This Month: Automotive Recycling / Undercar Maintenance & Repair
June: Performance & Motorsports / Parts and Service for Imports
Articles Written By John Yoswick:
As an observer of the auto insurance industry, Brian Sullivan offers a unique perspective on what collision repairers can expect in the future. Among his predictions:
- A painful reduction in the number of collision repair shops;
- Continued efforts by insurers to control various aspects of the process; and,
- Changes in various insurers' market share as the "advertising war" continues.
Tacoma, Wash.--Like a lot of people, Matt Earsley and Brit Balant spent many evenings and weekends talking about opening a business together. But unlike many others, the two collision repair technicians actually turned that dream into a reality when, one year ago this spring, they opened Premier Collision Services in downtown Tacoma.
Bob Redding pulls no punches about the opportunity he sees for the industry in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in February not to hear Allstate's appeal of a Texas law banning insurers from owning collision repair shops. Read Full Article
Tacoma, Wash.--How do you keep track of the approximately 50 vehicles in for repairs each week when you have 36 employees, more than 30,000 square feet of shop space in several buildings, and a back lot that is larger than most shop's entire footprint? Read Full Article
Berkeley, Calif.--Celebrating its 30th year tucked away on a relatively quiet street in Berkeley is a collision repair shop with an unusual name: Baron Von Frier. "That's actually my great-grandfather's name," said Dave Perry, who along with his wife, Linda, owns and operates the eight-employee company. "My dad and brother and I started the business 36 years ago in Emeryville and thought we'd name it for my great-grandfather who came to the U.S., and it's a name that people don't forget."
Seattle--The news about school collision repair training programs all too often is grim: declining enrollments, lack of administrative support, more programs being shuttered. But the news coming from Steve Ford, a collision repair instructor at South Seattle Community College, is decidedly different: full enrollment with a waiting list for the past seven years; good support from the school's administration and from area shops, vendors, and insurers; and the completion of a $1.7 million expansion and remodel of the program's main building.
Cathedral City, Calif.--Larry Rogers believes that too many people complain about what's happening in the collision repair industry but don't help do something about it. "If you're not happy with the outcome you're getting, if you're fighting with these insurance companies about labor rates and you don't do anything to change it, then don't complain about it,"
The "total-loss crisis" may not be over, but the dramatic growth in the percentage of vehicles being totaled appears to have subsided. That was the message all three of the major estimating-system providers brought to the Collision Industry Conference (CIC) in Palm Springs, Calif., in mid-January.
