A fourth issue, consumer education, was seen as a key component of any effort to address the other issues, according to those representing about 16 SCRS state affiliates at a gathering in the Chicago area in mid-September.

"I don't think we'll ever get done with all of these issues, ever," Dan Risley, executive director of SCRS, told the representatives of the state associations following the group's review of about a dozen issues in all. "But I think we can move the needle. The bottom line is, something needs to change. We all hear from our members: 'Someone needs to do something.' That's why we're here. We want to do something to push for and facilitate change, and we wanted you to tell us what the one or two or three things your members are most concerned about and that we should begin addressing immediately."

Risley said the input and ideas gathered at the meeting will be brought to the SCRS board at its meeting this fall to determine how to best move forward.

Unlike similar SCRS events in past years that generally resulted in a laundry list of issues or resolutions, this year's affiliate gathering focused on a few key issues, assigning each to a team of attendees who brainstormed on potential ways to address that issue.

Some of the suggestions offered included:
 • Development of "model legislation" that could be introduced at the state level by affiliate groups.
 • Promoting shop use of the Database Enhancement Gateway, a Web site being developed by three national associations to make it easier for the industry to submit concerns about the estimating databases and to track the providers' responses.
 • Developing training or tools to assist shops in establishing appropriate, sustainable labor rates for their business.
 • Working with consumer advocacy groups to pressure regulators and lawmakers for needed changes or enforcement of existing regulations.
 • Developing brochures, advertising, Internet video, or other consumer education materials, perhaps backed by automakers and other credible sources of information, regarding safe and complete repairs, consumer rights, and industry trends of concern.

The daylong event also gave the SCRS national board and its affiliate groups a chance to inform each other about recent activities and accomplishments.

Risley, for example, said that in addition to helping create the Database Enhancement Gateway, SCRS is taking an active role in the Collision Industry Conference (CIC) Database Taskforce. The task force is addressing such issues as disclosure by the information providers of large-scale changes to the estimating databases, and indication in the databases when a vehicle includes "exotic" metals.

Risley cited one example of the task force's work when an SCRS member reported that labor times for a pickup bedside had dropped by a third in one database. The taskforce contacted the database provider, which acknowledged the mistake and made the correction.

Risley said that over time the information providers have become "significantly better" at responding to the task force's input, which benefits the industry.

"After all, the lifeblood of your business is that database," Risley said.
 The association is also working to make information readily available to members; a members' section of the SCRS Web site (www.scrs.com), for example, includes copies of proposed and actual state legislation involving the industry around the country, as well as position statements regarding repairs from the automakers.

Risley said he and SCRS Chairman Farzam Afshar recently made a presentation before the National Association of Insurance Commissioners.

"We got in front of a group of state insurance commissioners and started outlining some of the issues we've talked about today, and you could not believe the eyes that were popping out of their heads in shock and disbelief," Risley said. "When we were done with our presentation, we had six or seven of them come up and say, 'We want to spend more time with you; we want to understand the issue more.' After that meeting, I came to realize that is a venue we should have a stronger presence in because there are a lot of decision-makers there. And we opened some eyes."

During the presentations at the SCRS event by each state affiliate group, several association representatives discussed successful state legislative efforts. Judell Anderson of the Alliance of Automotive Service Professionals of Minnesota, for example, said her state this past year enacted association-backed legislation that prohibits insurers, or their representatives, from adjusting an estimate without a physical inspection of the vehicle. The legislation also prohibits insurers from requiring the use of particular vendor for parts or materials. Anderson said the association is now looking at shop-licensing legislation.

The Northwest Automotive Trades Association successfully supported legislation in its home state of Oregon that requires an insurer, before recommending a shop, to notify the consumer that he or she has the right to use the shop of their choice.

Howard Batchelor, director of operations for the Georgia Collision Industry Association, said his group was one of a number of SCRS affiliate groups to commission a shop labor rate survey in the past year. The association used an industry survey company to successfully receive data from nearly half of 600 shops contacted in the greater Atlanta area.

Pat Gisler of the Automotive Service Council of Kentucky said her organization in the past year had determined that it needed more than a part-time administrator if it was going to make much progress on behalf of the industry. The association tripled its dues and made her position full-time, she said, and has gained three times the number of members lost because of the dues increase.

Dave McBroom of the Jacksonville (Fla.) Collision Repair Educational Foundation, said his group raises funds for collision repair scholarships by selling 200 $100 raffle tickets for a car each year; shops in the association take turns repairing a wrecked car for each year's raffle.

The group is also creating a 60-day training program designed to prepare disabled veterans for careers as estimators and production managers, McBroom said.

Jim Thompson, chairman of the 4-year-old Iowa Collision Repair Association, said the association is lobbying for a change in state law that now prohibits shops from collecting sales tax on paint and material despite having to pay the tax when purchasing those items.

In other presentations at the event, SCRS' Afshar offered an overview of what has happened to the collision repair industry in the United Kingdom, where he said the number of shops has dropped from about 19,000 to about 4,000 over the past decade, and where average net profits are 2 percent or less.

He said that in order to prevent a similar situation in the United States, the industry needs to avoid some of the mistakes made in the U.K., including ineffective associations and shop owners' failure to understand their business' numbers.

Afshar and Risley said after the second annual affiliate event that surveys of attendees were generally very positive and that the national association will continue to hold similar gatherings for its 34 state and regional affiliates on a regular basis.