Las Vegas--More than 1,000 repair professionals may have not known it at the time, but this year's Congress of Automotive Repair and Service (CARS) would be its last time in its current form. Next year, Automotive Service Association (ASA) officials plan to combine CARS with its collision counterpart, the International Autobody Congress and Exposition (NACE), creating a single show more suitable for today's changing mechanical and collision repair businesses, service providers, and vendors.
CARS 2007, Nov. 1-3 at the Flamingo Hotel and Resort, was successful, featuring several industry networking events, seminars, and 16 technical and management training courses. ASA held a press conference at the Sands Expo Center before the show to announce plans for this year.
The combined show, which falls under ASA's Automotive Service & Repair Week (ASRW) umbrella, is scheduled for Nov. 5-8 in at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas.
"As technology continues to change, the segments keep growing closer to each other," said Ron Pyle, ASA president and chief of staff. Collision repairers now need access to electronic vendors, he added.
What won't change, however, is ASA's commitment to deliver quality training, vendor exhibits, and networking opportunities for its member shop owners and nonmembers alike, Pyle said. "We're not merely co-locating events," he said. "We're creating an environment for other events to be held." That will include other niche industry segments, he said, such as transmission and glass.
Last year's CARS featured a management course approved by the Automotive Management Institute (AMI) that drew a lot of attention. That course, "Financial Benchmarking for Improved Operations," was taught by Dan Gilley of R. L. O'Connor & Assoc., a former Renton, Wash., independent repair shop owner of 20 years.
The course dealt with the topic of independent repairers selling original equipment manufacturer (OEM) parts profitably.
"The fear is that the customer will call the local dealership and obtain an over-the-counter price, and the repair shop doesn't want to exceed that price," Gilley said. What some shop owners may not realize, he said, is that the dealership's service department marks up the price before they install it, creating two different prices.
"Everybody we buy from is 'our parts supplier,'" Gilley said, urging the use of that term with shop customers. "Get the language right. Don't call it a 'dealer part.' You procured this part; will the dealership deliver it to your customer's house?"
When it comes to communicating OEM prices compared to aftermarket, service advisers must explain that "the part is not the same, that's why it costs more," he said, citing studies showing that only 3 percent of customers question this. Gross profit on all parts sold must be 50 percent or greater, he said.
ASA officials realize, now more than ever, that repair shops must not only choose the right parts for a repair but be equipped with OE scan tools in order to do the job right.
The OE Tool Forum on Oct. 31, co-sponsored by ASA and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), signaled that greater change is near for independent repair shop owners. Representatives from Subaru, BMW, and Toyota discussed developments with OE scan tools and service repair information Web sites and their availability to aftermarket repairers.
The panelists forecast that the aftermarket repair process will be drastically affected because, in many cases, OE scan tools must be used to access and download the various component calibrations from the manufacturer's Web site.
A large group of independent repairers also attended the National Automotive Service Task Force (NASTF) session. The organization's primary objective is to open communication between automakers and independent service repairers to identify gaps in service repair information and tools. The group said that makers of the J2534-1 and J2534-2 series aftermarket reflashing tools are headed in the right direction.
The three-day event was highlighted by keynote speaker Jones Loflin, president of Helping Others Prepare for Excellence. Loflin, co-author of "Juggling Elephants," a book about living a balanced life, spoke to attendees about personal and professional productivity and focus.