autobody news march 2011 southwest edition

CA Paint Jobber NDI Sues BMW North America Afterthe Automaker Implemented its own BMW Paint LineNicolosi Distributing Inc. (NDI), apaint jobber in the San Francisco bayarea, filed a lawsuit against BMW ofNorth America earlier this year alleg-ing intentional interference with acontract with a BMW-certified shop.

NDI accuses BMW of NorthAmerica of interfering with a contractthe jobber had with a BMW-certifiedshop for paint supplies. The suit per-tains to a contract signed betweenNDI and German Motor CollisionCenter, a BMW-certified collisioncenter connected to the BMW of SanFrancisco dealership in May of 2005.The contract was a multi-year agree-

ment that BMW of North Americawas aware of before German MotorsCollision Center signed it.

NDI contends that “BMW inten-tionally interfered with NDI’s con-tractual relationship with GermanMotors Collision Center... by the fol-lowing conduct: BMWhas decided toproduct its own paint line ... BMWrequires auto body shops painting aBMW automobile to only use BMWpaint. BMW forced German MotorsCollision Center to enter into a writ-ten agreement ... which requires Ger-man Motors to use BMW paint on

Freezing temperatures, snow and sleetpummeled parts of Texas, Oklahoma,Arkansas and Louisiana as it made itsway northeast earlier this month. The

storm hit hardest from January 31through February 3 and again on Feb-ruary 9 and 10, although the threat ofsnow loomed through the area formost of the month.

In New Orleans, a mix of rainand sleet fell on the city’s northerndistricts and outlying neighborhoods.

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindaldeclared a state of emergency January27 in anticipation of the weather, acti-vating the state’s Crisis Action Teamto monitor possible hazardous condi-tions that could affect parts of thestate. State government offices in 55Louisiana parishes were closed on

Snow Hits Oklahoma, North Texas ClosingShops and Wreaking Havoc on Motorists

See Snow, Page 8

See Jobber Lawsuit, 4

Class Action Judgments: GEICO Wins Appeal vs.Greenberger & Progressive Wins 2/6 vs. Blue Ash Inc.Two collision-related class action law-suits against major insurers have re-cently been decided in favor of the

insurers. In theGEICO case onappeal partiallydue to lack of evi-dence (the vehicle).In the Progressivecase a summaryjudgment was re-turned on two ofsix countscharged. The

plaintiffs in the Progressive case havedecided to drop the remaining existingcharges to facilitate an appeal of thesummary judgment.

Don’t Give Away the EvidenceThe January 10, 2011 GEICO decisionpertains to a Chicago law professor’sprospective class action suit accusingthe insurance company of deliberatelyomitting repairs from its estimates. Helost the case in part because he gaveaway the car (the evidence) before thecase was resolved.

On July 4, 2002, Greenberger, aprofessor and administrator at aChicago law school, was involved inan automobile accident, and his 1994Acura sustained damage to its bumper,

steering box, suspension, andlower body. The next day, a GEICO in-surance adjuster inspected the car atGreenberger’s home and wrote him acheck for $3,284.69 ($3,784.69 minusa $500 deductible).

Greenberger cashed the check butdid not repair his car. Five months later,a stranger approached Green-berger ina parking lot and expressed interest inbuying the car. Greenberger permittedthis prospective buyer to take theAcura to a friend’s body shop for an es-timate of what it would cost to repairit. The buyer’s technician, Sarkit Tokatof Lake Side Auto Rebuilders, deliv-ered an estimate of $4,938.65, about$1,150 higher thanGEICO’s estimate. The sale was notmade, however, and in December 2002Greenberger donated the car tocharity without making any repairs.

Exactly three years after accept-ing GEICO’s payment on his claim,Greenberger filed a proposed class-ac-tion lawsuit in Cook County CircuitCourt alleging breach of contract, vio-lation of the Illinois Consumer Fraudand Deceptive PracticesAct, and com-mon-law fraud. He claimed thatGEICO systematically underpays onits auto-accident claims by omitting

See Class Actions, Page 35

Erica Eversmancomments onProgressive vs.Blue Ash et. al.

REGIONAL STORIES in this issue...HABA Mulls Labor Rates Surveys for Houston Area . . . . . . . . . . p. 4OK Commissioner Doak Refocuses Anti-Fraud Investigations . . p. 7HABA Hosts Legislative Breakfast for Texas Reps . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 9Caliber Collision Expands in Austin, TX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .p. 12Sherwin-Williams Upcoming Workshopin Houston, TX . . . . . . . .p. 12

NATIONAL Articles and COLUMNS in this issue...Toyota Probe Finds No Electronic Flaws . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .p. 20Attanasio—Crozat’s G&C Autobody Seizes Opportunity . . . . . . .p. 16Franklin—Consistency May Be Boring—But it’s Profitable . . . . .p. 32Danalevich—Insurance Appraiser Bootcamp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .p. 34Amaradio—Setting the Record Straight on Parts Testing . . . . . .p. 33

Tulsa, OK, ‘where the deer and the antelopeplay...’ wait, where’d the antelope go?

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www.autobodynews.com | MARCH 2011 AUTOBODY NEWS 3

SouthwestPublisher & Editor: Jeremy Hayhurst

General Manager: Barbara DaviesEditorial Assistant: Erica SchroederContributing Writers: Tom Franklin, John Yoswick, Lee Amaradio, Dan EspersenJanet Chaney, Toby Chess, Mike Causey, Tom McGee, David Brown, Rich Evans,Ed AttanasioAdvertising Sales: Joe Momber, Sean Hartman (800) 699-8251Sales Assistant: Kristy MangumArt Director: Rodolfo Garcia

Serving Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, New Mexico and adjacent metro areas, Autobody Newsis a monthly publication for the autobody industry. Permission to reproduce in any form thematerial published in Autobody News must be obtained in writing from the publisher.©2011 Adamantine Media LLC.

Autobody NewsBox 1516, Carlsbad, CA 92018; (800) 699-8251 (760) 721-0253 Faxwww.autobodynews.com Email: [email protected]

Allen Samuels Katy Chrysler-Jeep-Dodge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Audi Wholesale Parts Dealers . . . . 38Auto Body Guru . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13Autoland Scientech. . . . . . . . . . . . . 21BMW Wholesale Parts Dealers . . . . 12Chevyland . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18Classifieds. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39Dallas Dodge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40David McDavid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2Equalizer Industries . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6Ford Wholesale Parts DealersTX, OK, LA, NM. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Garmat USA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8Gene Messer Hyundai . . . . . . . . . . 10Global Finishing Solutions . . . . . . . . 9Global PDR Solutions . . . . . . . . . . . . 4GM Wholesale Parts Dealers . . . . . 30Honda/Acura Wholesale PartsDealers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

Huffines Hyundai Plano . . . . . . . . . 14Hyundai Wholesale Parts Dealers . 27

Kia Motors Wholesale Parts Dealers 15LKQ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25Mark’s Casa Mitsubishi. . . . . . . . . . 16Mazda Wholesale Parts Dealers . . . 35Mercedes-Benz of Oklahoma. . . . . 26Mike Calvert Toyota. . . . . . . . . . . . . 28Mitsubishi Wholesale Parts Dealers. 34MOPAR Wholesale Parts Dealers . . 23Nissan/Infiniti Wholesale PartsDealers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Parkway Family Mazda . . . . . . . . . . 22Ray Huffines Chevrolet . . . . . . . . . . . 5Replica Plastics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29Scoggin-Dickey Buick . . . . . . . . . . 17Sherwin-Williams. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7Suzuki Wholesale Parts Dealers. . . 37Toyota Wholesale Parts Dealers . . . 36VIM Tools. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33VolkswagenWholesale Parts Dealers. 29Volvo Wholesale Parts Dealers . . . . 31Young Chevrolet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Inde

xofAdvertisers

REGIONAL

Arizona Hail Storm Damage Tally up to

$15 Million . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Beck Reappointed to Insurance Counsel. . 13

CA Paint Jobber NDI Sues BMW North

America After the Automaker Implemented

its own BMW Paint Line . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Caliber Collision Centers Expands Austin,

TX Regional Coverage . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Copart Auto Parts Moving to TX. . . . . . . . . 7

Evans - The Rich Evans Designs-Mopar

Kit for Dodge's Challenger, Part 2 . . . . . 18

Houston Auto Body Association Hosts

Legislative Breakfast for Texas Reps. . . . 9

Houston Auto Body Association Mulls

Labor Rates Surveys for Houston Area. . 4

Hyundai sending 71 O.C. jobs to Texas,

Georgia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

LA Insurance Agent Arrested for Unfair

Trade Practices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Louisiana DEQ Issues Air Quality Permit

for Nucor Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Louisiana Insurance Department Recovers

More than $9.6M in Insurance Payments

in 2010 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Move to Repeal 1099 Reporting Mandate

for Small Businesses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

New OK Insurance Commissioner Doak

Refocuses Anti-Fraud Investigations from

Consumers to Insurance Companies . . . 7

NM Considers Stricter Regs for Older Drivers. 6

Sherwin-Williams Announces A-Plus™

University Ecolean™ Workshop in

Houston . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Snow Hits Oklahoma, North Texas Closing

Shops and Wreaking Havoc on Motorists. 1

TDI December Enforcement Actions Result

in Nearly $575K in Fines, Restitution . . 10

Texas Senator Drafts Bill to Change

Franchise Tax Laws for Independent

Auto Repairers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Toyota Opens TX, FL Quality Offices in

Drive to Cut U.S. Defects . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Tx-DOT Stats Show Unbuckled Teen

Fatalities High . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

COLUMNISTS

Amaradio - Setting the Record Straight on

Ford vs. Aftermarket Parts Testing . . . . 33

Attanasio - G&C Autobody Seizes

Opportunity to Expand in Northern CA . 16

Danalevich - “It’s a Misunderstanding”—

Insurance Appraiser Boot Camp. . . . . . 34

Franklin - ‘Consistency’ May be Boring—But

It’s Also Profitable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Insurance Insider - Not All “Referrals” are

Created Equal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

McGee - Using Manufacturer TSBs and

Recalls in Collision Shops . . . . . . . . . . 24

Schroeder - John Eagle Collision Center in

Dallas, TX, Focuses on Luxury Brands . 28

Yoswick - New CIC Committee to Focus

on Shop Data’s Capture, Use, Sale, and

Reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

Yoswick - Ten Things to Consider When

Designing a New Shop, Remodel, or

Expansion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

NATIONAL

ABPA Says Aftermarket Bumper

Outperformed Ford Counterpart in

Crash Test . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

BASF Official Show Sponsor of

NORTHEAST 2011. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

Chief Advises on High-Strength Steel

in OEMs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Chrysler Group’s Mopar Division to Expand

Accessories Portfolio in 2011 . . . . . . . 21

Class Action Judgements: GEICO Wins

Appeal vs. Greenberger & Progressive

Wins 2/6 vs. Blue Ash Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . 1

CREW Hosts New CIC Chairman Mike Quinn

in Webcast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

Diamond Standard Says All its Rear Step

Bumpers Are Now NSF Certified. . . . . . . 3

House Votes to Block E15 from Pumps

Due to Potential Engine Failure . . . . . . . 20

Jordan Hendler Averts Teenager’s

Suicide Attempt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Repair Standards Advisory Committee

Requests Consultant to Help Draft

Standards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

The Auto Body Guru Answers Questions

on Online Marketing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Toyota Unintended Acceleration Probe

Finds No Electronic Flaws . . . . . . . . . . 20

Weaver - When it Comes to Diagnostics,

First, The Basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

ContentsDiamond Standard has announcedthat it is the only “U.S. manufacturerto have all its alternative primed andplated front steel bumpers certified.

“Specifically, 571 Diamond Stan-dard parts/applications have reachedCertification status in the NSF pro-gram,” says Geoff Crane, BusinessDevelopment Manager of DiamondStandard.

Additionally, all 280 DiamondStandard rear step bumper full assem-blies are now Certified as meeting theFederal Standard of VESC V-5 towa-bility byMGAResearch Corporation ofBurlington,Wisconsin, an independent,17025 accredited test facility to the au-tomotive industry. VESC V-5 func-tional performance testing is the onlyFederal requirement for step bumperassemblies. Diamond Standard’s Man-ufacturing Group also supplies USAmade replacement steel/aluminumhoods and bumper top pads which areCAPA certified.

“I am proud to announce thatCAPA certification of Diamond Stan-

dard bumpers is moving forward. Di-amond Standard Brand is poised toaccelerate the introduction of newmodel car parts across all categoriesbeginning this month and we’ll beadding new part categories within theyear,” said O’Neal.

“Dynamic and destructive com-parative testing by industry expertsproving equal functional performanceis a demonstrated core competency ofour Company and an assurance to theindustry and vehicle owner that use ofCertified Diamond Standard partsprovide an acceptable alternative partwithout compromising safety anddamageability.

Diamond Standard Structuralparts are available through limitedquality distributors nationwide in-cluding the AQRP program at Key-stone, an LKQ company.

For more information visitwww.diamondstandardparts.com orcontact Geoff Crane at [email protected], or (901)398-5759.

Diamond Standard Says All its Rear StepBumpers Are Now NSF Certified

The Houston Auto Body Association(HABA) held their monthly meetingon February 1 at 7:00pm at Russell andSmith Collision Center in Houston.

Part of the night’s agenda was tohave an open discussion with the 25or 30 members in attendance andthe HABA Board Membersabout conducting a laborrates survey in the Houstonarea and which companyshould do this.

“We are currently get-ting bids from independentsurvey companies to con-duct a labor rate survey inHouston and surroundingareas,” said HABA’s Presi-dent, James Brown, “Westrongly disagree with theinsurance industries deter-mination of what the prevail-ing rate is in our area.”

Brown went on to say thataccording to the Insurer Survey an-swers given by the five largest Insur-ers in Texas, their are manyinconsistant procedures in determin-ing prevailing rates.

Only one Insurer has a way forthe Collision Industry to provide theirindividual labor rates, which is whyassociation-directed surveys can helpfind an average labor rate.

The script of the survey is as fol-lows:“CSi Complete Independent LaborRate Survey On behalf of the HABA

This survey is to determine the laborrate in the Metro Houston market byan independent third party. If you area Multi-Location facility, please fillout a survey for each individual loca-tion. No Shop Names will be pub-

lished when the results arereleased.1. What is your PostedHourly Rate on the follow-ing:a. Body Labor (ex. cus-tomer pay rate)b.Frame Laborc. Paint Labord. Paint Materiale. Mechanical Labor2. What is the total numberof technicians employed?(Body, paint, and mechani-cal)3. How many work stalls doyou have?

4. What is the square footage ofyour facility?5. What is the gross annual sales ofyour shop?a. Under $500,000 in annual grosssales

b. $500,000 to $1,000,000 in annualgross salesc. $1,000,000 to $2,000,000 in annualgross salesd. Over $2,000,000 in annual grosssalesShop Name :Survey completed by:Title :Please fax completed survey to (614)873-9834”

HABA is moving forward withconducting the surveys now that CSiComplete has signed on to conductthem. They will be reaching out toshops via phone, web and faxed sur-veys in March and April of this year.

“We are providing a list of athousand body shops along with theirphone numbers [to the company cho-sen to conduct the surveys],” saidBrown, “We have commitments fromsome of our Associate Members tocover the cost of the survey.”

For more information please visitwww.habaonline.org. The survey canalso be taken online at http://www.csi-complete.com/haba/. This link willnot be active until March 10.


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Houston Auto Body Association Mulls Labor Rates Surveys for Houston Area

It’s a simple step some don’t takewhen they get in a vehicle and most ofthem are teens. The latest statisticsfrom the Texas Department of Trans-portation show those between the agesof 16 and 20 are not buckling up, ac-cording to reports made by KFOX14El Paso.

“Over 56 percent of teenagersthat are involved in car crashes aredying out in the streets. It is be-cause of the simple fact that theydid not buckle up,” said Tx-DOTtraffic safety specialist MonicaO’Kane.

In 2009 more than 3,000 teensdied in accidents on Texas roads. Thatis why the Texas Department ofTransportation is focusing its Click itor Ticket campaign on teens.

The department is touring Texaswith a wrecked truck to prove seatbelts, save lives.”

O’Kane shared the story behindthe truck with KFOX, “There weretwo teenagers here in Texas, a 17-year-old with a 14-year-old passen-ger.

Both of them were males. Theyhad a blow out and they lost controlof the vehicle. The truck flipped andhit a rock embankment and basicallythis is the outcome.Wearing seatbeltssaved their lives.”

Behind the statistics of unbuck-

led fatalities there are stories thatprove the dangers of not wearing aseat belt.

On Jan. 20, 2011 Evaylnn Rose,was a passenger with four of herfriends when they collided with atruck in East El Paso at the intersec-tion of Lee Boulevard and TurnerRoad.

“None of the young adults in thecar my granddaughter was in wherewearing seat belts,” said her grand-mother, Debbie Rose.

Teens are not the only ones notbuckling up. El Paso has lost eightpeople in car crashes this year.

Special Traffic Investigator ofthe El Paso Police Department FrankTorres told KFOX, “Out of thoseeight fatalities four of them were notwearing seat belts. Nineteen total par-ties were involved in these accidentsand nine where not wearing their seatbelts.”

It is not only against the law notto buckle up but seatbelts are consid-ered the No.1 defense on the road-ways.

That is why O’Kane urges driv-ers to be an example as well. “Don’tstart the car. Don’t leave unless every-one is buckled up,” she said.

For more information on Tx-Dot Click it or Ticket Campaignhttp://www.seatbeltsrock.com/

Tx-DOT Stats Show Unbuckled Teen Fatalities High


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Collision Centers & Body Shops

Senator Dan Patrick (R-Houston)filed a new bill, S.B. No. 476, on Feb-ruary 1.

The bill would change current taxlaws by reclassifying auto repair as awhole as a “retail trade” entity.

According to ASA Texas, auto-motive repair and collision shops

owned and oper-ated by new orused car dealer-ships are taxed athalf the rate usedto tax the inde-pendently ownedshops doing identi-cal work under

current Texas Franchise Tax Code.This is justified in the tax code by

classifying dealership sales as “retail”and allowing their service and repairbusiness to be included under thatbanner.

The tax rate for retail sales is halfof that for other types of revenue.

The bill would benefit independent

shops by making them eligible for thelower .5% margin tax rate that shopsowned by dealerships are privy to.

The full text of the bill is as fol-lows:“Relating to the classification of auto-motive repair shops as primarily en-gaged in retail trade for purposes ofthe franchise tax.BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGIS-LATURE OF THE STATE OFTEXAS:

SECTION 1. Section 171.0001(12),Tax Code, is amended to read as fol-lows:(12) “Retail trade” means:(A) the activities described in Divi-

sion G of the 1987 Standard IndustrialClassification Manual published bythe federal Office of Management andBudget; and(B) the activities classified as Indus-try Group 753 of the 1987 StandardIndustrial Classification Manual pub-lished by the federal Office of Man-agement and Budget.

SECTION 2. This Act applies only toa report originally due on or after theeffective date of this Act.

SECTION 3. This Act takes effectJanuary 1, 2012.”

For more information please visitwww.asatx.org.


Texas Senator Drafts Bill to Change Franchise TaxLaws for Independent Auto Repairers

Louisiana Insurance CommissionerJim Donelon announced that theLouisiana Department of Insurance(LDI) aided Louisiana insurance con-sumers in receiving more than $9.6million in insurance payments fromconsumer complaints last year, ac-cording to reports made by InsuranceJournal.

This is an additional $1.4 millionover the amount of funds recovered in2009.

The largest amount—more than$6 million — was recovered fromproperty and casualty insurers.

The recovered funds result frominsurance claims disputes in whichLDI was able to work with insurancecompanies and consumers to recovermonies above what the insurancecompanies originally offered the con-sumers to settle their claims.

Funds recovered are from formalcomplaints regarding property andcasualty, health insurance, life and an-nuities, and consumer advocacyclaims.

Information on inquiries, com-plaints and funds recaptured by eachoffice is as follows:2010 Consumer Insurance DisputeSettlementsOffice: Inquiries - Complaints - $ Re-

coveredOffice of Property & Casualty:4,596 1967 $6,076,864.58Office of Health:592 1,310 $1,440,147.46Division of Life and Annuities:7,836 456 $2,060,429.00Office of Consumer Advocacy:74 21 $51,852.25Total:13,098 3754 $9,629,293.10

Consumers who feel they are notbeing paid what they should for lossesas stated in their insurance policiescan contact LDI and request assis-tance and/or file a formal complaint.

Department examiners reviewcomplaints from policyholders anddetermine if the insurance companyhas honored the insurance policy andpaid the consumer what they are dueper the provisions of their policy.

For more information pleasevisit www.ldi.state.la.us.

Louisiana Insurance Department Recovers Morethan $9.6M in Insurance Payments in 2010

New Mexico’s Legislature is con-sidering a bill that would imposestricter monitoring and license re-newal standards on older drivers,according to reports made by In-surance Journal.

In addition to a vision exam,Senate Bill 125 would subject driv-ers 75 years and older to tests oftheir reflexes, reaction times, motorskills and coordination. and mayinclude other physical or mentalexaminations at their license re-newal.

Additionally, the bill would re-quire a driver to renew the driver’slicense at no cost every two yearsfrom age 75 to 84; every year, fromage 85 to 89; and every six monthsfrom age 90 and thereafter.

Sen. PeterWirth, D-Santa Fe,said the requirement would help todetermine older drivers’ fitness tooperate a motor vehicle or motor-cycle safely upon the highways.

Typically, drivers must renewtheir license every four or eightyears.

NM Considers StricterRegs for Older Drivers

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Dan Patrick

New Oklahoma Insurance Commis-sioner John Doak appointed RandyBrogdon to the Deputy InsuranceCommissioner Consumer Affairs Di-vision in early January.

Brogdon quickly found that theOklahoma Insurance Department’s(OID) anti-fraud division spent mostof its time looking at citizens al-legedly committing fraud, not insur-ance companies allegedly committingfraud. Brogdon’s main focus is theanti-fraud division. CommissionerDoak felt that the Oklahoma Insur-ance Department had “lost sight of itscore mission,” according to Public In-formation Officer ShawnAshley.

Doak would like to focus more onwhite-collar fraud that hurts Okla-homa’s insurance consumers, accord-ing to Ashley, because he feels thiswell better serve the Oklahoma public.Doak and Brogdon will be shifting thefocus of this division completely byfocusing more on insurance compa-nies accused of fraud starting immedi-ately. Brogdon found that 120 of the142 current cases of alleged insurancefraud were made by insurance compa-nies against consumers.

Ashley said that insurance com-panies have their own departments re-sponsible for looking into fraudclaims against their own customers

which is part of the reason for the re-focus. Although the OID by law hasto look at any complaint submitted,they will be more heavily focusingtheir efforts on larger complaints offraud made by citizens of Oklahomaagainst insurance companies.

“We’re here to serve the citizensof Oklahoma and that’s what we planto do,” said Ashley.

The OID will not be going outand actively looking for cases offraud, but will continue to take seri-ously any claims brought forth to theiroffice. Ashley said that this changewill allow the OID to focus more onconsumers.


New OK Insurance Commissioner Doak Refocuses Anti-FraudInvestigations from Consumers to Insurance Companies

Copart Auto Parts Moving to TXACalifornia auto parts company saidFebruary 4 that it plans to move itscorporate headquarters to Dallas, ac-cording to the Dallas Morning News.

Fairfield-based Copart Inc.’shead office and a divisional process-ing center will relocate to the Dallasarea next year.

“This change will position uscloser to our customers geographi-cally, resulting in improved customerservice and greater operational effi-ciencies,” said Jay Adair, Copart’sCEO.

Copart sells salvage vehicles andparts on the Internet.

The company, whichwas foundedin 1982, said it plans to set up three pro-cessing centers in Fairfield, GrandPrairie and Hartford, Conn.

Hyundai sending 71 O.C.jobs to Texas, GeorgiaHyundai CapitalAmerica, the Koreanauto company’s financing arm, istransferring 71 jobs from Irvine to itsoffices in Dallas and Austell, Ga., aspokesman has confirmed.

Chris Hosford, a HyundaiMotor America spokesman, saidHyundai Capital would maintain apresence in Irvine but that collectionsand customer service positions wouldbe moved.

“The jobs are being transferredbecause they are focusing more oftheir efforts in the South and South-west through Hyundai’s existing op-erations in those two cities,” Hosfordsaid.

He said the people in Irvine whoare affected have been notified andthose jobs will end March 31.

“All the employees who arequalified have been offered to applyfor the positions and encouraged to doso,” Hosford said.

He did not know how many peo-ple will make the move. HyundaiCapital’s website says it has about 500people in Irvine, Fountain Valley andAustell. The company provides fi-nancing to Hyundai and Kia dealersand vehicle buyers. Some of the Irvineworkers have applied for other jobswith the company in California.

“For some people, the opportu-nity to move to an area of the countrywhere housing costs are lower couldbe a good thing,” he said.

Hosford said the job transfers areunrelated to Hyundai Motor Amer-ica’s plans to more than double thesize of its North American headquar-ters off the I-405 in Fountain Valley.The company plans to begin hiringthis year and expects to double thestaffing at its headquarters to about1,400 people.

January 28 because of the wintryweather, according to reports made byCNN.

The snow hit hardest in Okla-homa, as residents continued to slowlydig out of 20 inches of snow, sleet and

ice that shut down major interstatesand forced the closure of airports,businesses and schools.

President Barack Obamagranted an emergency declaration re-quest from Oklahoma GovernorMary Fallin late February 2, pavingthe way for federal assistance tocounties needing help to deal withthe storm’s aftermath. Oklahoma In-surance Commissioner John Doakalso issued a statewide emergency

order due to “severe snow, ice andwind storms on February 1 and 2,”according to a statement made Feb-ruary 4.

The storm was part of a systemmore than 2,000 miles long that bar-reled through the nation’s midsectionon its way to the Northeast, leavingvast swaths from the plains to NewEngland coated in snow and ice, ac-cording to Insurance Journal re-ports.

Autobody News columnist Scott‘Gonzo’ Weaver, owns and operatesan auto electric shop in Tulsa. Because

of the heavy snowWeaver was unableto work most of the week of January31 through February 6.

“I probably will be workingovertime next week once I get backinto the shop. One of the most com-mon problems I see with snow re-moval is the Ford pickups. Thedrivers go backwards and forwards sooften that the shifter housing will

snap, then the truck won’t go intopark,” said Gonzo.

Gonzo’s SuperiorAuto Electricin Tulsa has been pretty much at astandstill since the heavy snowstarted. “It pretty much puts us at astandstill. I wouldn’t call it busy,more like stuck, cars can’t get in orout. So I’m shut down until this getsbetter. I’m hoping for next Monday(February 7), but it’s not lookinggood. Nobody is fixing cars right

now, just getting from pointA to pointB seems to be the big concern,” saidGonzo.

Herb’s Paint and Body inRichardson, TX, also saw heavysnow that impacted their ability towork.

“Business is brisk this morning(February 7) but it was obviously deadlast week as no one got out Tuesdayor Wednesday—then when they gotout ... for some reason the confidenceratio was high and wrecks were every-where,” said Body Shop ManagerAlan Walne. “Texans love pickups

but some have not figured out they arevery poor in snow with ice under it.”

Unlike Gonzo’s Tulsa shop, mostshops in North Texas were able to stayopen during the storm since the areawasn’t hit as hard. Although shopsstayed open, most were still not ableto conduct much work due to lack oftraffic and parts deliveries.

“We were open all last week butnobody came in and no parts or anyvendor deliveries were made—not agood week but we will probably makeup for it now,” continued Walne.

Once the snow starts to clear up,body shops were anticipating in-creased traffic due to people assessingdamage on their vehicles due to snowaccumulation or fender benders causedby the icy conditions.

Trophy Nissan in Mesquite, TXalso stayed open during the storms,but didn’t see an increase in trafficuntil the weather lightened up a bit.

“At Trophy Nissan we were ableto stay open every day until 5 whichis earlier than our normal closing hourof 6. We were open a full day Satur-day (February 5), and as of today(February 7) we are seeing an increaseon traffic related to that storm,” said

Collision Center Director MattBurkley.

Superior Auto Electric9911 East 54th St.Tulsa, OK, 74146918-622-3803

Herb’s Paint and Body666 N Central ExpyRichardson, TX 75080972-783-7376

Trophy Nissan Collision Center4930 N Galloway AveMesquite, TX 75150972-681-0859


Continued from Cover

Snow

Piles of snow in Tulsa, OK

Herb’s Paint and Body under a light dusting ofsnow

Some of the damaged vehicles at Herb’s fromsnow-related collisions

Scott ‘Gonzo’ Weaver tries to dig out his shopfrom three feet of snow

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The Houston AutoBody Association(HABA) hosted alegislative break-fast event on Feb-ruary 16 at theCapitol Grill in theTexas State Cap-tiol.

The event al-lowed attendeesfrom the collision

repair industry to meet and discuss is-sues with their state representatives.

The entire legislature was invitedto the event that ran from 8:30am to10:30am.

“The breakfast was a successwith around 200 in attendance, wealso visited all 150 State Representa-tives offices and all 31 State Sena-tors,” said HABA’s President JamesBrown.

HABA passed out individual let-ters to each representative that de-tailed HABA’s mission and code ofethics, along with gift bags containinga coaster and acrylic car with HABA’swebsite and logo on them.

“On a side note, the AutomotiveService Association (ASA) was thereand making their rounds trying to gainsupport for HB 429 concerning theFranchise Tax law revision which

would allow Inde-pendant Automo-tive and Collisionshops to be taxedat the same rate asDealer owned Au-tomotive and Col-lision Shops whichwe support aswell,” said Brown.

Breakfast wasincluded in the

event which was sponsored by HABAand theAutomotive Parts and ServiceAssociation.

For more information please visitwww.habaonline.org.


Houston Auto Body Association Hosts Legislative Breakfast for Texas Reps

Trey Perdue and his wife with David Walla of Walla & Co

Chuck Greer of Parts Express talking to legislative staff

HABA members got a chance to chat with their Texas representatives at the event

www.autobodynews.comCHECK IT OUT!

Texas Department of Insurance en-forcement actions taken by Commis-sionerMike Geeslin that became finalduring December 2010 include four li-cense revocations, and fines and resti-tution totaling $574,348.

Copies of Geeslin’s orders maybe obtained by contacting TDI’s Pub-lic Information Office atwww.tdi.state.tx.us.

An order imposing disciplinarymeasures becomes final 20 days afterthe agent or insurance company hasreceived notice of the order unless amotion for rehearing is filed withinthat period. A motion for rehearingstays the finality of an order until theCommissioner of Insurance acts uponthe motion or upon the operation oflaw. Commissioner’s orders are sub-ject to appeal to state district court.

Final Disciplinary Orders for De-cember 2010:Burkholder, Valerie Kay of HoustonOrder Number: 101100Action Taken: Fined $1,000Violation: Made a material misrepre-sentation on a license applicationDeal, Robert Steven of San AntonioOrder Number: 101087Action Taken: Fined $500; Mustcomplete 10 hours of continuing edu-cationViolation: Failed to comply with con-tinuing education requirementsGlover, Kevin Tyler of TempleOrder Number: 101028Action Taken: InsuranceAdjuster Li-cense revokedViolation: Criminal offense – felonyforgery by passingHill County Title Company of Hills-boroOrder Number: 101036Action Taken: Fined $4,000

Violation: Failed to timely provide anannual trust fund account audit re-port/annual statistical reportHudson Valley Consultants, LLC; Na-tional Association of Business Lead-ership LLC and/or Inc.; RichardDunn, Kevin Dunn; Barbara E.Dunn of Montville, N.J.Order Number: 101114Action Taken: General Life,Accidentand Health Licenses surrendered andcancelledViolation: Unauthorized insuranceMatthews, RebeccaAnne of Center-villeOrder Number: 101097Action Taken: Fined $1,500; Mustcomplete three hours of continuingeducationViolation: Failure to comply withcontinuing education requirementsOakum, Maria Meyer of HoustonOrder Number: 101099Action Taken: Fined $7,000Violation: Made a material misrepre-sentation on a license applicationOchoa, Raymond Matthew of SanAntonioOrder Number: 101103Action Taken: General Life,Accidentand Health License and General Prop-erty and Casualty License revokedViolation: Misappropriated or con-verted money belonging to an insureror insuredPage, Cynthia Jo of LeonaOrder Number: 101098Action Taken: Fined $1,500; Mustcomplete three hours of continuingeducationViolation: Failure to comply withcontinuing education requirementsRoach, Theresa Ann of BuffaloOrder Number: 101113Action Taken: Fined $2,500; Must

complete five hours of continuing ed-ucationViolation: Failure to comply withcontinuing education requirementsRodriguez, Helen Y. of San AntonioOrder Number: 101104Action Taken: General Property andCasualty License revokedViolation: Misappropriated or con-verted money belonging to an insureror insuredRuckstuhl, Denise of CypressOrder Number: 101101Action Taken: Fined $1,000Violation: Made a material misrepre-sentation on a license applicationRussell-Surles Title, Inc. of BairdOrder Number: 101082Action Taken: Fined $20,000; TitleAgent Licenses revokedViolation: Failed to comply withCommissioner’s Order; Failed totimely provide an annual trust fundaccount audit report / annual statisti-cal reportSpencer, Mary Ann of BellaireOrder Number: 101102Action Taken: Fined $1,000Violation: Made a material misrepre-

sentation on a license applicationStewart Title Guaranty Company,Stewart Title Corpus Christi DivisionF/K/AStewart Title of Corpus Christi,Inc. of Houston and Corpus ChristiOrder Number: 101089Action Taken: Fined $25,000; Mustpay restitution of $500,418Violation: Violated requirements forissuing title insurance policies; failedto submit an accurate annual statisti-cal reportTitle Team of Texas LLC of FortWorthOrder Number: 101094Action Taken: Fined $3,300Violation: Failed to timely provide anannual trust fund account audit re-port/annual statistical reportTrinity County Abstract of GrovetonOrder Number: 101037Action Taken: Fined $1,000; TitleAgent License renewed and sus-pended for 30 days; Must pay restitu-tion of $4,630Violation: Failed to timely furnishpolicies to insureds; Failed to timelyremit underwriter portions of pre-mium.


TDI December Enforcement Actions Result in Nearly $575K in Fines, Restitution

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Toyota Motor Corp. is adding officesin Texas and Florida to catch potentialdefects at an early stage a year after re-calling millions of U.S. vehicles.

The new Houston and Jack-sonville operations follow similar fieldoffices opened in New York and SanFrancisco last year to evaluate and re-spond to customers’ safety and qualityconcerns, Toyota said in a statement.It plans to open a fifth office in Denverin the first quarter of 2011, Toyotasaid.

After recalling U.S. vehicles,Toyota is still working to regain itsreputation for quality. The impact of a

series of recalls last year led Toyota toreport a 0.4 percent U.S. sales declinefor the period, bucking the industry’s11 percent annual gain.

Technicians at the regional of-fices will investigate customer com-plaints and research specific vehicleissues, the company said. The Jack-sonville office will specialize in heat-ing, ventilation and air conditioningproblems, while Houston will focus ontrucks and chassis components, Toy-ota said.

The Denver office will evaluatesport-utility vehicles and performancein high-altitude areas.

Toyota Opens TX, FL Quality Offices in Drive to Cut U.S. Defects


Troopers with the Lafayette Field Of-fice of the Louisiana State Police In-surance Fraud Unit recently arrested aVille Platte insurance agent for unfairtrade practices, according to InsuranceJournal.

In October 2010, troopers re-ceived a criminal complaint about 65-year-old Melvin J. Lavergne of VillePlatte, La. The complaint alleged thatLavergne, the owner and agent ofLavergne’s Insurance Agency locatedin Ville Platte, had failed to send insur-ance premiums collected from cus-tomers to the insurance companies.

Lavergne allegedly failed to sub-mit more than $1,160 in insurance pre-miums for four separate customeraccounts resulting in seven cancellationnotices being issued. Based on the in-vestigation troopers were able to obtaina warrant for Lavergne’s arrest.

Lavergne is charged with com-mitting unfair trade practices. The De-partment of Insurance Fraud SectionInvestigators served Lavergne with asummary suspension of his license, acease and desist order, a $4,500 finenotice and notice of proposed licenserevocation for allegedmisappropriationof insurance premiums.

LA Insurance Agent Arrested forUnfair Trade Practices

The Louisiana Department of Envi-ronmental Quality (DEQ) has issuedan air quality permit to Nucor Corp.,for the direct reduced iron making fa-cility that the steel company is look-ing to build in St. James Parish, La.

According to a Nucor release, theissuance of the air permit will allowthe company to order equipment andstart construction on the facility.

The air quality permit allows forthe construction and operation of twoplants with a combined annual pro-duction of 5.5 million tons of directreduced iron (DRI). Initially, Nucorwill build one DRI plant with plans toexpand to a second facility.

“We are very excited that we willbe able to begin moving forward withthe construction of this facility. Ournation’s economy needs capital in-vestment projects like this that stimu-late job growth and contribute to asustainable economic recovery,” saysDan DiMicco, Nucor chairman andCEO.

The release notes that the DRI fa-cility is the first phase of a multi-phaseplan that may include a coke plant,blast furnace, pellet plant and steelmill.

Louisiana DEQ Issues Air QualityPermit for Nucor Project The House Small Business Commit-

tee has held its first hearing in the112th session of Congress on the 1099reporting mandate of the new healthcare law. The reporting mandatewould require small businesses to filea 1099 form with the IRS for everyvendor they pay more than $600 in ayear. Sam Graves, R-Mo., HouseSmall Business Committee chairman,who led the hearing, said, “This new1099 requirement will cause an ava-lanche of additional 1099 forms to befiled, and affect more than 36 millionentities. At a time when we should bemaking it easier to create jobs, pro-mote growth and invest in our econ-omy, small firms don’t need yetanother costly and burdensome man-date.” During his testimony, Rep.DanLungren, R-Calif., said, “I would sug-gest to the committee that Section9006 conveys the worst possible mes-sage to the small business community.It reflects a disconnect with the day-to-day reality faced by the men andwomen involved with companies ineach and every one of our districts. Asone small businessman recently relatedto me, ‘This is what you would expectfrom someone who has never laidawake at night worrying about making

a payroll.’ He’s right, and we should-n’t be adding to the worries of thosewho run small business enterprises.”More at www.TakingTheHill.com.

Move to Repeal 1099 Reporting Mandate for Small Businesses

Arizona Hail Storm DamageTally up to $15 MillionDamage from last October’s hailstorm is costing the MaricopaCounty, Ariz., government and tax-payers millions, according to reportsmade by Claims Journal.

Officials say the storm thatdumped large hail in some areasdamaged about 450 county-ownedvehicles.

Some vehicles had cracked andbroken windshields.

The county says others haddamaged and dented hoods and mir-rors on cars, buses, vans and forklifts.

The county says the cost of re-pairs will be partially picked up byinsurance carriers but tens of thou-sands of dollars in repair costs willbe passed on to taxpayers.

TheArizona Republic reports thecounty estimates total real-propertydamage costs from the Oct. 5 stormrange from $15million to $20million.


Caliber Collision Centers, operator ofindustry-leading collision repair fa-cilities throughout California andTexas, announced today its newestexpansion in theAustin, TX area withthe grand opening of a newly reno-vated 30,000 square foot state-of-the-art collision repair facility located at601 East Ben White Blvd.

Steve Grimshaw, Caliber Colli-sion Center Chief Executive Officersaid, “This new CaliberCollision Cen-ter facility will help satisfy the grow-ing needs of our clients in the Austinarea. The opening of this location fur-ther supports Caliber’s long-termgrowth strategy and offers best-of-class operational consistency, cus-tomer focus, and cost management.”

The addition of the Austin BenWhite location further reinforces Cal-iber Collision Center’s position as the#1 collision repair provider of choicein Texas with 43 centers across thestate. This acquisition also strengthensCaliber Collision Center’s position asthe largest independently operatedcollision repair organization in theU.S. with a total of 80 service centersthroughout California and Texas.

“This center was designed to re-store Texans to the rhythms of their

lives with world class customer com-forts, service and quality repairs thatresult in higher customer satisfaction”addedMark Sanders, Chief Operat-ing Officer for Caliber Collision.

About Caliber Collision CentersFounded in 1997, Caliber CollisionCenters operates 80 state-of-the-artcollision repair service centers inCalifornia and Texas. Caliber plansto continue acquiring and integrat-ing additional high-volume colli-sion repair centers while providinginnovative collision repair solutionsand automobile damage claims sup-port.

For more information visitwww.calibercollision.com.

Caliber Collision Centers Expands Austin, TX Regional Coverage

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Sherwin-Williams Announces A-Plus™ UniversityEcolean™ Workshop in HoustonThe next A-Plus™ EcoLean™ Level1 workshop from Sherwin-WilliamsAutomotive Finishes will be heldApril 13-14 at the Gulf States ToyotaCorporate Training Center in Houston,TX.

Sherwin-Williams’ exclusiveEcoLean Level 1 workshops are de-signed to educate attendees aboutmaximizing profitability by improv-ing productivity and eliminatingwaste throughout their facilities. Theprogram is offered to collision centerowners and dealer managers fromacross the United States and Canada.

“Our EcoLean workshop cur-riculum is developed with collisionshop operators in mind,” notesSteven Feltovich, manager of busi-ness consulting services for Sherwin-Williams Automotive Finishes. “Weaim to give them a comprehensivelook of how they can build a lean cul-ture in their shop from the groundup.”

During the upcoming HoustonEcoLean Level 1 workshop attendeeswill learn practical processes and use-ful tips on lean production’s practicalapplication in collision repair and

methods to make their collision shopsmore efficient, productive and prof-itable.

Feltovich says the program alsoseeks to educate shop owners aboutthe fact that environmentally soundbusiness decisions go hand-in-handwith reduction of excessive and du-plicative procedure and environmen-tal waste.

“Attendees will leave the two-day event with tangible tools to imme-diately increase the quality andproduction output of their businesses,”Feltovich says.

To register online for the April13-14 A-Plus University EcoLeanLevel 1 workshop in Houston, go to:www.sherwin-automotive.com/en/Events.aspx.For more information on EcoLean,call (216) 332-8580.

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Repair Standards Advisory Committee Re-quests Consultant to Help Draft StandardsThe Repair Standards AdvisoryCommittee, formed by the CollisionIndustry Conference (CIC) to ad-dress the desire for standards in theUnited States collision repair indus-try, announced the next step it is tak-ing to form the standard setting bodyproposed at the July 2010 CIC Meet-ing.

In support of this effort, the com-mittee has posted a Request for Pro-posal (RFP) for a consultant to assistthe group in the preparation of a busi-ness case statement for the new organ-ization.

“As the committee is comprisedentirely of volunteers, the group be-lieved the time was right to engage aconsultant to assist the committee inits work to define and establish theproposed standards organization,”Russell Thrall III, chair of the RepairStandards Advisory Committee.

The business case will be usedby the organization to define the de-mand for repair standards based uponinterviews and research with collisionrepairers, insurers, equipment manu-facturers, paint system manufacturersvehicle manufacturers and others.The business case will also define thescope of the new organization andhow it will develop standards, how

the standards will be used by the col-lective industry and how the organi-zation will be staffed, governed andfunded.

The work will build upon the ef-forts by the previous CIC Repair Stan-dards Committee.

“Many individuals, businessesand groups have expressed support forthe formation of the proposed instituteand the committee believes the cre-ation of the business case will serve todefine and help communicate the ben-efits of collision repair standards forboth the industry and the consumer,”said Thrall. “The business case willdefine the scope and goals of the pro-posed collision repair standards insti-tute and build upon the excellent workof the CIC Repair Standards Commit-tee.”

The RFP is available to downloadfrom the CIC website at www.ci-clink.com. Questions can be directedto Russell Thrall III, [email protected]; 570-629-8010.

Q: It’s a new year and I am evaluat-ing all my current marketing. Should Ibe investing more money in print Yel-low Pages?A: Great Question! While its true thatprint Yellow Pages was a great way tomarket your business many years agothe marketing climate has changedand the way your potential customersare searching for auto body and paintservices has changed. In fact, just over70% of searches for local goods andservices are conducted online viamajor search engines and directorieslike Google, Yahoo!, Bing and manymore and usually at a fraction of thecost.

Q: I get mostly insurance work now.How can marketing my business on-line help?A: This comes up a lot and onlinemarketing is actually a great comple-ment for your existing work. In mostcases when people are searching on-line for repair shops they are doingthis because they are not aware oftheir options. If you’re showing up intop results online you’re just increas-

ing your exposure and also the num-ber of jobs that may be going to yourcompetition now.Also, you may havecomplementary businesses like tow-ing or auto repair that can also benefitfrommaking sure your business is vis-ible online.

Q: I have a website so I’m all setright?A:Actually, No.Awebsite is a needlein a haystack unless its front and cen-ter on search engines and mobilephones. It’s like designing an amazingbusiness card and never passing a sin-gle one out. It doesn’t do you muchgood if nobody sees it. Making sureyou business and website is visible onsearch engines, directories, mobilephones, gps devices, plus other onlinevenues is the key for your business’sfuture growth.

Q: I have people calling me everydayclaiming to be from Google, Yahoo!,or Bing and trying to sell me onlinemarketing, is this for real?A:Unfortunately, like other industriesthe online marketing industry can be

plagued by companies who claimsomething they are not. The fact of thematter is that Google, Yahoo!, or Bingdo not actively market or solicit busi-nesses. In fact, they warn that anyoneclaiming to be them is a scam. EvenAuto Body Guru doesn’t have a directline to these search engines.

Q: I have companies who say they candeliver results in 24–48 hours. Is thisfor real?A: Yes and No. They are using amarketing program called Pay PerClick. It means they can get yourbusiness on the first page quicklybut you are required to pay forevery click or view of your site.This can be a great method of mar-keting but it’s never going to be afixed cost that makes sense. Instead,organic or natural search engine op-timization is a much better return oninvestment. It takes 2–3 months togenerate real results in search en-gines but they are more permanentand have longevity.

For additional information abouthow to increase your business through

online marketing, contact:

Auto Body Guru(888) 335-2226rmirzaians@softlinesolutions.comwww.softlinesolutions.com

The Auto Body Guru Answers Questions on Online Marketing


Texas Gov. Rick Perry has reap-pointed Deeia D. Beck ofAustin to theOffice of Public Insurance Counsel fora term to expire Feb. 1, 2013.

The office represents insuranceconsumers and companies in regula-tory matters relating to insurancerates, rules and forms.

Beck is the public counsel for theOffice of Public Insurance Counsel.She is a life fellow of the Texas andTarrant County Bar foundations, anda member of the State Bar of Texasand Travis County Bar.

This appointment is subject tosenate confirmation.

Beck Reappointed to Insurance Counsel

any BMW car painted at German Mo-tors.”

“BMW North America told Ger-man Motors that they had to buy fromthem under this new program, no mat-ter what other contracts they had, orelse they would lose their certifica-tion” said NDI’s owner, Tony Ni-colosi.

German Motors Collision Cen-ter’s contract with NDI stated: “Allpaint materials, DPC products andsupplies will be purchased exclusivelythrough Nicolosi Distributing Inc.Materials purchased by BMW of SanFrancisco will not be bought throughany other vendor.”

Under this new program BMWNorth America does not allow any oftheir certified body shops or dealer-ships to paint BMWvehicles with anyother paints, blocking jobbers acrossthe country out of the market of sell-

ing paint supplies to these places.Nicolosi said that NDI sells

DuPont paints, and the BMW paint isalso made by DuPont.

“A lot of jobbers across the coun-try lost a lot of business because ofthis,” said Nicolosi.

NDI is also accusing BMWNorth America of interfering with aprospective economic advantage, vio-lation of California’s Anti-Competi-tion Act, Business and ProfessionsCode Section 17200 and violation ofBusiness and Professions Code Sec-tion 16727 in which a business’s ac-tions lessen competition and create amonopoly on a trade or line of com-merce.

Nicolosi is asking for damages of$75,000 for the first and second claim,exemplary damages from Federal

Court, injunc-tive relief fromthe third andfourth claims,attorneys fees,other relieffrom the Busi-ness and Pro-fessions Codev i o l a t i o n s ,court costs and

other relief as judged by the court.On February 7, 2011, BMW of

North America filed a motion forjudgment on the pleadings, whichsought to dismiss the entire action.The Court Denied the motion in

part, and granted the motion in part.US District Judge Susan Illstonruled that the intentional interfer-ence with a contract, interferencewith a prospective economic advan-

tage and unfair competition com-plaints would go ahead to court,while the claim for an unlawfultying agreement was dismissed withleave to refile, which Nicolosi willdo on February 25, according toNDI’s lawyer Herman Franck.

According to Franck, NDI willamend the complaint to describe theparticulars of an illegal tying arrange-ment whereby BMW of North Amer-ica coerces body shops intopurchasing BMW branded pain prod-ucts by withdrawing BMW certifica-tion unless they purchase BMW

branded paint products. This issue ap-plies only to BMW automobiles, anddoes not apply to non-BMW automo-biles.

Franck went on to say that the co-ercion in the industry is that it is “un-thinkable not to have that (BMW)certification” according to GermanMotors Collision Center, so the BMWcertification is really tied to usingBMW-certified paint.

When asked about the litigationby Autobody News, BMW NorthAmerica’s legal representativeStephen Bledsoe said, “It is BMW’spolicy not to comment on any pend-ing litigation.”

The trial date is set for October24, 2011 at 8:30 a.m.

Nicolosi is expecting other job-bers who feel they have lost businessbecause of this program to come for-ward and join the lawsuit.

Nicolosi Distributing Inc.San Jose location: (408) 573-7146San Carlos location: (650) 413-0150Email: [email protected]

Stephen Bledsoe- representing BMW(816) 561-7007


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German Motors Collision Center in San Francisco

Continued from Page 1

Jobber Lawsuit

Jordan Hendler, executive directorof the Washington (D.C.) Metropoli-

tan Auto BodyAs-sociation, averteda suicide attemptin January byphysically inter-vening when sheencountered ateenage girl threat-ening to jump

from a freeway overpass. Hendlercalled 911 as she approached the girlon the edge of the overpass, then kepttalking to her, pleading with her not tojump.

“I told her something my father(CIC Administrator Jeff Hendler) al-ways told me about suicide: “This isa permanent solution to a temporaryproblem.’” Jordan Hendler kept talk-ing to the girl as another by-passer ap-

proached from the other end of theoverpass. Together they restrained thegirl and pulled her from the barriershe had climbed over. Hendler said ittook both of them to hold the hysteri-cal girl down until emergency respon-ders arrived about four minutes afterthe call to 911. “It seemed like an eter-nity, a lot longer,” Hendler said. Shesaid she knows nothing about the girlother than she looked to be about 14or 15, and lives in a group home forteenagers. “You don’t know that oneday you’ll be called upon to do theright thing at the right moment, butwhen the time comes, if you haveyour heart open, you will know ex-actly what to do,” Hendler said.

Jordan Hendler Averts Teenager’sSuicide Attempt

Jordan Hendler



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While many body shops in the countryare battening down their hatches fi-nancially, operating with skeletoncrews and going into survivor mode,Gene Crozat, the multiple locationowner of G&C AutoBody in Marinand Sonoma counties, CA, is buyingland, building new facilities, and sign-ing up more DRPs. Crozat is aggres-sively looking to gain more of themarket, while exploring further ex-pansion opportunities in areas wherehe sees potential for growth and prof-itability.

With six body shops, another onein construction and a large mechani-cal repair shop, G&C AutoBody isNorthern California’s largest collisionrepair chain north of the Golden GateBridge. G&C has been family-ownedand operated since 1972, and has be-come synonymous with quality re-pairs and exceptional service,according to G&C’s Director of Pub-lic Relations Peter Bizaca.

The company did $20 million in2010, up from 2009; employs 65 peo-ple and fixes more than 500 carsmonthly, Bizaca reported.

A good example of Crozat’s “ex-pand rather than contract” approachcan be illustrated by its newest locationin the small town of Windsor, CA.Crozat bought the land at a recessionsale price and has built the 15,000square-foot facility from the ground upat an enormous overall savings, he said.

Some body shop owners consid-ered him insane for building newshops in a recession without any reliefin sight, but the 50-year industry vet-eran knows that timing is everything.

“Some see a recession as a timeto sit back, but I see it as an opportu-nity instead of an obstacle,” Crozatreasons. “You can sit around all daylong, frightened and paralyzed by this

tough economy, or you can use it toyour advantage, and that’s what we’vedone. In 1999, we also went througha recession, and I opened new shopsduring that time as well.”

While many body shops have ex-perienced substantial downturns since2008, G&C’s volume is up and grow-ing. In the last two years, their busi-ness is up 23%, while the national

average in collisionrepair is down 30%across the board,Crozat said. Afterdoing extensive mar-ket research,Crozat’s team deter-mined that Windsorwas a prime situa-tion for their newestlocation.“There are 26,000

people in Windsorand it will double insize within the nextdecade. We discov-

ered that the entire town had just onebody shop and many of our SantaRosa customers were coming fromWindsor. So, it was an ideal situa-tion—a growing area with a need andprime real estate available at a goodprice.”

Simply finding good locations fornew shops isn’t the only way to suc-ceed, Crozat says. By embracing thecommunities in which he operates,G&C is able to capture a lion’s shareof the available business in each re-

gion.While the business environment

is waning across the board, Crozat andhis team are looking at the positivesrather than the negative reports we

hear almost every day in the media.“Other body shops out there are

cutting costs and laying people off, sowe’re asking ourselves, who is goingto fix all these cars? Just because the

economy is sluggish doesn’t meandrivers are going to suddenly avoidgetting into accidents.”

The prices of real estate, con-struction, labor and even advertisingare at all-time lows, Crozat has real-ized. “We’re saving 35–40% acrossthe board over what it would have costus to do the same thing four years ago.Interest rates are way down and theconstruction bids were extremelytight, because contractors are hungrierthan ever.”

Timing is everything in any in-dustry, but even more so in collision,Crozat said. “The best time to buy aboat is in January, not in June. Tighttimes are the perfect time to buy andbuild. It behooves us to take a chanceduring a down economy, because Iknow that if I can build a world-classshop in a prime location where thebusiness environment is healthy, it’san easy decision.”


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G&C Autobody Seizes Opportunity to Expand in Northern Californiawith Ed Attanasio

Shop Showcase Ed Attanasio is an automotive journalist based inSan Francisco, California. He can be reached [email protected].

G&C Autobody’s newest shop in Windsor, CA. is betting on a city that is poised for double-digitgrowth in the next decade

G&C has spent more than $6 million to buy the land and built theirnewest shop in Windsor, California

Part of the G&C plan involvesgetting onboard with each communitythey open a new shop in, for severalreasons, Bizaca explained.

“We are involved in a wide rangeof community groups in every city inwhich we operate, because we don’tjust want to be a business that takesmoney from the residents without giv-ing something back. We want to bepart of the fabric of the communityrather than a just a company doingbusiness there.”

To that end, G&C is already in-volved with several community or-ganizations, local schools, andplanning to sponsor Little Leaguesteams in Windsor, even thoughthey’ve only been open since Decem-ber, Bizaca said.

“We’ve already been out to theschools talking to the students and weinvited the band at Windsor MiddleSchool to play at our grand opening,”Bizaca said. “Seventy children andtheir teachers, as well as many of theirparents came to the event attended bymore than 400 Windsor residents.We’re also working closely with theRotary Clubs, the Chamber of Com-merce and doing other forms of com-

munity outreach.“Don’t just work in the town, be

part of the town,” Crozat advocates.“It’s just a philosophy. Everyone looksat life from a different paradigm, butI’ve always thought that if we don’t doit, then who will? It’s good for us busi-ness-wise obviously, but it also givesour industry as a whole a better

name.”“Get the best buying power in the

marketplace and pass it on to the con-sumers and to the insurance compa-nies as well. If you do whatevereveryone else is doing, you’ll just beanother one of them.And that’s why Ihave always gotten the best equip-

ment, top technicians and the bestproducts I can find. You can’t dotoday’s work with yesterday’s tools.”

Building top-quality facilitiesalso helps G&C to get DRPs and re-tain them over the long run, Crozat ar-gues.

“People say they don’t likeDRPs, but they represent 90% of the

work. Why wouldn’t you cater tothese insurance companies that aretrying to get the best prices they can,in order to keep their rates down? Wehave two full-time in-house reps whowork full-time dealing with the insur-ance companies and their agents, be-cause DRPs are a big part of our

business. I learned many years ago—don’t fight the direction of the DRPs.Instead, provide them with the bestdeal in the marketplace, by providingthe best service, the best cycle timesand the best image you can establish.That’s why we have cycle times thataverage six days, while the nationalaverage is 14 days.”

Gene Crozat has always main-tained that if any other body shopowners want to visit his facilities tosee what he’s doing and glean infor-mation from his business model, he’sanxious and pleased to help them inany way he can.

“People don’t believe it when Isay it, but there have never been se-crets or closed doors around here. Iwon’t be in this business forever and ifI can make the industry better overall,it will benefit my children and mygrandchildren down the road. Give mea call and I’ll do everything and any-thing I can to help you. I’ve done itmany times before and that will neverchange.”

Call Santa Rosa shop: 707-525-3520.

E-mail: Peter Bizaca:[email protected].


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With 15,000 square feet, G&C’s facility is hoping to fix 50-70 cars monthly at its new Windsor,Calif. location

This article is a continuation fromRich’scolumn last month. For an archive ofRich’s columns please visit www.auto-bodynews.com/columnists/Rich Evans.

A lot of times when I’m takingparts off the car and putting them backon, from mock up position I’ll go intothe doors and the hinges and drill two1/8th inch holes. That way I can stick

two 1/8th inch dowels through, tightenup the parts and then they’re right backto where I was before so I don’t have totake the time to re-line everything up.That way when I do my graphics,they’re going to line up. So I do thesame with the hood, deck lid; I reallydon’t have to worry about the fend-ers—on some projects you do, but onthis one I don’t.

So after getting the graphics layedout, it’s time to tear it back down again.Now I’m ready for my graphic color,TrueBlue Pearl part number PBC36AB.

On the silver I applied three coats.I just do that on all my projects, I havea system and I apply it with a SATA1.4tip gun and I use 27 psi, 3 heavy coats,then I seal it with a House of Kolorsealer. The reason for using three coatsis so if it ever got in a wreck and I hadto redo this job I know how I did it soI do that routinely on all my vehicles.

If for some reason I change mypatterns from normal spraying I’ll writeit on the back of the file so when thecar comes back in I can repeat exactlywhat I did and get to as close of a colormatch as possible.

With the True Blue, I’m going todo six light coats just for coverage so Idon’t get the blotchiness with a highbuild. I’ll do a half trigger using 27 psi.I do six coats to get a nice, dark, evenfeel. I’m painting everything in piecesso it needs to match. You’ve got to re-member how you’re applying it, howclose your gun is, to be able to paint cars

in pieces. It gives me a better result.After adding my six coats of the

True Blue Pearl, now I de-mask every-thing, and add six coats of House ofKolor’s clear. Six good coats allowsmeto cut two coats off and not have anyedges on my graphics.

I’m ready for color, sand, andbuff. On my color sanding method Iwill use all 3M products. I start with800 grit sand paper, then 1000 grit,1200, then 1500, 2000, then to 2500.

Also I am using Soft-Sandersblocks along with their new sand paper.All their sand paper is wet from 800 allthe way on up, and it’s sticky-back sothat is a great time saver. Visit soft-sanders.com and check out the sandpa-per products. They don’twrinkle up, lasta long time, and you can get them all theway from 400 grit up. Their blocks arealso great, good for sanding out scratchesand unbeatable for getting into curves.

I use the combination of 3M andSoft-Sanders products. 3M doesn’thave the sticky-back sand paper all theway up to 2500 grit so Soft-Sanders isthe way to go. I burned through a lot ofsandpaper on this project.I’m ready for buffing, I do use the 1-2-3 step from 3M. That gives the fastestand best results that I have come acrossto date. Check out 3m.com and checkout the 1-2-3 step buffing process. It’llsave you time and give you best results.

We created a headliner and I’mgoing to send it over to Rivo at Stitch-craft Interiors. I sent them a design touse in Katzkin Leather. I’m lookingforward to seeing how it comes out andthey’re also going to do the door pan-els. Katzkin styled me out with doingRich Evans designed seats for this andKatzkin just does a phenomenal job.Visit www.katzkin.com and stitchcraft-interiors.com. They’re both great indi-viduals to work with.

I’m at the point when I’m ready toput this project together and get it over toSEMA. I called Mike Curtis over atCurtis Speed Equipment. I had him cutme off some one-off wheels, created acenter cap for it, and then gave it toMike.He’s just over the top in hiswheel cuttingexperience. I collaborated with Mike onthe grill. You can just bolt these grillsright on top of yours. It takes only eightscrews to and you can change the whole

look of your Challenger with just addingthese inserts.They look cool and you canorder them to color or just plain alu-minum as you see them onmy original.

Visit Richevansdesigns.com andget your grill inserts, your scoop, yourwing, your lower front spoiler, left andright rocker, left and right flares, yourrear bumper lower spoiler, your rearwing and your hood scoop. Even yourheadliner and grill inserts can be found

at huntingtonbeachbodyworks.comand richevansdesigns.com and we’llhave these parts available for you.

At the Mopar booth at 2010SEMA, the Challenger was on stage onthe turntable and people were loving it.I had a great time working with theMopar Aftermarket team and I had agreat time working with all the spon-sors and utilizing the Mopar parts onthis build — it just brought this Chal-lenger to a whole other level.

If you want to give this project aname it would be “modern muscle tothe max.” We ended up with a name,calling it the Beast; 451 CID HEMI,pushing over 550 horsepower. Visit mysite for more photographs or you canvisit Mopar’s site and find some pho-tographs on there.

The car is on tour with Mopar forthe next nine months. If you guys wantme to turn your car into a modern mus-cle car, look me up. I hope you guysenjoyed the build, I definitely enjoyedevery minute of the 3-month build. Seeyou next month!


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Custom Cornerwith Rich Evans

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The Rich Evans Designs-Mopar Kit for Dodge’s Challenger, Part 2


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An intensive 10 month investigationinto possible causes of unintended ac-celeration in Toyota cars found nofault with the automaker’s electronicthrottle control systems, the Depart-ment of Transportation announcedFebruary 8, according to reports madeby CNN Money and the Los AngelesTimes.

U.S. Transportation SecretaryRay LaHood said, “We enlisted thebest and brightest engineers to studyToyota’s electronics systems, and theverdict is in. There is no electronic-based cause for unintended high-speed acceleration in Toyotas.”

NHTSA enlisted the help ofNASA scientists and engineers. Theagency said their expertise in areassuch as computer controlled elec-tronic systems, electromagnetic inter-ference and software integrity wouldbe a big help.

Despite a string of recalls forother problems Toyota has long in-sisted that the electronic controls in itscars are safe.

Toyota recalled nearly 8 millionvehicles in 2008 and 2009 for defectsrelated to gas pedals — includingsticky pedals and floor mat obstruc-tion — as a result of complaints ofunwanted acceleration.

Some critics of the automaker, atthe time. were not satisfied that thosetwo problem were the only ones toblame for for the growing number of

reports that Toyotas were acceleratingout of control and pointed to the elec-tronic throttle control system as an-other possible culprit.

A common feature in newer ve-hicles, electronic throttle control usessensors and computer chips to passcommands between the vehicles’ gaspedal and the engine to control a car’sspeed instead of the simple mechani-cal connection used in older cars.

Congress ordered theDOT to investigatewhether there mightbe a problem withthose electronic con-trols. The study waslaunched last spring.

As part of the study, the agen-cies ran tests at a Chrysler GroupLLC testing facility in Auburn Hills,Mich. headquarters in which re-searchers bombarded Toyota vehicleswith electromagnetic radiation to seeif they could cause any malfunctionsthat might lead to unintended acceler-ation.

Toyota Motor Co. has also pro-vided NASA software engineers with“unrestricted access” to the computercode used to control the electronicthrottle control systems. The softwareengineers have been combing throughthe code looking for anything thatmight cause a car to accelerate out ofcontrol under any circumstances,NHTSA said.

Also, scientists at NASA’s God-dard Space Flight Center and NHTSAEast Liberty, Ohio, research centerhave been examining cars and Toyotathrottle systems, searching for any de-fects that might cause unwanted accel-eration.

This summer, NHTSA releasedthe results of some investigations intoToyota sudden acceleration incidents.Those investigations specifically

looked into 58 alleged un-intended accelerationcases. These investi-gations suggestedthat drivers them-

selves may have beenpartly at fault.At that time

the agency stressed that the resultswere preliminary.

Although Toyota sales have suf-fered much of the automaker’s salesdecline is due to an aging model line-up more than concerns over safetyproblems, analysts say.

Toyota now includes “brakeoverride” on all its new vehicles. Thissystem automatically cuts enginepower as soon as the brake pedal ispressed in order to prevent unwantedacceleration.

Toyota is currently facing hun-dreds of lawsuits over alleged unin-tended acceleration, most of whichhave been grouped together in a sin-gle California court. Toyota MotorCorp. will also use the results of the

study as evidence that a sudden ac-celeration class action suit against itshould be dismissed.

In a filing in federal court inSanta Ana this month, the automakerargued that the study is proof that itsvehicles have no defects and the law-suits are therefore without merit.

“Plaintiffs are chasing a phantomtheory of defect that only last weekNASA and NHTSA, after an exten-sive investigation, jointly confirmeddoes not exist,” Toyota outside coun-sel Lisa Gilford wrote in a motionfiled on Feb. 14.

She asked judge James Selna todismiss the suit, which consolidatesscores of claims from Toyota andLexus owners alleging that the pres-ence of defects in their vehicles neg-atively affected the value of theirvehicles.

Even if the NASA and NHTSAfindings hold up in court, plaintiff at-torneys argue that Toyota still could beon the hook for the lack of a brakeoverride feature in its vehicles, whichis designed to prevent sudden acceler-ation in cars with electronic throttle.

That technology has been em-ployed by other automakers, includ-ing Nissan and Volkswagen, for years,but Toyota did not begin adopting ituntil last year.

Ahearing to review the dismissalmotion is scheduled for April 29,court filings show.

Toyota Unintended Acceleration Probe Finds No Electronic Flaws

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The U.S. House voted overwhelm-ingly to bar the Environmental Pro-tection Agency from moving aheadwith allowing a higher blend ofethanol in the nation’s gas tanks, ac-cording to reports made by theDetroitNews Washington Bureau.

February 19 the House voted286-135 to block the EPAfrom spend-ing any money to carry out a waiverto allow E15 to be sold at the nation’s

fueling stations. Currently, most gasstations sell E10 — which is 10 per-cent ethanol. The EPA has granted awaiver to allow a blend of 15 percentof ethanol to be sold for vehicles fromthe 2001 model year and newer.

Rep. John Sullivan, R-Okla-homa, introduced an amendment tothe bill to fund government opera-tions through Sept. 30, to block EPAfrom moving ahead.

“The EPA has completely ig-nored calls from lawmakers, industry,environmental and consumer groupsto address important safety issuesraised by the 50 percent increase in theethanol mandate issued over the pastyear. Putting E15 into our general fuelsupply could adversely impact up to60 percent of cars on the road todayleading to consumer confusion at thepump and possible engine failure in

the cars they drive,” Sullivan said.Automakers have expressed con-

cerns about using a higher percentageof the ethanol blend that could cor-rode engines.

Before E15 can be sold, the EPAmust finalize a labeling rule to warnconsumers that the higher blend isonly for certain vehicles.

All major automakers filed suitin December in the U.S.

House Votes to Block E15 from Pumps Due to Potential Engine Failure


Vehicle buyers are spending more andmore to personalize and accessorizetheir rides. Consumer spending forMopar accessories on Chrysler,Dodge, Jeep and Ram vehicles nearlydoubled in 2010.

“More of our customers are driv-ing out of our dealerships with Moparaccessories on their vehicle,” saidPietro Gorlier, President and CEO ofMopar, Chrysler Group’s service,parts and customer-care brand.

Mopar currently offers more than8,000 proven, quality-tested acces-sories. Following is a list of Mopar’stop-10 selling accessories in 2010:1.Wheel Lock Kit: Wheel locks areavailable for most models and havean exclusive key code for maximumprotection.Available in one- and two-piece styles, kits include four or fivechrome-plated locking nuts, and oneexclusive Mopar key. The kit protectsagainst wheel and tire theft withoutaffecting wheel balance.2. Roadside Safety Kit: Safety kitincludes flashlight, fleece blanket,six-gauge jumper cables, safety trian-gle, screwdrivers, pliers, two bungee

cords and gloves.3. Mopar Portable Navigation Sys-tem: This Garmin nuvi® 1490T pre-mium system packs a ton of featuresinto a slim design with a 5-inchscreen. The system includes lane-as-sist with junction view, pre-loadedmaps, pedestrian navigation options,traffic alerts, ecoRoute™ that calcu-

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4.MoparElectronicVehicleTrackingSystem (EVTS): lMopar’s industry-firstElectronic Vehicle Tracking System(EVTS) works 24/7 with nationwidecoverage to keep track of your vehicle.This GPS-enabled real-time trackingsystem includes a $1,000 Theft Protec-tion Warranty and is transferable. Op-tional upgrade plans provideEmergency

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Let’s talk diagnostics. Do you followany kind of diagnostic procedure, ordo you just throw darts on a wall, orplay “pick-a-part” and hope you fix itbefore you or the customer runs out ofcash? I hope you don’t do that. Thatmight work some of the time, but it’snot a good way to get to the source ofproblems quickly or accurately.

One of the tire shops that I dobusiness with dropped off a 2003F450 with a 7.3 diesel for me to lookat. It’s one of their service trucks thatdied on the highway.

These guys are super, I’ve knownthem for years, and they’ve got a greatreputation and excellent work force.In fact, I buy all my tires there, andthey do all my alignments. They try tofix their own trucks “in-house” andsometimes, well…the repair/diagnos-tics are a little out of their comfortzone. This was one of those times.

Now, they don’t try to keep upwith the scanning or diagnostics onmost cars and trucks. It’s a tire shopthat specializes in tires. They stick towhat they do best, tires, wheels, andundercarriage stuff. The only “techy”stuff they get into is with the TPMsystems. Most generally, when itcomes to their vehicles they’ll go withthe tried and true… “throw a dart andwhatever it hits we’ll change.” Ofcourse they’ll ask around first, but youknow, second-hand informationhardly ever gets the job done thesedays.

They had it at one of their storesin another town for about three weekstrying to solve the problem.When thatdidn’t work they decided to tow it upto another one of their stores, and seeif the guys there had a better dart. An-other couple of weeks and severaldarts later, all they had were holes inthe wall and no truck running. Thenmy phone rang.

“Can you program a PCM on aF450?” the shop asked.

“No, sorry I don’t do those, but Iknow who does. I’ll call him and see ifhe can come over and do that for you,”I told them.

A day or two went by and thephone rang again. “Hey, this thing stilldoesn’t start. The guy that pro-grammed it said it sounded like an

electrical problem.” OK, somehow,I’m getting involved now.

“Sure, bring it over,” I told them.Well, they towed it over with a

strap pulled by an F250 diesel truck.The F250 looked like a toy truck com-pared to this behemoth. With a pushand a shove from the F250 the guysgot it lined up and into one of myservice bays.

The big concern was the IDMrelay, it kept chattering like a machinegun. Instead of checking codes Ithought it best just to start with a com-plete wire to wire check to determineif there was some lost signal that wascausing the problem, or a wire thatwas scraped and grounding out. Re-moving the inner fender on the driverside I could gain access to the Injec-tor module (IDM) and the PCM(Power control module). Seemed eas-ier to start here than any place else. Itdidn’t take long before I tracked downa problem. On pin #71 of the (new)PCM there should have been 12 voltsfrom the ignition. No voltage at theterminal.

Tracing the wiring diagramthrough its maze led back to the in-carfuse box on fuse #22. I grabbed mytest light and checked the fuse…(Rolling my eyes about now) thefuse,… oh man… the fuse is blown.Good grief… all this for a blown fuse.

Well, I better change the fuse, andsee if it starts. Sure enough; it firedright up… sounded great, good throt-tle response, and no service lights.

Now the big challenge, whatblew the fuse in the first place? Fol-lowing the wiring diagram again…. Itraced out all the components on thefuse circuit. There was one that caughtmy eye as the likely culprit. The brakecut-off switch mounted on the mastercylinder. (It’s the one that had the bigrecall a few years ago.)

The updated replacement piecewas in place but somebody forgot tosecure the wires. The replacementpiece has a newer style connector andan adapter connector to allow you toattach it to the original style fastener.Which makes it a little longer than itoriginally was from the factory. It washard to tell where the new wire andconnector started, and the old one

ended, because the whole thing waslying on the exhaust manifold, andhad melted down to a glob of wire andplastic.

Looking around under the hoodthere were all kinds of new parts in-stalled. The nicest part: they wereall installed correctly. There wereno other wires out of place, or anysigns of scraps or melted wiring.The important thing is that it runs,and the truck can go back to doingwhat it needs to do. I think thebiggest thing that threw everyoneon this job was the chattering relay.It sounded bad, sounded expen-sive… but, all it turned out to bewas a loss of proper voltage to thePCM, because a fuse blew from alead that grounded out. This wasdue to the improper installation ofone small component.

The PCM couldn’t spread enoughvoltage and ground signals to all the

necessary systems when it was miss-ing the voltage it needed. As the relaywould engage, the voltage drop wastoo much to keep the relay engaged.The IDMwould pull more signal volt-age as the relay would come to life.Then the PCMwould have to drop theground signal to the IDM relay tocompensate for the loss of voltage.Allthis was going on very rapidly … onand off, on and off… making the ma-chine gun sound coming from theIDM relay.

The guys at the tire store were ex-tremely grateful that I got the jobdone, so they could use the truckagain. For me, it’s another day at theshop. I’ve got nothing but good thingsto say about the guys at the tire shop.Hey they tried, I’ll give them that.

But one thing I wish they woulddo next time --- CHECK THE BA-SICS—BEFORE BUYING PARTS!It’s cheaper that way…


with Gonzo WeaverGonzo’s Toolbox 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]

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When it Comes to Diagnostics, First, The Basics

As I continue to visit collision repairfacilities across the country, I see veryfew that are utilizing Technical Serv-ice Bulletins (TSBs) and recall noticesin their business. These can be veryimportant tools in the shop for a num-ber of reasons. For example, vehiclemanufacturers use technical servicebulletins to update service informationwhich can be beneficial when con-ducting repairs on a vehicle, post col-lision.

Collision repair facilities can useTSBs to diagnose problems on a vehi-cle that may not have been noticed bythe vehicle owners prior to a collision.Regardless of whether it was causedby the collision damage, the vehicleowner would expect for your facilityto make the repair and by having theTSB in hand, the repair would be rel-atively simple, rather than trying totrack it down.

Use TSBs to upsell additionalwork while the vehicle is in your busi-ness. ALLDATA organizes TSBs by“Customer Interest.” These are bul-letins that have symptoms that the ve-hicle owner can see, feel, hear, touch,or smell. Examples are wind noise,water leaks, console doors that don’toperate properly, glove box doors thatfall open, etc. Generally, these typesof problems annoy the vehicle owner,but they are not going to make a spe-cial trip, and not have access to theirvehicle, to take it back to the dealerfor correction. The great part withTSBs is they generally tell the shopthe symptom, cause, correction, re-quired parts, and sometimes the labortime. This is a great way for a colli-sion repair business to add some addi-tional revenue to the repair.

Recall notices are another keytool in collision repair facilities nowa-days that are not being used to theirfull extent. Recall notices inform thevehicle owner of potential problemswith their vehicle and if the vehicleowner is not aware of an issue whenthe vehicle comes into your shop,these notices can be a great way toboost the business’ credibility. Manytimes, a vehicle owner is not aware ofrecall due to a change in ownership inthe vehicle and recalls can then be an-other way to separate your shop from

the shop down the street that may notbe using these to educate vehicle own-ers.

Below is an example of a prob-lem that one of our customers en-countered that was solved using arecall notice. The problem was not re-lated to the collision, but was noticedonce the collision repairs had beencompleted and the vehicle returned tothe owner.http://collision.alldata.com/alldata/ar-ticle/display.action?componentId=610&iTypeId=100&vehicleId=42056&nonStandardId=783863&tocParent=true

2006 Pontiac G6 L4-2.4L VIN B

Lighting and Horns

TSB Title: 08317 02/10/2009 Recall -Brake Lamps Not Working Properly

# 08317: Product Safety - BrakeLamps Not Working Properly - (Feb10, 2009)

Subject:08317 -- Brake Lamps Not WorkingProperly

Models:2005-2006 Pontiac G6

ConditionGeneral Motors has decided that a de-fect, which relates to motor vehiclesafety, exists in certain 2005-2006model year Pontiac G6 vehicles.Some of these vehicles have a condi-tion where the brake lamps may notoperate properly because of frettingcorrosion in a wiring connector. Fret-ting corrosion in the connector couldcause the brake lamps to illuminatewhen the brake pedal has not been de-pressed, or the lamps may not illumi-nate when the brake pedal isdepressed. In addition, the cruise con-trol may not engage, or greater brakepedal force may be required to shiftthe vehicle out of PARK. Brake lampsthat are not operating properly maynot warn a driver in a following vehi-cle of the braking status and couldlead to a crash without prior warning.

CorrectionDealers are to apply a dielectric lubri-cant to the connector to repair and pre-vent fretting corrosion.

Vehicles InvolvedFor dealers with involved vehicles, alisting with involved vehicles con-

taining the complete vehicle identifi-cation number, customer name, andaddress information has been preparedand will be provided through the GM

GlobalConnect Recall Reports. Deal-ers will not have a report available if


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Using Manufacturer TSBs and Recalls in Collision Shopswith Tom McGee

ALL OEM InformationTom McGee is National Account Manager for ALLDATA Collision. He has had a long career with I-CAR, in-cluding as President & CEO. Tom is an ASE certified Master Collision Repair/Refinish Technician. He hasalso run his own collision facility and been a career and technical school instructor. He can be reached [email protected]. For other Tom McGee articles in Autobody News, go to:http://www.autobodynews.com/tom-mcgee/index.php

See TSBs and Recalls, Page 30

Important: Dealers are to confirm vehicle eligibility prior to beginning repairs by using the GMVehicle Inquiry System (GMVIS). Not all vehicles within the above breakpoints may be involved.

Involved are certain 2005-2006 model year Pontiac G6 vehicles built within these VIN breakpoints:

Parts required to complete this recall are to be obtained from General Motors Service and PartsOperations (GMSPO). Please refer to your “involved vehicles listing” before ordering parts. Normalorders should be placed on a DRO = Daily Replenishment Order. In an emergency situation, partsshould be ordered on a CSO = Customer Special Order.

* One unit of lubricant will service 25 vehicles.

Anyone who has worked in a shop foreven just a matter of months can prob-ably quickly list a half dozen or morethings that work really well in thatshop in terms of its physical designand layout—and a equal number ofthings they’d change about it if giventhe opportunity.

Whether building a new shopfrom the ground-up, or preparing toexpand or remodel an existing facility,here are 10 things to consider whenmapping out your plans.

1. Think about the customer ex-perience. As early in the process aspossible, consider the entire designand layout from the perspective ofhow a customer will interact with it.Is the building situated on the site tomaximize visibility and “curb appeal”from the street? Is it clear where a cus-tomer enters the property and wherethey are to park or leave their vehicle?Can they drop-off or pick-up their ve-hicle under cover or out of the ele-ments? Is there adequate customerparking close to the office?

The office and customer areasoften seem to be an afterthought inmany shops where production space isconsidered paramount. But in additionto staff office space, consider includ-ing a quiet area for customers to waitwith adequate furniture and amenitieslike a water cooler, television, cus-tomer-only restrooms, children’s playarea or work space for those wantinguse of a phone, computer or Internetaccess.

2. Take noise into account. Someshop processes—like grinding—andsome equipment—like air compres-sors—are particularly noisy. Try to sit-uate these processes in a way thatisolates the noise from the office andrest of the shop. A compressor room,for example, should be placed at therear or the building or if possible in anexternal space. Noise-deadening ma-

terial should be included in the wallssurrounding these types of noisyequipment.

3. Get adequate lighting, air sup-ply and electrical sources. Techniciansrarely complain that a shop has toomuch light.

Consider the use of skylights andhigh-efficiency lighting that will re-duce power consumption and in somecases (if replacing existing lightsources) offer opportunity for taxcredits that offset part of their cost(check with your utility or state energydepartment).

Electrical and air supply drops ateach stall allow for maximum techni-cian efficiency—and far fewer trip haz-ards or potential damage to cords andhoses stretched across the shop floor.

In stalls where resistance spotwelding will take place, 3-phasepower is required.

For the office, dedicated electri-cal circuits for computer equipmentwill help protect computers and pe-ripherals from spikes, sags and otherpower fluctuations. High-end surgeprotectors are still recommended, withan uninterruptible power supply(UPS)—which serves as a short-termbattery back-up, allowing for safeshutdown in the case of a power out-age—for key computer servers.

Keep in mind, too, that commu-nication cables for phones or linkingcomputer networks can be subject toelectrical interference, so such cablesshould not be run parallel with electri-cal wiring or near lighting fixtures.

Choose a compressor and air dry-ing system adequate for your currentair supply needs—plus a little more asgrowth or unexpected needs arise.Discuss with suppliers how it shouldbe set up to ensure that heavy use ofair—by a paint booth, for example,doesn’t lead to inadequate air else-where in the system.

4. Get the bay size right. Al-though the natural inclination is to getas many working bays or stalls in abuilding as possible, those bays needto give technicians adequate space to

safely and efficiently move them-selves and tools, equipment and partsaround the vehicle.

For bays with surface or above-ground lifts, a minimum bay size of 12feet by 25 feet is generally sufficient,but for work on larger vehicles, a 13-foot width is ideal. In-ground lifts cangenerally be accommodated in bays

that are 11 feet or wider. If your marketincludes a lot of full-size pick-ups, youmay want at least some larger bays,with a 14-foot width and 27-foot length.

Some equipment, like frameracks, generally require longer orwider bays, so get the specificationsof the equipment you plan to installand choose locations for this equip-ment accordingly.

Allow 24 feet wide by 27 feetlong for each paint booth.

5. Get the proportions right. Onepaint company shop layout consultantuses a 10-2-1 ratio: For every 10 bodystalls, there should be two paint prepstalls and one booth.

6. Leave room for parts. Shoplayout consultants recommend an areaequal to about 10 percent of a 15,000-square-foot collision repair center bededicated for parts. (This percentagecould drop for larger shops.)

7. Keep safety in mind. Em-


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Ten Things to Consider When Designing a New Shop, Remodel, or Expansion

Industry Insightwith John Yoswick

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].

ployee and customer safety must bekey considerations in planning anynew or expanded facility. Access tothe production area by customersshould be carefully controlled, andareas where customers can walk beshould be clearly delineated.

Adequate ventilation for exhaustand solvent fumes is required.

Many fire extinguishers are ratedto handle only two or three of the fourtypes of fires that could occur. Shopsshould have extinguishers rated forClass A (wood and paper), Class Band C (flammable fluids and electri-cal) and Class D (special agents, com-bustible metals). Make sure there’s anextinguisher no more than 50 feetaway from any point in the shop, thatsignage clearly indicates where theyare, and that they are easily accessible(mounted between 36 and 60 inchesoff the floor).

Also plan for smoke and carbonmonoxide detectors, and one or moreeye-wash stations.

8. Consider parking needs.When planning building size, con-sider how much external parking willbe needed for customers, vehiclestorage and vendors (for deliveries).

If inclement weather or concernsabout theft or vandalism are issues atyour location, some outdoor parkingcould be sacrificed in order to havemore indoor space for vehicle stor-age. Or consider whether rooftopparking—or multi-level vehicle stor-age units—can help increase your ca-pacity without expanding yourproperty’s footprint.

9. Go with the flow. One of thekeys to shop efficiency is minimizingthe movement of vehicles that is nec-essary. Time spent moving one carjust to get another out of a stall or toanother part of the shop is wastedtime.

While more overhead doorsallow easier vehicle access in and outof the building, they also make it moredifficult to maintain a comfortableworking temperature in the shop dur-ing hot or cold weather. Where ade-quate aisle space within the buildingis available, fewer doors are needed.

A building width of at least 70feet allows the shop to have 23-feet-

long stalls on one side, 26-feet-longstalls (to allow for larger equipment,for example) on the opposite side andstill an adequate center aisle (21-feetwide) down the middle. A 25-footwide aisle will even more easily ac-commodate the turning radius of

larger vehicles.10. Think green. A new shop or

expansion offers a great opportunityto incorporate “green building prac-tices” or equipment and systems thatwill help you tread easier on the envi-ronment—while saving money andproviding a potential marketing op-portunity.

Easy access to overhead door clo-sure switches, for example, can helpencourage technicians to reduce heatloss in cold weather. Tax incentivesoften are available that can help makeinstallation of solar or other alterna-tive energy sources competitive withtraditional sources. Waste water col-lection systems can not only meetlocal ordinances but also include oil-water separators, or allow reuse of“grey water” for landscaping or otheruses. Consider the energy-efficiencyof the various brands and models ofequipment you are purchasing.

Check the website of the non-profit Coordinating Committee forAutomotive Repair (www.ccar-green-link.org) for more information onbuilding and operating a “green” shop—and an opportunity for earning na-tional recognition for doing so.


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John Eagle Collision Center in Dal-las, TX, was opened in 1962 by cur-rent owner John Eagle’s father. TheEagle family of industry services has

grown immensely since the originalcollision center opened, there are cur-rently several dealerships and anotherbody shop in Texas bearing the samename.

John Eagle Collision Center inDallas really focuses on repairinghigh-end, luxury brands to pre-acci-dent conditions.

“Our high-endservice is whatmakes us a littledifferent,” saidBody Shop Man-ager Brian Cun-ningham.

John Eagle’stechnical staff notonly has an aver-age of 20 years ofindustry experi-ence per techni-cian, they alsopromote continu-ing education for all employees.

“We train through I-CAR and we

also do some high-end training,” saidCunningham, “This year some of usare going to carbon-fiber training inEngland; we usually go once a year

for luxury training.”John Eagle Collision Center is amanufacturer certified repair fa-cility for Aston Martin, Bentleyand Jaguar, among other luxurybrands — as well as economybrands like Honda and Toyota.Being a certified repair center al-lows John Eagle to uphold factorystandards and have access to fac-tory structural parts.John Eagle Collision Center is avery large facility, totalling over

72,000 square-feet and containing 42employees, 52 bays and 10 Garmatspray booths.

The business also grosses $7.2million per year, some of their busi-

ness can be attrib-uted to the networkof John Eagle deal-erships locally thatrefer customers tothe body shop andthe 9 insurers theyare a Direct RepairShop for.John Eagle Colli-sion Center’s sec-ond location, calledJohn Eagle BodyShop, in Houston isa smaller facility

that does not specialize in luxury carrepair, but was opened in 1991 to as-sist the Dallas location with their highvolume of customers.

John Eagle Collision Center usesa Global Jig frame machine for the

luxury vehicles they service, and hasbeen spraying waterborne paint forover 5 years.

John Eagle also utilizes a ‘Qual-ity Check’procedure to ensure cars re-turn to owners with everythingrepaired correctly. Cars undergo qual-ity checks throughout the repairprocess and are also subject to a finalquality inspection after all work iscomplete before being returned totheir owners.

Onsite at John Eagle Collision isa Hertz rental car office, 24-hour se-curity and Wi-Fi equipped waitingrooms.

Customers can also enjoy a life-time warranty on all workmanship andrefinish work done at John Eagle.

John Eagle offers email and textupdates to customers through My Re-pair Tracker as soon as 24 hours afterthe vehicle is dropped off at the colli-sion center.

For more information please visitwww.johneaglecollision.com.

John Eagle Collision Center6125 Peeler StDallas, TX 75235214-353-3570

John Eagle Body Shop910 Highway 6 SouthHouston, TX 77079281-589-2639


John Eagle Collision Center in Dallas, TX, Focuses on Luxury Brandswith Erica Schroeder

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

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The front of John Eagle Collision Center

The massive bays area

Body shop managers Trace Conn, BrianCunningham and Boyce Willis

A technician works on alignment

The February webcast of the CollisionRepair Executive Webcast (CREW)hosted new Collision Industry Con-ference (CIC) ChairmanMike Quinn.Quinn also owns 911 Collision Cen-ters with 7 locations in Arizona.

The webcast detailed Quinn’sgoals for his 2011-2012 term at CIC

Chairman. Quinn’smain goals are toincrease attendanceand participation,increase trust, makeCIC a place forpeople to voice is-sues without fear ofcriticism, create a

process where committees can developwork product that is valued by the in-dustry and formulate processes to im-prove the overall effectiveness andefficiency of CIC as a body.

Quinn further explained what hemeans by process by using the class Astandard of a work facility that camefromCIC previously as an example. Healso mentioned the effectiveness ofCIECA and their work with electroniccommerce as a good process that was

brought by a committee before his term.Quinn said he would like to make

CIC helpful in creating a solution orfinished product that can help solve aproblem, not just a floor for people tovent their issues and opinions.

“We’ve paired down a few of thecommittees,” said Quinn. CIC steam-lined a few of their committees this termin order to make sure each committeehad a specific and attainable goal.

“We’re going to create a votingstandard for the adoption of prac-tices,” said Quinn. The hope is thatnew processes for solving issue withinthe industry can be voted on by com-mittees, presented to the whole CIC tovote, then to the entire industry beforeattempted adoption.

Quinn said he would like to see arepair standards committee take a sim-ilar route as compared to CIECA.

“We’ve worked very closely withThatcham... we’re hoping to discusstheir repair standard at the July meet-ing,” said Quinn.

Quinn also talked about promot-ing respect and new leadership at CICmeetings and in committees.

“All segments of the industryneed to be represented, respected andable to participate,” said Quinn.

New guidelines and a code ofconduct were released at the PalmSprings meeting held on January 12,13, 14 to increase respect and encour-age communication.

“We’re reaching out to a numberof the top 10 insurers and others toparticipate,” said Quinn, “And repair-ers as well as vendors.”

Quinn also spoke about the closevote during the Palm Springs meetingbetween whether to hold the Novem-ber 2011 meeting at NACE or SEMA;SEMAwon out by one vote.

“The vote was 99 to 98 in favorof SEMA, that really shows how di-vided this industry is over this issue,”said Quinn.

Quinn also spoke about how thissplit is the beginning of a big changein how people conduct business andwhether or not they attend tradeshows, largely thanks to technology.

Quinn was asked whether or notthe CIC meetings should be televisedor streamed live by webcast, and he

expressed that it was a good idea al-though CIC has some concerns aboutprivacy and people continuing to beopen with their opinions when theyknow they are being broadcastedworldwide.

“It’s inevitable for the mere rea-son we’re talking about it,” saidQuinn, who is positive technologywill influence future meetings.

Quinn also plans to engageyounger people in the industry to par-ticipate in CIC, he said that he is al-ready doing this through some of thepeople he has elected to chair certaincommittees and by reaching out to re-pairers to attend.

“The only way we’re going to getnew leadership ... is to have the lead-ers in the industry reach out to theyounger people and bring them for-ward to participate,” said Quinn.

Upcoming meetings for the CICare: March 17 in Newark, NJ, July 20in Salt Lake City, UT and November 2and 3 in Las Vegas, NV.

For more information please visitwww.ciclink.com or www.crewweb-cast.com.


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CREW Hosts New CIC Chairman Mike Quinn in Webcast

Mike Quinn

they have no involved vehicles cur-rently assigned.

The listing may contain cus-tomer names and addresses obtainedfrom Motor Vehicle RegistrationRecords.

The use of such motor vehicleregistration data for any purposeother than follow-up necessary tocomplete this recall is a violation oflaw in several states/provinces/coun-tries. Accordingly, you are urged tolimit the use of this report to the fol-low-up necessary to complete thisrecall.

Parts InformationService Procedure1. Remove the right side front floorconsole side trim panel to access thebody control module (BCM).2. Locate the C2 connector on theBCM.

3. Unlatch the C2 connector and dis-connect the C2 connector from theBCM.

4. Apply dielectric lubricant on theBCM C2 pins (apply with a one-inch (25 mm) nylon bristle brush) onall the C2 connector pins. This willtreat the pins against fretting corro-sion.

5. Reconnect the C2 connector backon the BCM and re-latch.

6. Reinstall the right side front floorconsole side trim panel.

Customer Reimbursement - For US

All customer requests for reimburse-ment of previously paid repairs for therecall condition will be handled by theCustomer Assistance Center, not bydealers.

Important:(For GM US Only) Refer to the GMService Policies and ProceduresManual, section 6.1.12, for specificprocedures regarding customer reim-bursement and the form.

Customer Reimbursement - ForCanada

Customer requests for reimbursementof previously paid repairs for the re-call condition are to be submitted tothe dealer by February 28, 2010.

All reasonable customer paid re-ceipts should be considered for reim-bursement. The amount to bereimbursed will be limited to theamount the repair would have cost ifcompleted by an authorized GeneralMotors dealer.

When a customer requests reim-bursement, they must provide the fol-lowing:

^ Proof of ownership at time of repair.

^ Original paid receipt confirming theamount of repair expense(s) that werenot reimbursed, a description of therepair, and the person or entity pre-forming the repair.

Claims for customer reimburse-ment on previously paid repairs are tobe submitted as required by WINS.

Important:Refer to the GM Service Policies andProcedures Manual, section 6.1.12,for specific procedures regardingcustomer reimbursement verifica-tion.

Courtesy TransportationThe General Motors Courtesy Trans-

portation program is intended to min-imize customer inconvenience whena vehicle requires a repair that is cov-ered by the New Vehicle LimitedWarranties. The availability of cour-tesy transportation to customers

whose vehicles are within the war-ranty coverage period and involvedin a product program is very impor-tant in maintaining customer satis-

faction. Dealers are to ensure thatthese customers understand that shut-tle service or some other form ofcourtesy transportation is availableand will be provided at no charge.Dealers should refer to the General

Motors Service Policies and Proce-dures Manual for Courtesy Trans-portation guidelines.


OUR PARTS IN THE TRAINED HANDS OF A PROFESSIONALTogether it’s a Masterpiece!TT

GM PartsFinish Second to None.

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Charles Clark ChevroletMcALLEN

800-934-8234956-687-5801 Fax

Mon.-Sat. [email protected]

Ray Huffines ChevroletPLANO

800-955-6282972-202-2300

972-596-5571 FaxMon.-Fri. 7-7; Sat. 8-5

Call Us For Your Saturn Parts Also.

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Banner ChevroletNEW ORLEANS

800-477-8603504-242-4624

504-253-8490 Faxwww.bannerauto.com


TSBs and Recalls

Repair PerformedPartCount

PartNo.

PartsAllow CC-FC

LaborOp

LaborHours

NetItem

Apply Dielectric Lubricant to C2 Connector 0 N/A N/A MA-96 V2044 0.2 *

Courtesy Transportation for vehicles within the New VehicleLimited Warranties (US & Canadian GM Dealers)

N/A N/A N/A MA-96 ** N/A ***

Customer Reimbursement (Canadian Dealers/US CAC) N/A N/A N/A MA-96 V2045 0.2 ****

Submit a Product Recall Claim with the information indicated below:

* The amount identified in the “Net Item” column should represent the actual sum total of the current GMSPO Dealer net price forthe dielectric lubricant needed to perform the required repairs, not to exceed $0.33 USD, $0.40 CAD, plus applicable Mark-Up.

** Submit courtesy transportation using normal labor operations for courtesy transportation as indicated in the GM Service Poli-cies and Procedures Manual for vehicles within the New Vehicle Limited Warranties.

*** The amount identified in the “Net Item” column should represent the actual dollar amount for courtesy transportation.

**** The amount identified in the “Net Item” column should represent the dollar amount reimbursed to the customer.

Refer to the General Motors WINS Claims Processing Manual for details on Product Recall Claim Submission.



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[email protected]

Gray Daniels Nissan SouthBRANDON

800-530-7989601-948-3050

601-985-3753 FaxMon. - Fri. 7:30 - 5:30

Sat. 8 - 2

In their quest to make passenger vehi-cles even safer and more fuel-efficient,manufacturers continue to incorporateincreasing amounts of advanced steelin new car and truck designs. Andwhile the use of high-strength steel(HSS) makes the vehicles lighter andstronger, it can also make repairingthem more complex.

Many modern vehicles, regard-less of sticker price, are built withmore than 50 percent advanced steel.The Ford Fusion hybrid, for example,contains 55 percent HSS, and the FordFiesta uses more than 60 percent HSS.

After a collision, most advancedsteel can’t be repaired by traditionalpulling or heating methods. The mostefficient way to reverse the vehicledamage is through multiple, simulta-neous pulls using equalized pressure.This technique applies the sameamount of pressure across multiplepoints of the damaged area at theexact same time, to prevent ripping,tearing, bending or rolling the steel.

“In many cases, the advancedsteel components of a vehicle arestrong enough and peripheral to the

primary impact zone that they remainundamaged in a collision — theweaker steel around them absorbs themajority of damage,” explains MikeCranfill, vice president of collision for

Chief Automotive Technologies. “Byusing multiple, simultaneous pullswith equalized pressure, the centersection of the vehicle can be squared.Then the mild steel damage can becorrected or sectioned as defined byOEM repair procedures. In contrast,

pulling just a single area at a time, orpulling multiple areas without equal-ized pressure can actually put moredamage into the vehicle.”

Chief offers a range of pullingsystems that can be used for multiple,simultaneous pulling with equalizedpressure, including its Impulse™-E/VHT, Goliath™ and Titan™-360.Each of these products features anelectric-over-hydraulic system toequalize pressure to all towers in use.These Chief pulling systems also pro-vide 10 tons of pulling power at thehook. Since advanced steels make itnecessary for shops to use more pres-sure than ever before, this is an im-portant differentiator. Other systemsmay use 10-ton rams, but by the timethe pressure gets to the hook and thevehicle it’s attached to, the pressurecould have dropped to as little as fourtons.

The Chief Impulse-E/VHT, Go-liath and Titan-360 pulling systemsare compatible with Chief’s Vector,Velocity and VelocityMAX measuringsystems, featuring Chief’s exclusivevehicle measurement data.

For more information about anyof the pulling or measuring systemsavailable from Chief AutomotiveTechnologies, contact your local Chiefdistributor, call 877-644-1044 or visitwww.chiefautomotive.com.

About Chief Automotive TechnologiesChief Automotive Technologies, a Ve-hicle Service Group (VSG) brand, isone of the world’s largest manufactur-ers of high-quality collision repairproducts and services, including frame-pulling equipment, vehicle anchoringsystems, computerized measuring sys-tems, and vehicle frame specifications.Chief is also a leading provider of com-prehensive training on structural analy-sis, repair and collision theory.

VSG brings together several topbrands of vehicle service and repairequipment, including Chief and RotaryLift®. Based in Madison, Ind., VSGhas operations worldwide. VSG is partof the Industrial Products segment ofDover Corporation (NYSE: DOV), amulti-billion dollar, global producer ofinnovative equipment, specialty sys-tems and value-added services.

Chief Advises on High-Strength Steel in OEMs

The most efficient way to reverse collisiondamage in vehicles made with advanced steelis through multiple, simultaneous pulls usingequalized pressure as provided by pulling sys-tems like the Chief Titan-360


As we get rolling in this New Year, wesee a multitude of new ways to mar-ket the shop: A website, e-mail, Face-book and other social media sites, likeTwitter. Should we ignore these newways to reach potential customers?Certainly not, but there can be a ten-dency to discard tried and true wayswhen we jump on the bandwagon forthe new ones. And that can be a seri-ous mistake.

Customers who have been com-ing to your shop for years may now begetting a bit older. And they may notall share the younger generation’s en-thusiasm for these new approaches tocommunication and media. If theyhave kept coming back, they musthave liked whatever it was you weredoing to stay in touch with them. Youmay not know immediately what thatwas that pleased them, but of courseyou can always ask. You can also befairly certain that they are like con-sumers of other services. There aresome standards that never change.

What Keeps Customers Coming Back?As I noted in an article more than tenyears ago, if there’s one thing that cus-tomers value in a business, it’s consis-tency. We go back to the samerestaurant, the same hair-dresser, thesame mechanic over and over becausewe come to know what to expect ofthem. We know the level of servicewe’ll receive for the price we expect

to pay. When a place changes hands,we dread the changes we’ll probablyencounter. The menu we enjoyed sud-denly no longer has the choice itemswe preferred. The barber or hair-dresser we liked best has moved onbecause he or she didn’t get alongwith the new owner. And the reputablemechanic we trusted to do an honestjob on our car has been replaced by afast-talking, slick sales type whowants to sell us unneeded extras. Theconsistency that we valued has goneand we must go in search of a newplace that will service us in the man-ner we have come to expect.

Chances are that you can deliverconsistency. You’ve been there a longtime. You’ve built a good customerbase. They know what to expect fromyou. All you have to do is make cer-tain That you don’t change what yourclients or customers value most, andthat you let them know that, in a worldof fleeting consistency, you are stillhere delivering the same predictablemessage and quality you always have!

Consistency: Promoting Your BusinessThink about the advertising power ofthe consistency of major brands. Howlong have we heard “You’re in GoodHands With Allstate” or “BMW, TheUltimate Driving Machine?” Eventhough the specific ad may change,these consistent messages are alwayspresent.

What is your consistent message?Do you have one? Shops that havebeen in business a long time are wiseto capitalize on that longevity in theiradvertising and promotion. A line thatsays “Quality Collision Repair Since1981” tells a customer at a glance thatyou have survived in business for 30years. The clear implication is thatyou must have been doing somethingright to be around that long. If you arerelatively new in business, it’s stillprobable that you have been some-where in the industry for a while. Youmay be able to use a line like: “Ser-vice by professionals with more than20 years of experience.” If you havesurvived in this industry for anylength of time, you must have someelement of consistency in how you ap-proach collision repair. That consis-tency may be the most valuablecommodity you have to sell. Now isthe time to capitalize on it in your ad-vertising and promotion!

More Than One Way To CommunicateConsistencyI was startled, one day, when I walkedinto an auto body shop office in anoutlying area. The walls were com-pletely covered with photos of beforeand after repair jobs. It would havetaken hours to examine the multitudeof before and after photos this shopowner had accumulated over theyears. While it’s unlikely there would

be many shop owners who wouldadopt this approach to displayingproof of consistency in repair, it is asound idea to somehow convey theenormous number of quality repairsthat a shop has done.

This is the idea behind the mes-sage that McDonald’s “has servedmore than five hundred million ham-burgers.” Publicizing a long history ofhigh volume seems to convey a mes-sage of consistency although it maynot necessarily be true. That wall cov-ered with photos was one effectiveway to communicate that consistency.That same shop owner gives the cus-tomer a before and after photo whenthe job is finished as a reminder of thequality of work that has been pro-vided.

Some shops have a photo albumin the waiting area with before andafter photos. One shop I visited had analbum filled with impressive lettersfrom satisfied customers who owneda BMW, a Porsche, a Mercedes Benz,a Lamborghini or a Rolls-Royce. Theunspoken but obvious message was“we do a consistent, superior job onthe ultimate in high-end cars.”

Your website, e-mail, Facebookpage and Twitter feed can also be usedto communicate your consistencywithout neglecting to emphasize yournew qualities and awareness of thenew communication tools we have athand.


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 fifty years. He has writtennumerous books and provides marketing solutions and services for many businesses.He can be reached at (323) 871-6862 or at [email protected]. See Tom’s columns at www.autobodynews.com under Columnists > Franklin

‘Consistency’ May be Boring—But It’s Also Profitable

Claim Information

Customer NotificationGeneral Motors will notify customersof this recall on their vehicle (see copyof customer letter in this bulletin).

Dealer Recall Responsibility -For US (US States, Territories, andPossessions)

The US National Traffic andMotor Vehicle Safety Act providesthat each vehicle that is subject to arecall of this type must be adequatelyrepaired within a reasonable timeafter the customer has tendered it for

repair. A failure to repair within sixtydays after tender of a vehicle is primafacie evidence of failure to repairwithin a reasonable time. If the con-dition is not adequately repairedwithin a reasonable time, the cus-tomer may be entitled to an identicalor reasonably equivalent vehicle at nocharge or to a refund of the purchaseprice less a reasonable allowance fordepreciation. To avoid having to pro-vide these burdensome remedies,every effort must be made topromptly schedule an appointmentwith each customer and to repair theirvehicle as soon as possible. In the re-call notification letters, customers aretold how to contact the US NationalHighway Traffic Safety Administra-

tion if the recall is not completedwithin a reasonable time.

Dealer Recall Responsibility - All

All unsold new vehicles indealers' possession and subject tothis recall must be held and in-spected/repaired per the service pro-cedure of this recall bulletin beforecustomers take possession of thesevehicles.

Dealers are to service all vehiclessubject to this recall at no charge tocustomers, regardless of mileage, ageof vehicle, or ownership, from thistime forward.

Customers who have recentlypurchased vehicles sold from your ve-

hicle inventory, and for which there isno customer information indicated onthe dealer listing, are to be contactedby the dealer. Arrangements are to bemade to make the required correctionaccording to the instructions con-tained in this bulletin. A copy of thecustomer letter is shown in this bul-letin for your use in contacting cus-tomers. Recall follow-up cards shouldnot be used for this purpose, since thecustomer may not as yet have receivedthe notification letter.

In summary, whenever a vehiclesubject to this recall enters your vehi-cle inventory, or is in your dealershipfor service in the future, you must takethe steps necessary to be sure the re-


TSBs and Recalls


I read about the aftermarket parts test-ing conducted by ABPA (ABPA SaysAftermarket Bumper OutperformedFord Counterpart in CrashTest—Page 39 this issue) and I have tosay that I expected as much. Not un-like CAPA certification, the resultswill always favor the aftermarket part.In the article they stated that is somecases the aftermarket performed “bet-ter than the OEM.”

Wow, I guess I will need to re-think my standards regarding all af-termarket safety-related parts, andmaybe we should all lobby to havethe OEM’s recall their vehicles sowe can install these superior after-market parts. We know that the con-sumers’ safety is our primaryconcern so now that the cat is out ofthe bag what should we do? After all,I have been installing OEM rebarsthat have been “proven” (?) to be in-ferior to the aftermarket rebars. I

think we should probably take it onestep further and start testing head-lights and other parts because thepoor consumer has been duped intothinking that the manufacturer’sparts are best for the safe repair oftheir vehicle.

There is only one problem thatwe still need to address and that is to“test” the actual test results. I meanbefore I go to the Insurance Commis-sioner’s Office and tell him that I havebeen wrong all along about the saferepair of vehicles today I better knowmy facts. So a couple of questionscome to mind that maybe the com-pany that did the testing should an-swer first.

1) Ford showed up at a publicgathering and came equipped withphotos, videos, sensor reading data.They even brought their engineers toanswer questions. Plus they broughtin the actual parts so we all could see

with our own eyes what was being ex-posed. Ford was willing to answerquestions (and did a very good job),they also made their test results pub-lic and published them on CIC’s web-site (www.ciclink.com). Where isABPA’s evidence? I need to see thisfirst hand so I can quit making a foolof myself.

2) The article (this issue) said thatpart of the OEM-rebarred Mustang’sbumper fell off? This baffles me be-cause if they actually did the testing asthey claim then they should knowthere is no part that can fall off. Whatpart could fall off? There is nothing tothis part but a beam and two bracketsand the bolts go all the way through.This makes me question all the testingthey describe.

3) Ford ran two separate tests,both a set of 5-mph crash tests and aset of 8-mph test. Ford’s 5-mph crashtest showed there was more intrusiondamage and a higher cost of repairwith the Aftermarket verses the OEMvehicle, which contradicts the ABPAtest. Ford’s 8-mph test with the after-market bumper beam revealed themost dangerous evidence of “AIR-BAG DEPLOYMENT” when it“SHOULD NOT DEPLOY.” Whydidn’t ABPA do the 8-mph test? Thisraises concerns for me, (it’s not ‘ap-ples to apples’.) Does the term “likekind and quality” come to mind? It’suspicious at best.

4) Ford’s damage estimates werevery detailed, listing all of the partsused. The ABPA report glosses over

these details completely, “the truth liesin the details,” and who wrote thedamage assessments? Some “highlyregarded” shop? What kind of answeris that? Why aren’t they identified?

5) Ford videotaped the entireteardown process and created someserious evidence which contradictsthe ABPA test. Where is their video? Iwant to see it made public. After all,they are implying that Ford is the onewith the skewed results. ABPA needsto put its money where its mouth is.

6) I know that Ford didn’t mod-ify anything but it is possible to mod-ify an entire vehicle to make it crashbetter (look at Nascar reinforcementsfor racing safety, for example).

We need to see this so-calledABPA evidence made public and giveFord and the other OEMs a chance torebut it. Maybe we should presentboth tests to Congress and let them de-cide. After all, this is a serious safetyissue.

What I have read in this articleseems like another effort to mask thetruth. The facts are the facts and I saylet’s compare apples to apples andbring everything out in the open.Then we can give the information tothe public and let them decide. Butthis question still remains: “Why arewe using these parts when we knowthey have not been tested nor provento be equal to the original manufac-turer’s specifications as the law “re-quires.”

We are assuming an awful lotwith respect to someone else’s safety.


Setting the Record Straight on Ford vs. Aftermarket Parts Testing



















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]

call correction has been made beforeselling or releasing the vehicle.

© 2011 ALLDATA, LLC. All RightsReserved. Terms of Use (Version2.0.10164)

For more information on OE repair in-formation, please visit:www.alldata.com/collision.

NOTE: This Repair/Service Proce-

dure is excerpted from a recall noticepublished by the vehicle manufac-turer, and is intended for use bytrained, professional technicians withthe knowledge, tools and equipmentto do the job properly and safely. It isrecommended that this procedure notbe performed by “do-it-yourselfers.”


TSBs and Recalls

Search:

Autobody Newson Facebook

Those of us who are active in the autobody industry understand there ismuch skill involved negotiating withinsurance company appraisers in ar-riving at an “acceptable” (profitable)repair bottom line.

During my 30 year auto body ca-reer, I have written thousands of autobody repair estimates mastering the“the art” of negotiating with a varietyof insurance appraisers. It’s only natu-ral to have a preference of which in-surance appraisers we welcome intoour auto body shops. Commonly wefind some insurance appraisers are con-sistently easier to work with and arriveat a profitable “bottom line.” Thenthere are those appraisers that make usfeel as though they are paying for therepairs out of their own pockets.

Recently, our body shop in SantaBarbara, Calif., had an insuranceclaim where the issuance of the sup-plement was an experience I havenever encountered in over thirty yearsof owning and managing a body shop.

On the day the insurance appraiserrepresenting a well known companyarrived, I noted this appraiser hadnever been assigned an appraisal in-spection at our shop before. ThereforeI had some concern we did not haveany history of a working relationship.

The insurance appraisal inspec-tion involved a 2002 BMW 323cic.Upon introducing herself the appraiserbegan taking photos of the claimant’svehicle and making notes pertainingto the damaged left rear door andquarter panel. I listened attentively tothe often heard we-can-only-pay-for-this-procedure speech.

Days later, we completed the re-pairs and submitted a supplement tothe insurance appraiser. During myfollow up on the supplement confir-mation, I received a phone call fromthe appraiser saying her supervisorhas now decided not to pay for therear $130 bumper molding she hadoriginally approved to be replaced onher preliminary insurance estimate.By the way, the “non returnable” parthas been installed on the customer’svehicle. My initial reaction was Icould not believe what I was hearing.If this was ten years ago I feel certainthis appraiser would have been on the

receiving end of some colorful lan-guage. Instead, I phoned the vehicleowner and informed him there is aninsurance delay in delivering his cartoday. I said it appears the insurancecompany does not mind paying for“additional” rental car expenses overthe weekend because of an unsettlednew policy which I never experiencedbefore. I explained the “we would payfor it yesterday but not today” re-sponse. The vehicle owner phoned theinsurance appraiser expressing hisconcern about the delay as he neededhis car returned for an upcoming trip.That same day I received a phone callfrom the insurance appraiser whostated I would need to call their com-pany’s supplement hotline to “negoti-ate” an agreement for full paymentconcerning the $130 molding.

I thought to myself there is noth-ing to negotiate here—the insurancecompany owes us full price for thepart! On Monday morning I thenphoned the insurance company’s 1(800) SCREW U hotline. I’m suremany of you know the supplementhotline which I am referring to. Thisparticular hotline did not have ahuman voice, only a voice recordinginstructing you to fax your supple-ment to 1(800) SCREW U 2. Feelingfrustrated, I then phoned the insuranceappraiser and learned she had thisMonday and Tuesday off, probably formeeting the insurance company’squota of withdrawing parts and laborfrom the original written estimates.

Near mid-day Monday, I receiveda phone call from the insurance super-visor who appeared to be “shadowing”this claim. He told me the claimant hadphoned seeking his assistance to arriveat a settlement which resulted in un-necessary delays in releasing the vehi-cle to the claimant. I explained to theinsurance supervisor the problem initi-ated by their appraiser, specifically, the$130 bumper molding part which hadbeen withdrawn from their proposedsupplement. Upon further discussionthe claim supervisor replied his deci-sion of withdrawing allowance for thepart was based upon thinking the partin question was a door side moldingnot the bumper molding! Say What!?At that point, I had to ask how long his

appraiser, has been employed. Hereplied about “Two months”! Like, NoKidding!

According to the insurance su-pervisor’s explanation this was all a“misunderstanding”!

Is it a misunderstanding or amistake when hiring someonewho is not experiencedenough for the position tomake confident decisions? Asa result of my efforts in stand-ing up to the insurance super-visor we were paid in full($181) for supplement partsand labor pertaining to thewithdrawn bumper moldingfrom the original insurance re-pair estimate.Have you ever had a 1 800SCREW U 2 “misunder-standing”?If so, drop me a line I wouldwelcome you to share your

memorable insurance “misunder-standing” experiences.

Walter [email protected]


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necessary repairs from vehicle-damageestimates. This practice, he alleged, vi-olates GEICO’s contractual promise torestore the insured’s vehicle to itspreloss condition and constitutes statu-tory and common-law fraud. GEICOremoved the case to federal court underthe Class Action Fairness Act(“CAFA”).

The district court dismissed thestatutory consumer-fraud claim with-out prejudice. Greenberger amendedhis complaint and again the court dis-missed the statutory claim, this timewith prejudice (meaning it could not berefiled), and also denied Greenberger’smotion to file a third amended com-plaint. Greenberger’s other claims,however, were allowed to proceed. Thecourt eventually granted GEICO’s mo-tion for summary judgment on thebreach-of-contract and common-lawfraud claims, and accordingly did notaddress the issue of class certification.After an unsuccessful motion for re-consideration, Greenberger appealed.

Greenberger’s suit seeking class

status alleged, in the court’s words, thatGEICO “systematically underpays onits auto-accident claims by omittingnecessary repairs from vehicle-damageestimates,” which Greenberger said“violates GEICO’s contractual promiseto restore the insured’s vehicle to itspreloss condition and constitutes statu-tory and common-law fraud.”

The court ruled that the fact thatthe one piece of physical evidence,Greenberger’s car, is long gone meansthat the suit cannot proceed.

“Greenberger gave away his car,and without it, he cannot prove thatwhat GEICO paid him was inadequateto restore the car to its pre-loss condi-tion,” the court wrote in its opinion.

The court cited Avery v. StateFarm, a decision out of the IllinoisSupreme Court, in ruling that Green-berger could not preclude on his claim.“Among other important holdings,Avery established the common-senseproposition that a policyholder’s suitagainst his insurer for breach of itspromise to restore his collision-dam-aged car to its pre-loss condition cannotsucceed without an examination of thecar. Greenberger gave away his car,and without it, he cannot prove that

what GEICO paid him was inadequateto restore the car to its preloss condi-tion,” the court wrote.

Avery also made clear that fraudclaims must contain something morethan reformulated allegations of a con-tractual breach. Greenberger allegedthat GEICO never intended to restorehis car to its preloss condition andfailed to disclose that it regularlybreaches this contractual promise.These are breach-of-contract allega-tions dressed up in the language offraud. They cannot support statutory orcommon-law fraud claims.

Among the repairs not included inGEICO’s original estimate were“masking openings to prevent over-spray,” “covering the vehicle to preventoverspray onto glass,” “checking seat-belts to ensure they worked properly,”and “cleaning the car for delivery tocustomer.”

Though legally distinct, Green-berger’s contract and fraud claims areall premised on the same basic factualallegation: that GEICO systematicallyomits necessary repairs from its colli-sion-damage estimates in violation ofthe promise to restore the policyhold-ers vehicle to its preloss condition. The

district court sidestepped the class-cer-tification question, dismissed the statu-tory consumer-fraud claim, and thenentered summary judgment for GEICOon the breach-of-contract and com-mon-law fraud counts.

Perhaps the most puzzling aspectof the case from the plaintiff’s per-spective, is that he should have knownbetter. Greenberger graduated fromYale Law School and currently worksas an Associate Professor, and Associ-ate Dean, at DePaul Law School inChicago. In addition, Greenberger onceworked as a clerk for the Seventh Cir-cuit, the court that eventually threw outhis case.

Progressive vs. Blue Ash et. al. Preppedfor AppealThe Progressive vs. Blue Ash case hasresulted in a summary judgment ontwo of the six counts filed against it bya group of independent body shops inOhio. The shops have also agreed todismiss the remaining four claimsagainst Progressive, but the suit willcontinue.

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Class Actions

See Class Actions, Page 37

Arizona shop owner Mike Quinnopened his first Collision IndustryConference (CIC) as chairman of thequarterly gathering, held in January inPalm Springs, CA, by asking outgo-ing I-CAR CEO John Edelen to in-troduce new I-CAR chair John VanAlstyne, who takes the helm of thetraining organization this month.

Quinn followed Van Alstyne’sbrief remarks by praising Edelen’s ef-

forts at transition-ing I-CAR overthe past threeyears. “If I’m ableto engage the in-dustry as much asJohn Edelen hasengaged the indus-try in the last sev-

eral years, I’ll be successful as CICchair,” Quinn said.

The first meeting of a new CICchairman’s term is generally set asideas a “planning meeting,” one in whichparticipants discuss the issues they’dlike to see CIC address in the comingyear or two, and form the committeesto which those issues are assigned.

In Palm Springs, about 10 com-mittees were approved to move aheadwith their proposals of what theywould work to accomplish in the com-ing year or two.

A “Data Privacy Committee,” forexample, was formalized based on a

taskforce that CICcreated last year toaddress issues re-lated to the use ofshop estimate andother data. Theissue has contin-ued to grow in im-portance as the

information providers shift toward“cloud computing” systems, in whichestimates and even shop managementsystem data are stored on the vendor’scomputers rather than the shop’s.

Tony Passwater, who chairs thenew committee, said part of what itwill do is identify how shop data isbeing “captured, used, distributed,sold or reported on.” The committee,he said, also would seek to recom-mend guidelines or standards to pro-tect the rights of shops, insurers and

vehicle owners when this informationis being captured or used in any way.

Currently, Passwater said, shopshave little in the way of choice aboutsuch issues, basically having to sub-scribe to an estimating system service,for example, under the terms offered.

“If they do subscribe, they reallydon’t have any control of whether ornot their data is used beyond their owninternal use,” Passwater said. “I thinkthe issue the collision repair industry

has is that there should be some rightsfor the individual subscriber that thisdata cannot be used outside of theirown internal use.”

Scott Biggs of Assured Perform-ance Network said he’d also like tosee the committee address the issue ofthe shop’s access to its own historicaldata once they no longer subscribe tothat particular vendor’s service, forexample, or if they want to accesstheir current data through anotherservice or application.

The CIC “Parts Committee”oversaw some of the most heated orcontroversial subject matter over thelast two years at CIC, particularly sur-rounding concerns about structuralnon-OEM parts. That committee con-tinues to have a long list of issues on

its plate for 2011. It will be co-chairedby Chris Northup, a former Keystone

Automotive exec-utive who contin-ues to work in thenon-OEM partsindustry, andChris Caris ofPCG Campbell, amarketing andcommunications

firm whose clients include several au-tomakers.

In a first for a CIC committee, theParts Committee will also have an“executive board,” that will consist ofa representative from various seg-ments of the industry (repairers, in-surers, automakers, alternative partsand paint/materials).

Several CIC participants offeredideas on issues the committee couldaddress. Aaron Lofrano of F. Lofrano& Son Collision Centers in San Fran-

cisco, said he’d like the committee toaddress the issue of insurers askingshops to code parts in ways that don’tcorrectly identify them, as is requiredin some states.

Biggs said he’d like to see thecommittee develop some industry“ground rules” on when it is and isn’tappropriate to use certain types ofparts. “Establishing some practicallogic instead of just arbitrary rules thatsomeone throws on you to use ‘X’amount of this and ‘X’ amount ofthat,” Biggs said.

Rick Tuuri, who last yearchaired the “Repairer-Insurer Rela-tions Committee” said that group hasalready been asked for revisions to the“digital imaging best practices” docu-ment finalized just last year.

Ron Guilliams, who had chairedthe CIC Definitions Committee, re-ceived a standing ovation at the first


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New CIC Committee to Focus on Shop Data’s Capture, Use, Sale, and Reports

See CIC Committees , Page 37

Mike Quinn

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Shop and Product Showcase

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Shop Showcase


The Right Causewith Mike Causey


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].

Scott Biggs

Tony Passwater

General CIC session with approximately 200in attendance

Outgoing I-CAR Chair John Edelen (l) andJohn Van Alstyne, the new I-CAR Chair

meeting he has at-tended in morethan a year. Guil-liams, who was se-riously ill and in acoma for a numberof months in 2010,thanked CIC par-ticipants for the

support he and his family receivedduring his illness and recovery. “I’mreally glad to be here,” Guilliams said,drawing laughter from CIC attendees.“I can guarantee you I wouldn’t bestanding here today with the sameoutlook and view of life if it wasn’tfor all the support from you in thisroom. I just want to thank you fromthe bottom of my heart.”

He said he would serve as vice-chair of the Definitions Committee in2011, and that the committee plannedto review CIC’s long-established def-inition of a “Class A shop,” wouldwork to define a “green shop,” andwould review CIC’s glossary of in-

dustry terms. The committee also maydevelop some best practices or guide-lines for the communication to cus-tomers from shops and insurers.

“Is it, for example, right for theshop to be the one who informs some-one their vehicle is a total loss, or thatdamage is not related to this particularclaim,” Guilliams said. “In many in-stances, those lines of responsibilityhave been blurred. So one of thethings the committee has been askedto look at is to try to get consensus onboth sides on what really is the bestpractice, so we can standardize that.”

Other existing CIC committeesthat will continue in 2011 will include“Education and Training,” “Govern-mental and Regulatory,” and “HumanResources.”

CIC’s ad-hoc Marketing Commit-tee reported in Palm Springs that itssurveys after CIC’s last two meetingsfound that 87 percent of those respond-ing said the presentations at the meet-ings had “good” or “very good” valuefor their business. More than 91 percentsaid the quality of the meeting contentand the networking opportunities at themeetings were good or very good.

and Body filed suit against Progressiveclaiming that independent repairers(those not part of the insurer’s DRPprogram) are injured by Progressive’sclaims handling practices. The shopscharged that Progressive’s actions in-clude illegally steering consumers to itsnetwork shops, illegal suppression ofprice, interfering with professional col-lision repair judgment, misusing esti-mating database information (includingthe use of a special version of theMitchell estimating system created byMitchell specifically for Progressive’suse), and the refusal to pay for neces-sary repairs on behalf of consumers.

The case is currently in the handsof Attorneys Bill Markovits and TerryR. Coates of Waite, Schneider, Bayless& Chesley. Markovits told AutobodyNews that the gist of the claims wasProgressive’s failure to pay for stan-dard procedures as taught in any autobody tech program or textbook. Essen-tially Progressive was saying “we’llpay for steps one, two, and five, but notfor three and four.”

When the case was originallyfiled, plaintiff’s attorney Stan Chesleyof Waite, Schneider, Bayless & Ches-ley, said, “This case is corporate arro-gance at its worst. Progressive justwalks all over these independent shops,and is trying to prevent them from per-forming the repairs that any reasonableconsumer would expect.”

On January 19, Hamilton CountyJudge Steven E. Martin entered a sum-mary judgment in favor of the insureron two of the six counts claimed in thesuit. Those two counts, claimingbreach of contract and unjust enrich-ment, primarily claimed that Progres-sive increases its profits at the expenseof repairers by refusing to pay, or se-verely underpaying, for specific repairprocedures that are commonly requiredto repair collision damaged vehicles.

The judgment will be appealed bythe shops however, and according to at-torney Erica Eversman, some legalmaneuvering was necessary in prepa-ration for an appeal, including drop-ping the remaining four counts againstProgressive.

Eversman explained, “We wantedthe decision to be immediately appeal-able. A judge can put that language in

an order, that it is immediately appeal-able, but the appellate court doesn’thave to accept that. Sometimes theydon’t and send it back down to the trialcourt and tell the appealing party towait until the entire case is over. So inorder to make those two claims imme-diately appealable, we agreed with Pro-gressive that we would “voluntarilydismiss the remaining claims withoutprejudice” which means we can refilethem later, depending on the outcomeof the appeal.

The four claims that were dis-missed include: Count 1: DeceptiveTrade Practice (primarily involvingtactics used to steer customers); Count4: Tortious Interference; Count 5: CivilConspiracy, Use of Unregistered BodyShops; and Count 6: Civil Conspiracy,Unlawful Conduct with DRP Shops.

About the Avery vs. State Farm CaseAvery was a nationwide class actionagainst State Farm challenging thecompany’s practice of not using OEMparts to repair vehicles. The plaintiffsclaimed that using aftermarket partsbreached State Farm’s promise to re-store vehicles to their preloss condi-tion. The Illinois Supreme Courtreversed a lower court ruling in favorof the plaintiffs, holding that in order

to establish a breach of contract, theplaintiffs would have to show that theparts specified or used by State Farmdid not restore the vehicle to its prelosscondition.

That case was watched veryclosely by the collision industry at thetime, because the initial Avery verdictseemed to vindicate repairer concernsabout aftermarket parts quality andwould have established a more strin-gent standard for insurance companiesrelative to returning a vehicle to itspreloss condition.

In the GEICO case, the finalAvery verdict was used to refute all ofGreenberger’s claims, particularlysince his vehicle was no longer avail-able for examination. “Among otherimportant holdings, Avery establishedthe common-sense proposition that apolicyholder’s suit against his insurerfor breach of its promise to restore hiscollision-damaged car to its prelosscondition cannot succeed without anexamination of the car,” said the 7thCircuit ruling in the Greenberger case.

The court also noted that thehigher estimate issued by the bodyshop did not establish a breach of con-tract, although it would be admissibleas supporting evidence.


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CIC Committees


Class Actions

I want to thank everyone who took thetime to respond to my previous columnon steering. I hope to address some ofthose comments and questions in fu-ture columns.

A related issue is understandingwhat a referral is. “Referral” carriesmany meanings—positive or negative—depending on who you are talking to.Shops that participate in direct repairprograms consider referrals to be as nat-ural as the air we breathe. Simply stated,shops that are heavily-laden with directrepair work would die without the refer-rals, just as we would suffocate withoutair. With that dependence, they typicallyforget who their customer is, and how tomarket to consumers.

Shops that don’t rely on workfrom direct repair programs view re-ferrals as taking food off their table.They define a referral as a process inwhich the vehicle owner is potentiallyillegally steered to another body shop.

What’s ironic is that the insuranceindustry (health care providers in par-ticular) uses the word referral as ameans for a patient to gain prior ap-proval to see a particular doctor. Whydon’t we view that type of referral asillegal or unjust when it’s essentiallythe same thing? You are told whichdoctors you can see and if you want togo outside of the network it may costyou more money. Hmmmm, soundslike a direct repair program.

While there is a fine line betweenreferring and steering, the latest directrepair programs to hit the industry canbe viewed as referrals-on-steroids. It’sone thing to refer a customer to a par-ticular shop. It’s quite another thing tocompletely remove the shop from itsown business. Many insurance compa-nies have immersed themselves intothe collision repairer’s business like noother time in the industry’s history.

Why? The business of insurancehas become extremely competitive andcostly as evidenced by the ungodlysums of money spent to entertain uswith the gecko, Flo and Mayhem. Thebottom line is the button line: In ashrinking market, you better retain yourexisting customers and try to steal someof the competition’s policyholders.

All of that said, “If you want some-thing done right, do it yourself.” Insurersbelieve that they can do a better job ofservicing the customer’s needs than the

repairer. Having spent time on both sidesof this fence, I believe there may be sometruth to that. But one fact that can’t be ar-gued is that there is a direct correlationbetween the vehicle owner’s experiencewith the body shop and their perceptionof the insurance company. This wasprobably a motivating factor for Allstate

buying Sterling. Allstate believed that ifit could control the customer’s repair ex-perience, they probably would see an in-crease in CSI and policyholder retention.

The Progressive (Concierge) andGEICO (RX) direct repair programshave taken things to a completely dif-ferent level. In the Progressive model,unless customers ask, they may nothave any interaction with the shop. TheConcierge program virtually eliminatesthe shop from the entire process otherthan the actual repair work.

This is not a typical referral. Thisis more indicative of slave-master re-lationship. We, the insurer, will giveyou the cars we want to and you willdo what we say. If you don’t agree, wewill give the work to another bodyshop that appreciates the work.

While many of you may say that’sthe case with all direct repair programs,I can assure you that this is different. Ifas a shop you don’t have the ability tobuild a relationship with the customer,you not only lose that person as a po-tential future customer, but also anyresidual benefit from their word-of-mouth advertising for your shop. I per-sonally would not recommend anyrepair facility building their businesson repairing vehicles through aConcierge-like program. Here today,gone tomorrow!

The GEICO RX program is a littlemore palatable. In this model, the cus-tomer actually drops his or her vehicle

off at the shop where there is a GEICOadjuster with a desk and office whohandles the GEICO customer fromdrop-off to pick-up. Although the in-teraction with the shop is limited, theintegrity of the shop and vehicle ownerrelationship is somewhat maintained.

The challenge with this model ishow quickly a shop becomesbeholden to GEICO. GEICOvirtually doubles the shops rev-enue overnight. Larger-produc-ing RX shops can expect to geteight or more referrals per day.This quickly creates an imbal-ance for most shops whereGEICO becomes greater than50 percent of their business. Asyou can imagine, the shop haslimited ability to negotiate withGEICO, and the master-slaverelationship becomes a reality.The shop is working for

GEICO and not the vehicle owner.What’s the answer? There isn’t

one. The fact is insurance companiesare going to continue to trend in this di-rection for several reasons. First andforemost, insurers are a copycat indus-try. Second, to be competitive you needto be innovative and change in ashrinking market as evidenced by theactivities of some of the industry’slargest carriers.

Repairers need to look at referralsas one means of growing their busi-nesses. I’m not advocating for oragainst direct repair programs. The ma-jority of the people reading this articlerely on referrals for business. But ifyou are going to live by the sword,make sure you don’t die by it. Refer-rals can be healthy for a body shopsbusiness. If you want referrals, makesure that you never forget who yourreal customers are, how to market toyour customers, and how not to loseyourself in the process.

More on direct repair programs inmy next column.


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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

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ABPA says a laboratory crash test per-formed in December 2010 by MGAResearch Corporation determined thatan aftermarket bumper reinforcementbar outperformed its original equip-ment supplied (OES) equivalent, theAutomotive Body Parts Association(ABPA) announced.

The trial involved sled-testing apair of 2007 Ford Mustangs into afront-end barrier at 5 mph (the sametest presented by Ford at the CollisionIndustry Conference last November),measuring the effectiveness of the re-inforcement bars and estimating thecosts of repair to the aftermarket andOES-equipped vehicles.

“We decided to incur the ex-pense of further testing to illustratecomparable performance and to dis-prove the claim that it costs more torepair aftermarket-equipped vehi-cles than those with only OEM orOES parts,” said Eileen A. Sottile,

co-chair of the ABPA Legislation &Regulation Committee. “Tests haveconsistently demonstrated that after-market parts perform just as well asoriginal equipment components, andconsumers should feel good abouthaving these parts on their vehi-cles.”

While both partseffectively absorbedthe impact and pro-tected the vehicle oc-cupants, a piece of thebumper fell off of theMustang outfitted withan OES reinforcement bar. The low-speed test did not result in the deploy-ment of the air bag systems on eithervehicle.

Two repair shops which ABPAsays are “highly regarded” were askedto calculate the costs of repair to thetest vehicles without knowledge of theparts used in the crash test. One of the

shops gave an identical estimate forrepairs, while the other (a Ford dealerbody shop) estimated that it wouldcost approximately $200 less to repairthe aftermarket-equipped vehicle thanthe one with original equipment parts,which sustained more damage, ac-cording to ABPA.

“When aftermar-ket and OEM partsperformed equallywell in trials at 35mph, some industrymembers complained

that the tests were con-ducted at too high a rate of speed,making all rebars ‘toast’ even thoughthe government requires tests at 35mph in order to test for occupantsafety,” said Sottile.

“Now that this low-speed test hasvindicated the aftermarket in terms ofquality, safety and damageability, thefocus should return to preventingmore cars from becoming total losses,which means everyone wins — the re-pairer, the insurer and, most impor-tantly, the vehicle owner.”

Sottile has previously said “The

aftermarket industry is a thriving partof the American economy and willcontinue to be," declared Sottile."Consumers benefit when they havechoice about which parts they use forcar repairs, and competition preventscar company monopolies from charg-ing excessive prices to line their pock-ets.” The ABPA says it will performadditional testing and also make thoseresults public.

About the ABPAThe more than 150 members of theAutomotive Body Parts Association(ABPA) occupy more than 415 sepa-rate collision parts distribution,bumper sales, recycling facilities andmanufacturing plants. Collectively,they are responsible for distributingmore than 75 percent of independentlyproduced aftermarket collision re-placement parts sold to the collisionrepair trade. ABPA members warrantthe products they sell and endorse theconcept of Complete Customer Satis-faction . Visit www.autobpa.com.

See www.autobpa.com andwww.mgaresearch.com.


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The Alliance of Automotive ServiceProviders of New Jersey (AASP/NJ)has announced that BASF Automo-tive Refinish has signed on as the of-ficial show sponsor of their 34thAnnual NORTHEAST(TM) Automo-tive Services Show.

The show takes place at theMeadowlands in Secaucus, New Jer-sey and runs on March 18,19, and 20annually.

“Having BASF come on board tosponsor NORTHEAST 2011 just addsto the national influence and percep-tion our show is gaining,” AASP/NJPresident Jeff McDowell said fromhis shop in Fords, New Jersey.

“BASF’s decision to be the offi-cial show sponsor of NORTHEAST2011 was really an easy one,” ex-plained Darlene Eilenberger, Mar-keting Director for BASF AutomotiveRefinish.

“We have displayed at NACEand SEMA, but we’re well aware thatthere is also a very important cus-tomer base who may not always beable to travel to Las Vegas. TheNORTHEAST show is an optimalplace for us to catch up with our cus-tomers in the Northeast region whileshowcasing our newest products.Given the increasing growth and in-

fluence of NORTHEAST, we wantedto show our support of this year’sevent in a big way,” Eilenberger con-tinued.

BASF is also looking forward toparticipating in the educational por-tion of the show.

“With environmental legislationpending in the Northeast region,”Eilenberger added, “we felt 2011 wasthe perfect year to actively participatein NORTHEAST — not only to in-crease visibility on our line of water-borne refinish products, but also toeducate and network with the thou-sands of repair professionals who willbe directly impacted by it. We arevery excited to showcase our brandsand meet with NORTHEAST Showattendees.”

“This is the first time in all theshow’s years that we have had a soleevent sponsor for NORTHEAST,”McDowell said. “We are honored thatsuch a prestigious company as BASFwould incorporate its brand withNORTHEAST 2011, and we hopethis is the start of a long and prosper-ous tradition.”

For more information on theNORTHEAST 2011 show andAASP/NJ, visit www.aaspnjnorth-east.com and www.aaspnj.org.

BASF Official Show Sponsor of NORTHEAST 2011

ABPA Says Aftermarket Bumper Outperformed Ford Counterpart in Crash Test

autobody news march 2011 southwest edition

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