Performance

PPG’s Envirobase® High Performance is the indus-try’s most advanced waterborne basecoat. With afull range of non-stir, high-opacity toners, expectnothing less than superior color match. This com-pact system is easy to use and offers superior hid-ing and excellent productivity. With its fastapplication and dry times, Envirobase HP makesconverting with confidence easy.

PPGFor more info., visit www.ppgrefinish.com orcontact your local PPG distributor or salesperson.

To advertise, call800-699-8251 www.redtagprintsale.com

Coupon Code: Print10offHigh Quality, Low Cost Printing just got lower!

SHOP FOR SALEAuto Repair, Salvage Yard,Used Car Dealership and

Towing Business13,000 sq.ft. working space, 2 separate 3bedroom apartments, paint booth, 2 framemachines, 3 lifts, air conditioned garage, 2tiltbeds, 1 light duty wrecker, 1 mediumduty wrecker, 1 heavy duty Peterbilt wreckerw/ underlift, 1 Army 6x6 wrecker, Aljon carcrusher, numerous forklifts and hi-lifts, 2tractor trailers w/ Trail-Kingi trailer one with45 alum. trailer, approx. 8-9 acres totallyfenced in, antique cars included, turn-keybusiness with 60 years of repeat customerbase. Buildings full of old parts, misc.buildings, other things too numerous to list.

$2,200,000.00 FirmContact Joe at 724-245-2261

AVENUETRUNK PADDING

INCREASE YOUR PROFITSAND EFFICIENCY!

STOP TRYING TO CUTAND DUPLICATE TRUNK

FLOOR PADDING.WE HAVE PRE-CUTPADDING TO MATCH

AS CLOSE AS POSSIBLETO FACTORY.

Spend less time messing with difficultfloor padding and you’ll get aninvoice from us to bill from.

E-mail year, make & model for a quote:[email protected]

POLYCRACKE

RWaterborne Wax andWaterborne Wax andGrease RemoverGrease RemoverWaterborne Wax andGrease RemoverSINCE 1985SINCE 1985SINCE 1985

Available fromAvailable fromYOUR local Jobber orYOUR local Jobber or

CALL: 973.335.2828CALL: 973.335.2828FAX: 973.402.7222FAX: 973.402.7222

Available fromYOUR local Jobber or

CALL: 973.335.2828FAX: 973.402.7222

[email protected]@[email protected]

Bush Book: Automaker Bailout was “Responsible Action,” Fails to Credit ObamaGeorge W. Bush says he decided to‘rescue’ General Motors and Chryslerin November 2008 because of the hugeconsequences for the economy if he didnot act—and he acted despite his beliefthat the carmakers had dug their ownholes.

“My economic advisers hadwarned that the immediate bankruptcyof the Big Three could cost more thana million jobs, decrease tax revenuesby $150 billion and set back Ameri-can’s GDP by hundreds of billions ofdollars,” he writes of his bailout of theU.S. auto industry in his memoir, De-cision Points.

Bush blames the auto industry’swoes on “decades of poor manage-ment” that “saddled automakers withenormous health-care and pensioncosts. They had been slow to recognizechanges in the market. As a result, theyhad been outcompeted by foreign man-ufacturers in the product and price.”

Bush also discloses that he re-jected a request for a bailout before the2008 presidential election from GMCEO Rick Wagoner.

Bush says he reversed his stance thatgovernment should stay out of the autobusiness when he saw how a bankruptcywould hammer the economy. Bush also

considered his successor in the decision.“I told Barack Obama that I

wouldn’t let the automakers fail,” Bushwrites. “I won’t dump this mess onhim.”

President Bush announced onDec. 18, 2008, that the U.S. govern-ment would provide GM and Chrysler$13.4 billion in emergency funding. Anadditional $4 billion was made avail-able for the car companies in February.This funding allowed the companies tosurvive until bankruptcy reorganizationsaved them.

At the time President Bush said:“These are not ordinary circumstances,

in the midst of a financial crisis and arecession allowing the U.S. auto indus-try to collapse is not a responsible ac-tion.”

In his reflections on the subject re-cently Bush made no mention of his ef-forts being a stop-gap measure orObama’s follow up to the crisis. TheObama administration financed thebankruptcy reorganization of GM andChrysler, effectively rescuing the U.S.auto industry, including Ford, whichhas acknowledged it would have beendecimated by Tier 1 (supplier) failuresin the domestic supply chain. See re-lated details on the GM IPO this issue.

autobody news december 2010 western edition

Documents

social media asa

social media strategyby

coma new social media

theirsocial media accounts

collision hub

use of nonoemparts

recent years

las vegassee cic