5 minute read

ALLDATA

from October 2021 Shop & Product Showcase

from October 2021 Shop & Product Showcase, page 50

WD-40

by Autobody News Staff

When Mark Ventrillo joined Quality Color & Collision in Greenwood, SC, as its fixed operations director in early 2021, his assignment was to improve its management of the collision repair industry’s most valuable resource—time.

“Everybody sells time, everybody pays for time and they pay for nothing extra,” Ventrillo said.

Fortunately, he knew exactly how to do that.

“That’s where ALLDATA comes in,” Ventrillo said.

Ventrillo introduced the Quality family of dealerships-attached collision repair center to ALLDATA’s scanning and diagnostic software, specifically ALLDATA Collision, ALLDATA Collision Advantage and ALLDATA Diagnostics.

ALLDATA Collision has everything an auto body technician needs for OEM-accurate repairs and liability protection, including body and frame sectioning, handling of new materials, evolving technologies such as hybrids and panel replacement, and more, while Collision Advantage works with it to analyze estimates and flag OE-required repairs.

ALLDATA Diagnostics has ALLDATA Collision built in to a device that plugs into any tablet, making it a portable, professional-level scan tool.

The I-CAR Gold Class shop is most familiar with the makes sold by the dealerships—Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, Kia and Nissan—which makes ALLDATA even more valuable when another make comes in for repairs.

“Let’s say a BMW comes in and we need the specs—ALLDATA has all that,” Ventrillo said. “If we’re not sure of [remove and replace] procedures, ALLDATA has all that.”

Ventrillo linked ALLDATA’s programs to CCC Intelligent Solutions’ estimating software to produce a seamless—and accurate—process from scan-in to scan-out.

“Everything links in, everything can be emailed to [the insurance company] and they pay the bill,” Ventrillo said. “[Estimates] that used to take an hour and a half to two hours can be done in 10 minutes.”

Ventrillo, originally from New York, has an optical engineering degree and 30 years of experience in the collision repair industry, first as a hobbyist collecting and fixing up British cars, which he eventually turned into a business.

He then worked stints as a bonded appraiser and a dealership service department manager, running nearly 45 dealerships over the years, and has worked for GM and NADA.

“You name it, I know it about cars, or that’s what they tell me,” Ventrillo said.

When the owner of the last dealership group for whom Ventrillo was working sold his business, Tracey Terrell, owner of Quality Color & Collision—who Ventrillo called a good business owner, open to change—asked Ventrillo to come on, to bring employees up to date with the new technology that could save them all time and make more money.

“Especially with the pandemic and [shift to online] sales, I was here to get the technology in place, get people trained,” Ventrillo said. “The town is really expanding, all of South Carolina is—and time is money.”

The body shop’s technicians, who were using older scanning tools before he introduced them to ALLDATA, quickly came to prefer it.

“The techs love it,” Ventrillo said.

“I try not to act ‘New York,’ but when you’re bringing new things, you gotta hope that it’s going to be accepted,” he said. “If it makes their job easier and they make more money on it, it gets accepted, and that’s exactly what happened.”

Ventrillo said ALLDATA has been there every step of the way, through initial training for the technicians, continuing education through webinars and an online database with a search function.

“Our rep has been very helpful,” Ventrillo said. “The 800 number always gets an answer, and ALLDATA notifies us about updates and helps us download those at no extra cost.”

Updates happen about every quarter, he said.

Ventrillo said ALLDATA’s biggest advantage over competitors is the fact it’s accepted by the insurance companies.

“They believe it,” he said. “All that information that’s in the car gets sent to the insurance adjuster, there’s no questions and you just fix it.”

The insurance companies Quality Color & Collision works with aren’t the only ones who appreciate ALLDATA, Ventrillo said.

While the body shop’s customers might not have a direct opinion on ALLDATA’s products, the shop’s Customer Satisfaction Index (CSI) scores have improved since it made the switch.

“Every car is a smart car now, and smart cars need smart tooling,” Ventrillo said. “You may have gotten hit in the rear end and might not even know it if the rear park sensor might not be working---the scan tool will have the code in it for those sensors.

“Before, if you don’t have that tool [finding that sensor], you have the inconvenience of a customer getting a car back that’s not working,” he said. “You have to do a scan when it comes back in, which creates supplements, which are more work and more time for everybody across the board.”

Using ALLDATA’s products has increased customers’ confidence in the repair, which in turn has increased the shop’s CSI scores.

“They’re happy the car is fixed right the first time,” Ventrillo said.

The shop’s business has also improved by another important metric.

“Grosses have already more than doubled,” Ventrillo said of his first six months on the job. “Things are on the right path.”