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Crash Champions Acquires Dynamic Autobody in Columbiana, OH Crash Champions, LLC, announced Feb. 23 it has grown its presence in Ohio through the acquisition of Dynamic Autobody, located at 1360 Rt 14, Columbiana, OH 44408.

The addition of Dynamic Autobody is the latest Ohio-based transaction the company has completed in the greater Cleveland metro area and follows recent acquisitions of Sunnyside Collision, VIP Autobody, Car-Tech and Ohio Collision Group.

Crash Champions now has 19 collision repair centers located across the Buckeye State, having first entered the Ohio market in

2020.

“Dynamic Autobody is a family owned and community-oriented shop that has served the residents of Columbiana for over 40 years, and it is a terrific addition to the Crash Champions footprint in Ohio,” said Matt Ebert, founder and CEO of Crash Champions. “I am thrilled to welcome their experienced, knowledgeable and friendly professionals to our team, and look forward to pursuing the growth opportunities that lie ahead.”

“Today marks an important See Crash Champions, Page 20

GM and Some Other Automakers Suspend Business to Russia

by Jamie L. LaReau, Detroit Free Press

General Motors is suspending its business in Russia following the country’s invasion of Ukraine.

GM spokesman George Svigos said Feb. 28 the reason for the suspension was “due to a number of external factors, including supply chain issues and other matters beyond the company’s control.”

The week before, the Russian military invaded Ukraine in what is the biggest attack in Europe between two states since World War II. Many Western nations have institut-

ed sanctions against Russia prompting many companies to idle operations there.

GM’s presence in Russia is small. It sells about 3,000 Cadillac and Chevrolet vehicles a year in the country and it has limited supply chain exposure, Svigos said.

In a statement, GM said: “We are working in real time through the implications for our operations of the sanctions announced this week. We continue to monitor developments and take action to implement mitigation strategies as appropriate.”

See Suspend Business, Page 14

Vol. 11 / Issue 7 / April 2022

Signs of Optimism Among Auto Dealers Despite Slow Start to Year Facing a slow start to the year, and with concerns over inflation and the economy, automobile dealer sentiment softened in Q1, marking the third consecutive quarter-over-quarter decline in current market sentiment.

Still, at 57, the current market index remains above the positive threshold in the latest Cox Automotive Dealer Sentiment Index (CADSI).

The index reading of 57 indicates more U.S. automobile dealers feel the current market is strong compared to the number who feel

the current market is weak.

The key drivers of sentiment saw marginal shifts in Q1. The threemonth, forward-looking market outlook index rose modestly—reflecting the typical spring bounce—and, at 64, is above the 59 recorded in Q1 2021.

The overall profit index saw a small decline to 54, down from 57 last quarter, but remains well above any point before the COVID-19 pandemic.

The price pressure index, likewise, increased slightly in Q1 but See Signs of Optimism, Page 18

Auto Dealer Service Departments Trying to Navigate Parts and Staffing Challenges: J.D. Power The combination of vehicle owners needing service more often due to accumulating mileage at pre-pandemic levels along with the disruption of the auto parts supply chain and significant staffing shortages is causing auto dealership service departments to navigate unique capacity challenges, according to the J.D. Power 2022 U.S. Customer Service Index (CSI) Study, released March 9.

Wait times to schedule service appointments for one- to three-yearold vehicles have increased by nearly one full day among owners of premium and mass market vehicles (to 4.5 and 4.3 days, respectively).

Overall customer service satisfaction is 848 (on a 1,000-point scale.)

“Dealer service departments are in a pivotal position to improve customer satisfaction and provide greater customer convenience, even though many challenges—including the parts supply chain disruption and the availability of new-vehicle loaners—are out of their control,” said Chris Sutton, vice president

of automotive retail at J.D. Power. “Proactive communication with customers is one solution for dealerships to mitigate a disruptively tough situation.

“Simply implementing text or email alerts can greatly improve customer satisfaction,” Sutton said. “Additionally, letting customers know what is happening at each step along the way, including why it is taking longer to book an appointment or providing any updates in parts delays, can help improve satisfaction.”

The study, now in its 42nd year, has been redesigned this year to include emerging features such as valet service, remote vehicle servicing and online/smartphone app payment options to gauge the effect these processes have on the service experience.

The study measures satisfaction with service at franchised dealer or aftermarket service facilities for maintenance or repair work among owners and lessees of one- to threeyear-old vehicles.

See Staffing Challenges, Page 12

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Crash Champions Acquires Dynamic Autobody in Columbiana, OH ������������������������ 1 Detroit Cops Bust Chop Shop After Dodge Hellcat Theft ������������������������������������������������ 22 Illinois Governor Criticized for EV Comments in Light of High Gas Prices �������������������������� 22 Intoxicated Driving Fatalities in Illinois Spiked During Pandemic ����������������������������� 20 Man Sentenced for 120-MPH Car Chase ��������� 10 Minnesota State Senate Proposal Would Direct 100% of Auto Parts Sales Tax Revenue to Roads and Bridges ������������������� 10 South Dakota Man Built Auto Body Repair Business from Trade Learned in the ‘50s ����� 24 Tesla Hit with $1.27M Subrogation Claim from State Farm in 2020 Indiana House Fire ������� 20 Weinstein to Kick Off AASP-MN Annual Meeting & Leadership Conference �������������� 10

Car Repossessions on the Rise ����������������������� 47 CCC Appoints Chief HR Officer ������������������������ 46

Anderson - Destructive Weld Testing a Crucial Step You Should Be Paid to Perform ������������ 32 Attanasio - Painter/Technical Director Creates Amazing Art, Island-Style ��������������� 38 Yoswick - ‘Who Pays for What?’ Survey Looks

in P&C Insurance Economy Amid Disruption ���������������������������������������������������� 51 Ford to Collaborate with Universal Technical Institute on EV Training Curriculum ������������� 51

Chips Due to Global Shortage ���������������������� 48 Ford’s EV and ICE Reorganization Will Have Huge Impact on Dealers ������������������������������ 48

Business to Russia ���������������������������������������� 1 GM, Lucid Motors & Rivian Share EV Collision Repair Considerations ��������������������� 4 GUNIWHEEL™ Makes the Collision Repair

Platform Measures Auto Body Damage ���������� 12

Shareholder for Recent Price Shifts ������������� 44

with Collision Techs Making Repair ‘Presumptions’ �������������������������������������������� 36

LaFontaine Buick-GMC-Cadillac ��������������������� 24

Auto Data Labels �������������������������������������������� 21

Laurel Auto Group of Westmont ��������������������� 41

Axalta Coating Systems. �������������������������������� 11

Luther Bloomington Acura-Subaru ����������������� 39

BMW of Des Moines ������������������������������������� 20

Luther Brookdale Mazda ��������������������������������� 18

BMW Wholesale Parts Dealers ���������������������� 43

Luther Kia of Bloomington ������������������������������ 40

CARSTAR ������������������������������������������������������� 23

Matrix Edge ����������������������������������������������������� 5

Certified Automotive Parts Association ���������� 12

Mazda Wholesale Parts Dealers ��������������������� 46

Classic BMW MINI ���������������������������������������� 22

McGrath City Hyundai ������������������������������������ 38

Classic Chevrolet ������������������������������������������� 37

Midwest Parts Group �������������������������������� 16-17

Classifieds ������������������������������������������������������ 50

MINI Wholesale Parts Dealers ����������������������� 42

Columbia Hyundai ������������������������������������������ 36

Mirka USA ����������������������������������������������������� 14

Dominion Sure Seal, Ltd ��������������������������������� 15

MOPAR Wholesale Parts Dealers �������������� 30-31

Eagle Abrasives ��������������������������������������������� 52

Nissan/Infiniti Wholesale Parts Dealers ���������� 46

Equalizer Auto Glass Tools ������������������������������� 8

Patrick Hyundai ���������������������������������������������� 40

Ford Wholesale Parts Dealers ������������������������ 44

PPG ������������������������������������������������������������������ 9

Gandrud Parts Center ������������������������������������� 33

SATA Dan-Am Company ���������������������������������� 7

Ganley Westside Subaru �������������������������������� 29

Sears Imported Autos, Inc ����������������������������� 32

GM Wholesale Parts Dealers ������������������������� 45

Shaheen Chevrolet Parts Warehouse ������������� 28

Hawkinson Kia ����������������������������������������������� 36

Spanesi Americas �������������������������������������������� 2

Honda-Acura Wholesale Parts Dealers ������26-27

Steck Manufacturing Company ���������������������� 10

Hyundai Wholesale Parts Dealers ������������������ 47

Subaru Wholesale Parts Dealers �������������������� 48

Industrial Finishes and Systems ��������������������� 25

Symach ������������������������������������������������������������ 8

Kelly BMW ����������������������������������������������������� 32

The Sharpe Collection of Automobiles ����������� 35

Kia America ���������������������������������������������������� 13

Varsity Ford ���������������������������������������������������� 40

Kia of Lansing ������������������������������������������������� 34

Wrenchers ����������������������������������������������������� 19

Russia Accused of Toyota Cyberattack ����������� 44 SEMA Announces VP of Marketing ����������������� 14 Signs of Optimism Among Auto Dealers Despite Slow Start to Year ���������������������������� 1 Tesla Model 3, Model Y Receive Latest

China ����������������������������������������������������������� 43

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Audi Wholesale Parts Dealers ������������������������ 42

World Go Round One Wheel at a Time �������� 34

Accessing OEM Info ������������������������������������ 28

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GM and Some Other Automakers Suspend

Round of Price Increases in U.S. and

Policies Related to Drugs/Alcohol, Animals

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Ford Will Sell Explorer SUVs with Missing

at Billing Practices Related to EVs,

Yoswick - Collision Repair Shops Should Check

Publisher & Editor: Jeremy Hayhurst General Manager: Barbara Davies Contributing Writers: John Yoswick, Janet Chaney, Toby Chess, Ed Attanasio, Stacey Phillips, Eric Murphy, Ron Liesch Advertising Sales: Joe Momber, Norman Morano, (800) 699-8251 Office Manager: Louise Tedesco Digital Marketing Manager: Bryan Malinski Art Director: Rodolfo Garcia Graphic Designer: Vicki Sitarz Online and Web Content Editor: Abby Andrews Accounting Manager: Heather Priddy Permissions Editor: Randi Scholtes Office Assistant: Dianne Pray

CCC Report Reveals Accelerated Innovation

Rivian Electric Truck Maker Sued by COLUMNISTS

INDEX OF ADVERTISERS

CONTENTS

Tesla Model Y $24,000 Repair: Everything You Need to Know ��������������������������������������� 46 Tesla Raises Prices Across Entire Vehicle Lineup, Model X Plaid Sees $12.5K Rise ����� 50 TrueCar Introduces Online Marketplace ����������� 22

Kia Wholesale Parts Dealers �������������������������� 49

autobodynews.com / APRIL 2022 AUTOBODY NEWS 3

GM, Lucid Motors & Rivian Share EV Collision Repair Considerations

by Stacey Phillips

Sales of alternative power vehicles, including electric vehicles (EVs), currently represent about 5% of all U.S. light-vehicle sales—but that share is expected to reach 45% by 2035, according to research by the Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA).

Goforth shared information about GM’s steps to help transform the automotive industry and some of the technologies being used to maximize power, range and flexibility.

“We’re looking at technologies we need today and in decades to come and we’re investing heavily in those new technologies to bring them to market,” she said. “We can’t go

Representatives from GM, Lucid Motors and Rivian spoke at the SCRS OEM Collision Repair Technology Summit. Pictured, left to right, are Kye Yeung, European Motor Car Works; Ron Reichen, Precision Body & Paint; Dan Black and Kelly Logan, Rivian; Andrew Hall and Andy MacDonald, Lucid Motors; and Jennifer Goforth and John Eck, GM.

GM, Lucid Motors and Rivian representatives discussed the unique platforms they have developed and how their offerings differ from traditional vehicles during the OEM Collision Repair Technology Summit at the 2021 SEMA Show. The session was part of the Society of Collision Repair Specialists (SCRS) Repairer Driven Education Series.

Following their presentations, Kye Yeung, president of European Motor Car Works, and Ron Reichen, owner of Precision Body & Paint, moderated a panel discussion.

The session explored construction and repair considerations, and how the collision repair industry must adapt.

“The inevitable growth of this market makes the perfect fit for a summit that has always had an eye on the developing landscape of modern vehicles, with a focus on emerging trends that influence repairability and collision industry preparation,” said Aaron Schulenburg, SCRS executive director.

GM

Jennifer Goforth and John Eck, collision manager for GM, discussed the OEM’s EV strategy and the GM Collision Repair Network.

forward alone.”

She said GM is passionate about its zero crashes, zero emissions, zero congestion strategy.

“The key to this vision is electrification,” said Goforth.

The electric architecture powering the OEM’s newest technologies, such as Ultifi and Periscope, is GM’s Vehicle Intelligence Platform.

Goforth also discussed GM’s research and development regarding safety.

“At GM, safety is in our DNA. There is nothing more important than ensuring the safety of our loved ones,” she said. “Most of all of our crashes that happen are due to driver error, so we’re focused on bringing new technologies that can reduce human error such as automated rear braking, forward and side collision alerts.”

The company is looking at technologies that reduce distractions while driving, such as hands-free communications and touch-free navigation.

GM plans to launch 30 new electric vehicles by 2025.

“That doesn’t mean that we are giving up on combustion engines,” noted Goforth. “Those are going to

4 APRIL 2022 AUTOBODY NEWS / autobodynews.com

be an important part of our portfolio for the next 10 or more years.”

Goforth explained that repairing vehicles with internal combustion engines will be essential for the next 20-30 years because they will be on the road for many years.

With a tremendous amount of technology coming out, Goforth said there will be many repairable parts.

However, right now, some will not be serviceable, such as critical structural components and batteries.

Eck shared information about the GM Collision Repair Network, which will continue to focus on recognizing facilities that invest in tools and training to ensure an excellent customer experience.

“Our focus is on a safe and proper repair that utilizes all of our service information,” said Eck. This includes a heavy emphasis on diagnostics and inspections.

GM’s 2024 Chevrolet Silverado EV RST.

With the technology integrated into vehicles, Eck stressed the importance of scanning, calibration and checking diagnostic trouble codes (DTCs).

“Making sure things are working as designed is critical to us,” he said.

“We’re going to continue to create and add more support to the industry and make ourselves accessible.”

GM’s OnStar Insurance, expected to launch in all 50 states this year, will be an important component.

“We’ve been learning over the last few years post-collision how we can help customers navigate, but with OnStar Insurance expected to be national in 2022, they are going to be expecting a network that is fully supportive of driving safe and proper repairs for customers’ needs,” said Eck. Eck said GM ensures that repairers have the most current information.

“Working with the industry, we’ve learned how to be hardware agnos-

tic,” he explained. “That has helped us add flexibility to the marketplace and understand what is going on from a cost structure and not making [repairers] buy OEM tools specific to GM.” GM offers technical documents for repairers to use during estimating/blueprinting. Examples include service bulletins, safety protocols, Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) documents, position statements and post-repair inspections.

For certified inspections, virtual and in-house audits are offered to shops.

Over the last year, GM worked with SCRS to create a post-inspection form to help repairers negotiate with insurance carriers.

“We want to continue to work with SCRS to find solutions like that to help you as the repairer make safe and proper repairs,” he said.

Lucid Motors With global headquarters in Silicon Valley, CA, and an assembly plant in Casa Grande, AZ, Lucid Motors began delivery of the company’s first customer vehicle—the Lucid Air—in late 2021.

Andy MacDonald, senior manager of Lucid’s global body repair program, and Andrew Hall, head of vehicle safety, provided an overview of the Lucid Body Repair Program.

Currently, 50 shops in the U.S. and Canada are going through the certified program approval process, which they joined by invitation only.

“As we ramp up production and vehicle parts grow, we will add to that number of shops,” said MacDonald.

“We are interested in working with shops that can deliver high-quality repair capability and excellent customer service. That’s the cornerstone of what SCRS believes in and it’s a privilege to work with you.”

MacDonald estimated there will be about 100 shops in the program in 2022 and that number will continually increase. Approved body shops will be trained and equipped to complete repairs, including all mechanical work.

“Lucid’s program will restrict structural repair parts, such as aluminum safety systems parts and high voltage parts, to the approved network—those who are technical-

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ly trained and we know are capable of repairing the vehicle,” explained MacDonald.

Lucid’s repair methodology is developed in close partnership with the OEM’s crash testing program.

After working with 11 different OEMs over his career, Hall’s philosophy is to bring the Engineering, Serviceability and Body Repair teams together to be as effective as possible.

The Lucid Air on display at Lucid Motors’ studio in Short Hills, NJ.

As a start-up company with limited resources and an aggressive schedule, Hall noted Lucid Motors doesn’t have an unlimited number of crash cars for testing. As a result, vehicles are crashed more than once after being rebuilt by the service teams.

For example, a car that has been front crash-tested at 35 mph is rebuilt to do a side crash test.

Through this experience, Hall said Lucid Motors has demonstrated the capabilities of rework. This allows the OEM to bring in the service team a lot earlier and offer cost efficiencies for the business.

“We’re also a lot further ahead with repair procedures than we would normally be,” he said.

In terms of training, Lucid plans to offer online education to deliver fundamental system knowledge requirements to shops. This includes approximately 10 days of structural repair training and 15 days of mechanical. The instructor-led courses will cover structural aluminum repair, cosmetic repair, visual damage assessment, high voltage systems, mechanical, diagnostics and ADAS. One of the biggest challenges for shops, according to MacDonald, is the mechanical side of the business.

“There is no simple repair anymore,” he said. “The days of doing a quick spot repair on a front-end bumper or rear-end are gone now because you have to align the vehicle

and then calibrate it for ADAS.” As a result, Lucid is building measurement processes to determine how well vehicles are repaired.

“With so much technology in vehicles, it’s of paramount importance that when accidents happen and we’re required to repair the vehicles, you have the right level of equipment and training in place to bring that car back to a pre-accident condition,” said MacDonald.

“Safety is important for the lifecycle of the vehicle and it is for every OEM moving forward to meet the challenges we are going to face as we move into the ADAS world and safe driving,” added Hall.

“For us, it’s about providing education and transparency… so insurers, repairers and customers all understand what we need to do to deliver the best possible service,” said MacDonald. “A safe and proper repair goes without saying.”

Rivian Rivian representatives included Kelly Logan, global body repair program senior manager, and Dan Black, manager for service engineering in collision repair.

The 2022 Rivian R1.

Logan helped create Rivian’s Certified Collision Program with Frank Phillips, collision program manager, and now manages the program.

“Having the opportunity to create an OEM collision repair program from scratch is a great honor,” he said. “We want a highly trained network that can repair our cars and that aligns to what SCRS represents.”

Logan and Phillips devised two networks that fall under the umbrella of Rivian’s Certified Collision Program. The Rivian Certified Collision Center network focuses on passenger cars, the R1T electric truck and the R1S SUV. The Rivian Certified Fleet Center network includes commercial vehicles such as the 100,000 electric

6 APRIL 2022 AUTOBODY NEWS / autobodynews.com

delivery vans Rivian is building for Amazon.

The program’s mission is: “Revolutionizing the collision repair customer experience with an efficient and highly trained collision repair network.”

“It used to be easy to fix cars,” said Logan.

That has changed with mixed materials and light-weighting in the auto industry, with efforts focused on removing mass and increasing efficiency to extend range and increase miles per gallon.

“Some of the equipment and joint accessibility does not exist in the aftermarket so we’re always developing new solutions that we can provide to repair the vehicle correctly and restore the strength of the vehicle to ultimately perform correctly the second time around.”

With cameras and sensors being used in automobiles, Black said preand post-scans are required on every vehicle and calibration is paramount.

“That’s the only way to restore our vehicles correctly,” he said.

He recommends shops analyze

“It’s something you have to have training and tooling for to be able to repair vehicles properly,” he said.

The Rivian team has been connecting with great collision centers over the last year.

“We want everyone to know that just because you didn’t get chosen for the Rivian collision network today doesn’t mean it’s forever,” said Logan. “As our vehicle population grows, we are going to continue to need more highly-skilled collision centers.”

Black heads the service engineering side of the business and works with technical specialists and service engineers to create collision repair procedures. They perform hands-on validation of the repair procedures, tooling and equipment through their R&D Workshop team at their flagship location in El Segundo, CA. As part of the repair procedures, Rivian will include information about different substrates used. The goal is to assist shops in understanding what can and cannot be executed to restore a car to its pre-accident state.

“At the assembly plant, we can execute a variety of controlled vehicle construction processes with advanced equipment,” said Black.

the diagnostic systems and document the results before beginning repairs to determine the work required.

“From my experience at a manufacturer that is developing advanced technology, Driver + systems (Rivian’s suite of advanced driver-assist features) are becoming more sensitive,” said Black. “As we move forward, frequencies are greater and the sensitivity of systems are higher so repair procedures are very critical to follow because you can easily introduce an issue into the vehicle without knowing it.”

Logan said the Driver + system will be standard on all Rivians, and ADAS calibrations will be required.

“When you look at collision repair and what it takes to repair a car properly today, the lines between service repair and collision repair are now blurred,” he said. “A collision center needs to know just as much as a service center.”

To keep cycle times low and fix cars, Logan said it is necessary to have the correct tools, training and knowledge.

“We’re just at the forefront of it,” he said. “It’s something that isn’t going to go away anytime soon.”

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At CARSTAR Danrich, the Inside Man is a Woman Jordyn Ciciora is an inside analyst for CARSTAR Danrich in suburban Chicago, working as the “inside man” managing the repair facility’s insurance relationships. Only this “inside man” is a woman who has worked her way up from driveway mechanic to an I-CAR certified estimator. CARSTAR, North America’s premier network of independently-owned collision repair facilities, is saluting the female owners, managers, estimators and technicians on International Women’s Day on March 8. One of those women is Ciciora, who turned her passion for cars into a career in collision repair. “I started off at CARSTAR Danrich as a repair consultant answering phones and scheduling customers,” said Ciciora. “I had no prior experience with the collision repair industry before this. Ever since I was younger, I was always around friends who were into cars and trucks.

I purchased my own 2016 RAM 2500 truck and started working on it to make cosmetic and mechanical repairs.

“I find automotive repairs to be fun yet challenging because of all of the complex components involved,” said Ciciora. “I knew I wanted to land somewhere in the automotive indus-

try. After a few months of working up front, I started to take interest in estimating and working with the insurance companies. I found that this industry is always evolving with new vehicle technologies, which makes it interesting and a continuous learning opportunity.”

At CARSTAR Danrich, Ciciora’s job title is an inside analyst. Unlike most collision shops, she is mostly insurance facing, not customer facing, responsible for maintaining all relationships with their partners and other companies. “I take my job extremely seriously,” said Ciciora. “I oversee payments for all repairs, that we are compliant with our partners, and that we follow all OEM guidelines for a proper repair. I write all preliminary estimates, as well as all estimates and/or supplements coming out of pre-production (post disassembly). All of the jobs that pass through our facility are overseen by me from the day the vehicle arrives on site to the day the vehicle is delivered to ensure that our repair orders are correct.

“All of the staff here treat me with equal respect and make working here a great place,” said Ciciora. “We strive to take our repairs seriously and follow

all OEM guidelines. I learn new things each day coming into work, whether it is hands-on or from the team. Being a part of CARSTAR is also really exciting due to all of the opportunities that are available within the franchise network.” Ciciora noted training and certification is key to her role.

“The training that I completed was all through I-CAR,” said Ciciora. “I am an I-CAR Platinum Level 3 certified estimator as well as Tesla certified. Not only did I learn from all of my I-CAR classes, but I have also learned from on-the-job experience from our amazing team that we have here. I am planning to complete my B-6 Certification here within the upcoming months!”

One of Ciciora’s goals is to put a stop to the stereotype of women working in the collision repair industry.

“The typical reaction I get from customers and insurance companies is shocked,” she said. “When I do meet with customers, they are skeptical about my knowledge and any information that I pass along to them. I assure them that I am highly trained and educated and have no problem explaining things further if needed. I do not treat anyone differently for how they view

me. I am here to ensure that their vehicle gets back to them in the condition it was before the collision even happened. Females can work on cars and have interests in cars. I’m happy to help break any bias that says otherwise.”

For women interested in the collision repair industry, Ciciora recommends getting the skills and knowledge you need, then standing behind your credentials.

“The advice that I would give to any woman who wants to enter the collision repair industry is to never let someone underestimate your knowledge,” she said. “Being a woman in a male-dominated field can present challenges. Expressing to customers or insurance companies that you are educated in this field of work and have taken the time to gain the experience and knowledge is something of which anyone should be proud.”

So when you’re the “inside man” for the company, it pays to have the training, skills, experience and positive attitude to succeed. Just ask Jordyn Ciciora.

For more information visit www.CARSTAR.com.

Source: CARSTAR

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Man Sentenced for 120-MPH Car Chase

Minnesota State Senate Proposal Would Direct 100% of Auto Parts Sales Tax Revenue to Roads and Bridges

by Mike Bunge, KIMT News

Minnesota State Senate Transportation Committee Chairman Scott Newman, R-Hutchinson, and labor and business leaders on Feb. 22 proposed a massive new investment in roads and bridges using existing revenue. The proposal would direct 100% of tax revenue from the sale of auto parts to rebuild Minnesota’s transportation infrastructure, allowing the state to fund roads and bridges without raising gas taxes, tab fees or sales taxes, and without adding a new mileage tax on commuters.

Dedicating 100% of auto parts sales tax revenue would provide more than $314 million for roads and bridges in 2023, $324 million in 2024 and $336 million in 2025, according to a nonpartisan Senate Fiscal analysis.

“The No. 1 Republican transportation priority has always been roads and bridges,” said Newman. “We’ve successfully pumped billions into transportation infrastructure over the last several sessions, but we have an opportunity to do so much more. Directing the entirety of sales tax revenue from auto parts sales will allow us to continue rebuilding, repairing and

A high-speed car chase with an auto body shop employee in the trunk resulted in probation for a Rochester, MN, man. Seth Tyler Sorenson, 28, pleaded guilty to fleeing a peace officer in a motor vehicle and was ordered Feb. 28 to spend three years on supervised probation and do 50 hours of community work service.

Court documents said a car was being held at an auto body shop for an outstanding bill of around $4,000 when Sorenson showed up Dec. 15, 2020, saying he was going to pay the bill and buy the car from its owner. Investigators said Sorenson then drove away with the vehicle without paying the bill, but not before a shop employee jumped into the trunk.

The employee in the trunk called 911 and talked with police dispatch while Sorenson led officers on a pursuit that hit 121 mph and included going the wrong way down a busy road.

Weinstein to Kick Off AASP-MN Annual Meeting & Leadership Conference The Alliance of Automotive Service Providers of Minnesota, Inc. (AASP-MN) is pleased to welcome Chad Weinstein of Ethical Leaders in Action as the opening keynote speaker at its Annual Meeting & Leadership Conference, April 7 at Crowne Plaza Minneapolis West, Plymouth, MN. Weinstein’s address will explore the ways individuals and organizations can develop their capacity to provide excellent customer service, retain excellent employees and build strong, profitable vendor relationships by focusing internally on the Elements of Moral Action: Motivation, Clarity and Courage.

In today’s world, service providers are tempted to focus on superficial communication—like social media—and transactional relationships.

These things matter, but so do deeper factors like shared values, deep relationships and personal character.

Participants will learn core concepts of professional development and techniques for team leadership that will drive real business gains, both immediate and long-

term. These concepts will be of great interest to automotive service providers, who have faced unprecedented challenges related to supply chain, workforce and regulation.

Weinstein is the founder and president of Ethical Leaders in Action. Weinstein is best known for his perspective on ethical leadership, which focuses on the development of the character of leaders, and on organizations working together in the pursuit of mission and excellence. Weinstein draws from his doctoral work in ethics at the University of Minnesota and his decades-long experience consulting to a wide array of organizations in the public, private and nonprofit sectors on organizational and strategic development efforts.

Learn more about Weinstein and Ethical Leaders in Action at www.ethinact.com.

For AASP-MN Annual Meeting & Leadership Conference registration information, visit www.aaspmn.org or contact the AASP-MN office at 612-623-1110.

Source: AASP-MN

10 APRIL 2022 AUTOBODY NEWS / autobodynews.com

constructing roads and bridges without new taxes, new fees or mileage taxes. The state has plenty of money; there’s no need to ask Minnesotans to pay more.”

“We (business and labor) are here together because this is what our industry looks like working together both at the project level and here at the policy level to maximize investments

“We’ve successfully pumped billions into transportation infrastructure over the last several sessions, but we have an opportunity to do so much more.”

— Scott Newman “Minnesotans deserve to feel safe on the roads and highways they travel on, yet so many of our transportation corridors are falling into disrepair, and it’s absolutely imperative we fund their restoration,” said Sen. Jeff Howe, R-Rockville, who also carries a bill on the subject. “We need to take a hard look at the state’s transportation funding, because the current flat amount of funding we’ve been using is not cutting it. If we are serious about keeping folks safe on their daily commutes, we need to adjust the funding source for fixing our roads and bridges so we can give them the attention they’ve been needing for years.”

in infrastructure that benefit all Minnesotans,” said Tim Worke, CEO, Associated General Contractors of Minnesota.

In 2017, Republicans successfully led the effort to redirect a set portion of revenue from auto parts sales taxes to roads and bridges. In 2021, Republicans aimed to convert the set amount to an equivalent percentage, so the figure would increase each year along with inflation. Republicans also secured $7.8 billion for state roads, including construction, development and maintenance.

Source: Minnesota State Republican Caucus

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Continued from Cover

Staffing Challenges It also provides a numerical index ranking of the highest-performing automotive brands sold in the U.S., based on the combined scores of five measures that comprise the vehicle owner service experience.

These measures are (in order of importance): service quality (32%), service advisor (19%), vehicle pickup (19%), service facility (15%) and service initiation (15%).

Following are key findings of the 2022 study: Customers trust dealer service departments: The redesigned study also measures factors relating to trust between a customer and the dealership. On a rating scale of 1 to 7 points, the most important trust attribute is, “I trust the dealership to perform complex repairs on my vehicle,” with an average rating of 6.16. However, the second-most important attribute, “Takes responsibility when a mistake is made and resolves it effectively,” has the lowest average rating (5.91).

Your vehicle is ready: The service department sending simple text messages to remind of upcoming appointment dates or to provide a status for in-process work are preferred by 42% of customers. Additionally, owners today gravitate toward other technology channels to communicate with the service department, including making appointments online

(27%) and via mobile app (7%), and paying online (17%).

“Dealers who meet customers on their preferred communication channels are gaining an advantage,” Sutton said. “Service departments need to jump on the technology train now or risk being left behind.”

Seeing is believing: New to the redesigned study is a metric that measures satisfaction when the service department provides a recommended photo or video of repair work with the customer after a multi-point inspection and before needed work is approved. This additional communication feature is having a positive effect on business and trust, as well as on customer satisfaction.

When customers receive a photo or video communication regarding their needed maintenance work, they are three times more likely to have advisor-recommended work done. Additionally, on a seven-point rating scale, dealerships are building a higher level of trust with customers (.39 point higher) than are their counterparts who do not provide a photo or video.

If you go to them, satisfaction will improve: New to the study in 2022 is a measurement of satisfaction among customers who select to have their vehicle serviced either by valet (when a dealership picks up the vehicle) or mobile (when the dealership sends a technician to the customer’s location). Overall customer satisfaction among owners

Platform Measures Auto Body Damage A new company is launching a software platform that measures auto body damage, providing reporting repairers can share with their insurance partners to assist in negotiating repair times.

The product, Dents.co, officially launched Feb. 22 and is available for download on Apple’s AppStore.

Dents.co, the first-of-its-kind app, is designed to revolutionize collision repair by bringing existing LiDAR technology into the automotive physical damage industry.

The app pairs the laser-driven tech already present in iPhones and iPads with cutting-edge artificial intelligence to seamlessly cap-

using valet or mobile service is 866 compared to 847 among those who had an in-person dealership visit.

Next frontier is battery electric vehicle (BEV) service experience: With BEV sales expected to increase in the coming years, dealers have a significant service quality satisfaction gap to close. Overall service satisfaction among BEV owners (784) is 68 points lower than among owners of gas- or diesel-powered vehicles (852).

Additionally, the average number of service visits a BEV owner makes in a year is 1.9 compared with 2.4 among owners of gas- and diesel-powered vehicles.

“BEV service is the next frontier for dealerships,” Sutton said.

“The automotive industry has to get ready now and get the service experience right with BEV owners or they risk losing them to aftermarket service providers. This includes fully understanding BEV customer pain points like range anxiety, unique maintenance requirements and support for related services such as availability of charging stations.”

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ture damages, allowing repairers to share the information with insurance adjusters for assessment.

This groundbreaking technology opens the door to a standardized quoting process for body shops and insurers and promises to uncomplicate the estimating process.

Source: Dents.co

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Study Rankings Lexus ranks highest in satisfaction with dealer service among premium brands with a score of 897. Cadillac (880) ranks second, followed

by Porsche (879), Acura (871) and BMW (866).

MINI ranks highest in satisfaction with dealer service among mass market brands for a second consecutive year, with a score of 873. Buick (872) ranks second, followed by Mazda (856), Mitsubishi (854) and GMC (853).

The 2022 U.S. Customer Service Index (CSI) Study is based on responses from 67,185 verified registered owners and lessees of 2019 to 2021 model-year vehicles. J.D. Power goes to great lengths to ensure that survey respondents are true owners of the brand they are representing. The study was fielded from July through December 2021.

For more information about the U.S. Customer Service Index (CSI) Study, visit https://www.jdpower. com/business/automotive/us-customer-service-index-csi-study.

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SEMA Announces VP of Marketing The Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) has announced RJ de Vera as its vice president of marketing. De Vera comes to SEMA after 12 years at 3M, a Fortune 100 company, including the last seven as global leader of digital marketing and public relations for the Meguiar’s Car Care brand. He will be developing and implementing a modernized multi-channel marketing strategy for SEMA with a digital-first focus to expand brand awareness and build customer affinity for SEMA and its members.

Prior to 3M/Meguiar’s, de Vera worked with OEMs including Honda, Lexus, Mitsubishi, Mazda and Scion to build corporate image vehicles. He also helped American Racing, Veilside Japan and Vorsteiner design and market aftermarket parts and accessories, while also consulting on automotive-related marketing initiatives with numerous brands, including Pepsi Co., Valvoline, Boost Mobile, Michelin/ BF Goodrich and Microsoft/XBOX. Source: SEMA

Continued from Cover

Suspend Business GM no longer has any manufacturing plants in Russia, Svigos said. It has only a national sales company that sells to Russia and other Eastern European markets. It is based in Moscow and employs 67 people, Svigos said.

The portfolio of vehicles sold come from North America and South Korea. GM is in contact with the team in Moscow to safeguard “our people and our business,” Svigos said.

“At this stage, we’re in constant contact with them, multiple times a day and working through the ramifications,” Svigos told the Free Press on Feb. 25.

GM put out a statement saying, “Our thoughts are with the people of Ukraine at this time. The loss of life is a tragedy and our overriding concern is for the safety of people in the region.”

Morningstar Auto Analyst David Whiston said GM’s reasons for suspending its business in Russia is

“about war.” But with GM exiting Europe and Russia years ago, except for iconic vehicles, it’s probably a nonissue for the automaker’s stock.

“Many firms want to cut ties with Russia given what’s happened, like BP is doing with its nearly 20% stake in a Russian oil firm,” Whiston said. “So GM probably wants to show its disapproval with Russia’s actions too.”

Energy giant BP Plc is Russia’s biggest foreign investor. It said it was abandoning its 20% stake in state-controlled Rosneft at a cost of up to $25 billion.

Detroit’s other automaker, Stellantis, did not immediately offer a comment on their plans for business in Russia.

But Ford Motor Co. spokesman Ian Thibodeau said the company “will provide updates as warranted” on its plans for its operations in Russia.

Ford has a 50% stake in three Russian plants, Reuters reported. Thibodeau previously told the Free Press Ford would monitor and manage any impacts on its operations, but was mostly concerned for

the safety of people in the region.

On Feb. 28, Swedish automaker Volvo Cars was the first international carmaker to say it will suspend car shipments to the Russian market until further notice, Reuters reported. Daimler Truck also said it would freeze its business activities in Russia with immediate effect, including its cooperation with Russian truck maker Kamaz.

Volkswagen in Russia temporarily suspended deliveries of cars to dealers until further notice on Feb. 28, Reuters reported. Mercedes-Benz Group was studying legal options to quickly divest its 15% stake in Kamaz, Reuters wrote, citing the Handelsblatt newspaper.

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Cox Automotive Presents Leader in Sustainability Award to Michigan-Based Automotive Group Cox Automotive presented its annual Leader in Sustainability Award to LaFontaine Automotive Group, a Michigan-based dealership group with 51 retail franchises, eight collision centers and 29 retail locations.

The Cox Automotive Leader in Sustainability Award recognizes a dealership for outstanding in-dealership sustainability programs related to waste reduction, energy or water conservation and focused on innovation, creativity and engagement with its employees and the community.

Cox Automotive President Steve Rowley presented the award during NADA Show 2022 in Las Vegas.

“I am pleased to present the Cox Automotive Leader in Sustainability Award to LaFontaine Automotive Group for its extraordinary commitment to the environment and doing business the right way,” said Rowley.

“The Cox commitment to building a better future for the next generation is fundamentally tied to protecting the planet through sustainability. LaFontaine Automotive Group is truly raising the bar on environmental sustainability standards by implementing green business practices and educat-

ing other organizations on innovative environmental practices that are making a measurable difference.”

The LaFontaine Automotive Group is dedicated to protecting the environment and promoting the green movement. The organization has developed four LEED-certified dealerships throughout the metro Detroit area. The LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification, awarded by the U.S. Green Building Council, means the dealership buildings were constructed using the most environmentally friendly materials and engineering designs.

In addition to other energy-efficient systems, the LaFontaine buildings use a geothermal system to provide heat and cooling. Also, LaFontaine Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram installed the largest solar panel array in the Midwest, which reduces its electricity requirements by about 60% per year.

Other green initiatives include using environmentally friendly supplies such as composite materials from 3M Co. for wheel balancing, Envirobase High Performance paint from PPG Industries for repairs and vegeta-

ble oil lubricant for hydraulic lifts.

Additionally, the group actively promotes and sells electric and hybrid vehicles. From EV charging stations for customers to preferred parking for EVs, LaFontaine Automotive Group is working to make the EV ownership experience special. The group is investing in the electrified future, in infrastructure, training and knowledge. It has invested in state-of-the-art equipment, both in service lanes and on the sales floor. A focus on training is also imperative so guests can be educated, both when purchasing and servicing their electric vehicles.

“What a true honor to be recognized by Cox Automotive for our ongoing commitment to be better stewards of the environment and our local communities,” said Ryan LaFontaine, CEO of LaFontaine Automotive Group. “My mom, Maureen LaFontaine, was a true pioneer in terms of our dealerships focusing on green initiatives and that commitment has translated to a positive impact on our bottom line, our workplace culture, our customers and our partners.”

For leadership in promoting green business practices and making

a difference through community service, LaFontaine Automotive Group will receive $10,000 to fund a sustainability project, as well as receive an energy audit from the Cox Conserves team. “Hands-on, active community involvement has been a cornerstone of our group and we are actively reviewing numerous sustainable projects that will better our community and the residents that live within them,” said Kelley LaFontaine, vice president, LaFontaine Automotive Group. “This recognition and sustainability fund from Cox Automotive will help us further our mission and we sincerely thank them.”

As a part of Cox Enterprises, Cox Automotive is committed to doing business the right way, not just the easy way. That means continuously working to reduce the company’s environmental impact through the national sustainability program, Cox Conserves.

Cox Automotive is also investing heavily in new technologies and services to become the world’s best electric-vehicle battery health innovator and end-to-end solutions provider.

Source: Cox Automotive

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Continued from Cover

Signs of Optimism remains historically low, indicating fewer dealers feel pressure to lower their prices.

“As we enter the spring market, we can see the small green shoots of optimism from the U.S. auto dealers,” said Cox Automotive Chief Economist Jonathan Smoke. “Most dealers have weathered the storm well, and we suspect there is hope the pandemic may finally be waning. Views of the economy weakened modestly, but dealer profits are historically strong and demand remains robust. Those are good signs for the industry.”

The Q1 2022 CADSI research was in market from Jan. 24 to Feb. 7, just past the height of the Omicron variant. Importantly, though, the research was done before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and before gasoline prices in the U.S. moved into record territory.

Even before the situation worsened, the U.S. economy index score dropped from 52 in Q4 2021 to 49 in Q1, indicating more dealers felt the economy was weak compared to those who thought it was strong. The score of 49, however, is higher than it was a year ago in Q1 2021 when the index score was 44.

“The tragic situation in Ukraine, of course, adds a level of uncertainty to the U.S. economy that will impact the U.S. consumer,” added Smoke. “Higher gas prices, a struggling stock market, inflation and the potential for more supply chain disruptions---these factors will slow any anticipated market recovery and may impact dealer sentiment in Q2.

Right now, though, it’s too soon to know how long the situation will last or how bad it will get.”

Inventory and Sales One positive sign in the latest CADSI report is a notable jump in the new-vehicle inventory index for franchised dealers. While still historically low at 25, the index increased by 11 points and marked the highest score since the first quarter of 2021. The index for the new-vehicle inventory mix also increased quarter over quarter.

“Inventory issues have been the

biggest concern for dealers for more than six months now,” said Smoke.

“In our latest study, inventory remains a top priority, but the initial signs of a recovery are there. And that is a positive for the market.”

On the used-vehicle side, the inventory index jumped up in Q1 2022 as well, reaching 36, the highest score in the past 12 months. The used-vehicle inventory mix index improved also. However, all index scores associated with inventory remain well below the 50 threshold, indicating dealers are still facing inventory challenges.

The view of new-vehicle sales improved for the first time in two quarters, increasing from 45 to exactly 50, meaning dealers were evenly mixed on their opinions of new-vehicle sales. One year ago, the index score was 61, meaning more dealers saw the market as good.

The new-vehicle incentives index dropped by one point quarter over quarter, to 23, the lowest level since the question was added to the CADSI in Q3 2019. The incentive index measures if OEM incentives are large (above 50) or small (below 50).

The used-vehicle sales index, on the other hand, fell one index point to 52. For franchised dealers, the used-vehicle sales index has now dropped for three straight quarters and is below year-ago levels. There was no change in the used-vehicle sales index for independent dealers, which held steady quarter over quarter at 48, meaning more independent dealers see the market as poor than see it as good.

Springtime Optimism?

The market outlook for the next three months increased to 64 in Q1 2022, up from 60 in Q4. The score indicates most dealers feel the outlook for the next three months is positive, which reflects the springtime optimism routinely seen in the report.

In fact, the Q1 outlook is higher than it was one year ago—ahead of a year of record profits—and at the highest point since Q1 2020, before the pandemic began.

The quarter-over-quarter increase, however, was driven mostly by independent dealers; the franchised dealer outlook was, in fact,

18 APRIL 2022 AUTOBODY NEWS / autobodynews.com

flat quarter over quarter at 69. Still, the market outlook index score of 69 for franchised dealers is above pre-pandemic levels.

While profits remain historically strong, particularly for franchised dealers, tight inventory and no quick fix in the making are likely weighing on dealers.

Overall, Limited Inventory continues to be the top factor holding back business according to the Q1 2022 CADSI. The factors saw little change from last quarter, with the top four factors unchanged from Q4 2021—Limited Inventory, Market Conditions, Economy and COVID-19 impacts. In Q1 2022, Political Climate dropped out of the top five, replaced by Expenses.

Dealers Face Rising Costs and Staffing Issues In Q1 2022, the cost index—specifically the cost of running a dealership—was at the highest level since the survey began in 2017. After reaching a record low in Q2 2020 of 51, at the height of the pandemic, the cost index has been steadily increasing.

One factor contributing to rising costs may be staffing. The staffing index, at 46, improved slightly from Q4, but generally remains below pre-pandemic levels. With a score below 50, it indicates more dealers feel their staff is declining rather than growing.

As a factor holding back business, more dealers noted Staff Turnover was an issue in Q1 2022 than in the same timeframe last year. In fact, 11% of dealers point to Staff Turnover as a factor holding back business in Q1, compared to only 7% in Q1 2021 and 8% in Q1 2020.

In terms of staffing issues, service is the top area of concern, particularly for franchised dealers, followed by sales.

The Q1 2022 CADSI is based on 1,146 U.S. auto dealer respondents, comprising 591 franchised dealers and 555 independents.

Source: Cox Automotive www.autobodynews.com

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Continued from Cover

Crash Champions

Intoxicated Driving Fatalities in Illinois Spiked During Pandemic

by Scott Bertram, The Center Square

milestone for my family, our employees and the customers we serve,” said Nick George, owner of Dynamic Autobody. “I want to recognize all of our talented staff and thank them for their hard work over the years. We’ve earned a reputation for delivering exceptional service at every stage of the repair process, and this commitment to service will only grow stronger with today’s news.”

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The number of alcohol-related driving deaths in Illinois spiked during the first months of the pandemic.

New data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration shows 311 people died in alcohol-related crashes on Illinois roadways in 2020, an increase of 22% from the year prior.

“I think with the pandemic there weren’t as many people traveling on the roads, so people with wide open roads were a little bit braver,” said Rita Kreslin, executive director of the Alliance Against Intoxicated Motorists.

“They would speed a little bit more, maybe not be as safe and not wear their seatbelt.”

The report shows nearly 1,200 total fatalities were recorded on Illinois roads in 2020, 18% more than in 2019.

Despite a 7% rise in road fatalities nationwide, there were 17% fewer people injured and a 22% drop in non-fatal crashes.

Kreslin said fewer drivers during

the pandemic didn’t necessarily mean safer habits behind the wheel.

“Reports even from police officers would tell us that that’s what they were seeing on the road too, just more risky behavior from having an open road to themselves,” Kreslin said.

Credit: TFoxFoto/Shutterstock

In 2020, there were 1,638 drivers involved in fatal crashes who were simultaneously unrestrained, alcohol-impaired and speeding. That’s a 21% increase in just one year.

Kreslin pointed to a more robust education effort as a possible catalyst to turn the numbers

around.

“Since 0.08 [the blood alcohol legal limit] has happened and the progress we’ve made throughout the years, overall crash fatalities and alcohol impairment are down. People do get the message,” Kreslin said. “The alcohol industry does an amazing job of telling the public to drink responsibly.

Now we have another issue of telling people to consume responsibly if they’re of legal age to be using marijuana.”

Meanwhile, a new report from the Governors Highway Safety Administration shows pedestrian fatalities in Illinois rose by 7% in the first six months of 2020, from 70 in 2019 to 75.

Nationwide, there’s been a 46% jump in pedestrian fatalities since 2010. Alcohol impairment— for the driver and/or pedestrian—was reported in about half of crashes that resulted in pedestrian fatalities in 2019.

The report also indicates the increases in pedestrian fatalities are occurring largely at night.

Tesla Hit with $1.27M Subrogation Claim from State Farm in 2020 Indiana House Fire

by Joey Klender, Teslarati

Tesla has been hit with a $1.27 million subrogation claim filed by State Farm related to a house fire that heavily damaged a home in Carmel, IN, in 2020.

State Farm claims a “defect in design or manufacture” of the couple’s 2016 Tesla Model S started the fire, and is seeking the $1.27 million payout, along with any “other further relief as this court deems equitable and just.”

On Feb. 17, 2020, two years and one day before the case was filed

by State Farm, a fire erupted at the home of Randall and Dorothy Sencaj. The suit said the Sencaj family drove the Model S that day to complete various errands, later returning home and attaching the vehicle to the charger installed in the garage. State Farm said in the suit, “Investigation into the origin and cause of the fire

by State Farm, and experts retained to investigate on its behalf, revealed the fire originated at the Tesla and was caused by a defective condition of the vehicle, which was present when the vehicle was placed into the stream of commerce by Defendant Tesla.”

The insurance firm then added, “Due to a defect in design or manufacture, upon information and belief, the Tesla vehicle’s electrical system failed, causing an electrical condition which ignited combustibles and resulted in the fire.” State Farm was obligated to pay approximately $1,271,702.26 to the Sencajes “for fire-related damage to the Sencaj residence and its contents, additional living expenses incurred by the Sencaj family, and fire damage to the vehicles,” the documents say, according to RDN. Subrogation is a legal term for a right held by insurance carriers to pursue a third party that caused an insurance loss to the insured.

The suit aims to find Tesla negligent in one of many terms, most of which have to do with the design, manufacturing and assembly of components, battery packs, cells or other related parts. State Farm said there are at least 20 ways Tesla showed negligence. The actions stem from negligence through its employees, agents and/or representatives, and directly by letting an “unreasonably dangerous and defective” vehicle into the stream of commerce.

20 APRIL 2022 AUTOBODY NEWS / autobodynews.com

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autobodynews.com / APRIL 2022 AUTOBODY NEWS 21

Illinois Governor Criticized for EV Comments in Light of High Gas Prices

by Greg Bishop, The Center Square

With the pain at the pump ongoing and no sign of it subsiding, some say Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s suggestion more people buy electric vehicles is “tone deaf.”

Amid ongoing record inflation and record gas prices, Pritzker saw a silver lining.

“It might be that people will more likely choose when they’re going to buy a new car to go to electric, because it’s much, much less expensive over the long haul of ownership,” Pritzker said.

He wants Illinois to be a leader in electric vehicle production.

State Sen. Neil Anderson, R-Andalusia, said the governor is out of touch with what’s happening on the ground.

“Tone deaf is not a strong enough word for that statement,” Anderson said. “The single parent that has a 10, 20-year-old vehicle, that’s trying to scrape money together to get to work, talking about them buying, on the low end, a $60,000 electric vehicle is ridiculous.”

Kevin Johnson, owner of

Johnson and Johnson Auto Service Center in Springfield, IL, said people are already trying to repair older vehicles to make them last as long as possible as inflation continues to impact personal finances.

The recent theft of a Dodge Charger Hellcat from a dealership in Detroit ended predictably.

The Mopar was being stored on a lot on King Road, when it and three other vehicles were swiped in early February. Then, later in February, police found the Hellcat on the side of a road, most of its parts stripped.

For anyone living in or spending time around Detroit, that’s a familiar sight.

After doing some investigative work, police raided a chop shop Feb. 28. They found a myriad of parts from the Hellcat they say are worth about $75,000.

That right there is why so many stolen cars get stripped of valuable components and then dumped. With parts in tight supply all over the place lately, people will pay a premium for shocks, engines, water pumps, etc.

Really, we should all be vigilant about buying car parts for too little. Usually, you can tell someone is selling stolen property because they will take far less than market

needed for everything from drying drywall to transporting and stacking trusses. He said going electric is unrealistic.

“We don’t have eclectic inloaders, we don’t have electric cranes,

TrueCar, Inc., is debuting TrueCar+, its online car buying platform.

Using TrueCar+, consumers will be able to explore, confirm and complete their car purchase with a dealer, and arrange financing and delivery from the convenience of home. They will also have the option of completing any portion of the transaction at a TrueCar Certified Dealer.

TrueCar+ will allow dealers to extend their sales reach well beyond their local area and will provide instant access to a turnkey digital marketplace, reducing the need for investment in infrastructure, tools and technical expertise. Dealers will be able to quickly offer digital capabilities that consumers have come to expect in other segments of retail.

TrueCar+ was launched as a pilot in September in Tampa, FL. The pilot has since expanded in Florida. Later, TrueCar+ will scale across the entire country, eventually spanning all 50 states.

Source: TrueCar

“It might be that people will more likely choose when they’re going to buy a new car to go to electric, because it’s much, much less expensive over the long haul of ownership,” — Gov. J.B. Pritzker Increased EVs will mean increased costs for independent mechanics to get the tools and necessary training, something Johnson said will further increase costs on consumers.

“Some of those tuitions for that could be a couple thousand dollars for each employee,” Johnson told The Center Square. “That’s something out of my pocket that I have to pass on to the consumer to train these guys.”

For the building trades, Dean Graven with the Home Builders Association of Illinois said fuel is

Detroit Cops Bust Chop Shop After Dodge Hellcat Theft

by Steven Symes, Motorious

TrueCar Introduces Online Marketplace

value for the stuff. Sure, you might be getting a deal, but it’s costing someone else.

In this case, the Hellcat belonged to a dealership, so some might believe it’s a victimless crime.

It likely was insured, but as dealers keep making these sorts of claims, their insurance rates climb. That cost gets passed on to consumers one way or another, so it’s not a victimless crime at all.

Some of what drives these chop shops and the black-market sale of car parts is illegal street racing and street takeovers. While some of the vehicles used in the gatherings are stolen, others are owned by participants. When they crash or otherwise damage their ride while treating it like a petulant child does a plastic toy, they often go to their buddy who can give them a deal on hot parts.

This all boils down to a reminder you need to keep your cars secure. Even though some claimed the pandemic was solely driving the rash of car thefts, now that it’s over we’re not seeing fewer vehicles swiped.

22 APRIL 2022 AUTOBODY NEWS / autobodynews.com

we don’t have those,” Graven told The Center Square. “The technology may be here in 50 years. It’s not here now so it’s just not something that’s going to be solved very quickly.”

According to AAA, gas prices across Illinois on March 11 ranged from $4.12 in White County near Indiana and Kentucky to $4.73 in Cook County. The average price of diesel in Illinois is $4.95.

A year ago, the average for regular gas in Illinois was $2.98.

For diesel last year, the average was $3.08.

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South Dakota Man Built Auto Body Repair Business from Trade Learned in the ‘50s Longtime Philip, SD, resident and owner of the Philip Body Shop, Pee Wee Hook has maybe slowed down in the business part of life but still maintains contact with his son in the body shop business.

“Basically Toby brings us the mail every day,” said Pee Wee, “then we talk a little and he goes to work. I stop down from time to time.” Dwilyn “Pee Wee” Hook was born in Menahga, MN. The family moved to Quinn, SD, in the mid 1940s, and he attended school as a second-grader that year.

After high school, he enlisted in the U.S. Army and was sent to Frankfurt, Germany. “I was part of the post office and we handled the payroll for the soldiers,” said Pee Wee. “Every payroll period we would get in two train cars of $20 bills that needed to be distributed. It was a big deal for all of us involved.” He spent two years in the service.

“When I got out I wasn’t even old enough to buy a beer,” Pee Wee said.

Back from the service and working for Dorothy Brothers Body Shop in Philip, he met Peggy Gittings, who was working for the Haakon County superintendent, who oversaw the 30plus country schools in the county.

Peggy was raised on a ranch east of Milesville, SD. In 1960, the two were married, “almost 62 years ago,” said Peggy. Later she went on to get her teaching degree, and Pee Wee continued on with the body shop. They have raised four children in Philip: Toby, Marty and the twins, J’Nai and Jared. A fire in the Dorothy Brothers Body Shop building in 1961 took out the entire building and the body shop business was forced to relocate. Dorothy Brothers purchased the former Owen’s Blacksmith shop on Railroad Street, now known as Oak Street, where the present Philip Body Shop building is today.

“I started in the body shop business working for Les Ankrum, who was with Dorothy Brothers at that time,” said Pee Wee. Pee Wee took a leave of absence from the body shop business and went to work for DuPont Automotive Paint Company. He worked traveling to Omaha, Denver and Minneapolis and was in charge of putting on paint shows.

“I could only take two paint

guns with me when I traveled,” said Pee Wee. When asked how long he traveled working for DuPont, Pee Wee said about four years, but Peggy chimed in and said, “It seemed like a very long time when you are home with four kids, as the twins were born during that period in our life.”

Pee Wee Hook took an auto body repair trade taught to him in the 1950s and carried it into the 2020s. Today he still fishes and checks in on the auto body repair shop once in a while.

Here he takes time for a photo by his brown Dodge Dakota fishing pickup. This makes a person wonder what fishing stories that ol’ pickup could tell.

In the early 1970s, Pee Wee and friend Ken Dietrich, who both worked for Dorothy Brothers, had a chance to purchase the body shop business from the owners, and they did.

“Hap Dorothy was quite a guy,” said Pee Wee. “Money was needed to be borrowed and the bank needed a security signature, and I said Hap will come over to sign the loan papers. The bank told me, well if Hap Dorothy said it was good to go, then we don’t need any extra signatures. That is the way things were handled back then.

“Hap really treated his employees very well,” Pee Wee said. “If someone working for him needed a winter coat, well he got it. He was a great man for the Philip area.”

In January 1974, Pee Wee purchased the business from Dietrich and became sole owner of Philip Body Shop, still known as Philip Body Shop, 48 years later. As one of the longest owners of a Philip business today, Pee Wee feels proud to have been able to turn the business over to his son, Toby.

In the mid 1980s, Toby began working with his dad in the body shop business, after working with a survey crew out of state for a few years after high school graduation.

Speaking about the biggest changes to the auto body repair over the years, Pee Wee said, “Years ago we used to fix the body with lead, melting it into place, filling in, and then smooth

24 APRIL 2022 AUTOBODY NEWS / autobodynews.com

over with putty. Now we order panels, and bigger parts that come all in one piece. They also have good glue now.”

The deer population as of late has kept the body shop businesses very busy, Pee Wee said. “In my early years in business, there were not as many deer here on the plains that traveled over the highways.” When asked about one of the more interesting repair/refinishing jobs to a vehicle Hook was quick to say, “The Theadore Kjerstad pickup that Toby and I worked on.

It was a black Model T and it had a lot of wood and metal that needed repair.

It turned out very nice.”

Pee Wee was involved in the community and for 26 years was a member of the Philip Volunteer Fire Dept. He was fire chief for a few of those years, including when the grain elevator south of Main Street burned to the ground.

“We did our best to save it; we climbed up the ladder attached to the elevator with the hose and we might have got it out if we had not run out of water in the truck. That was probably not the smartest thing I have done

over the years,” said Pee Wee. “Another big fire that was on my watch was the 4,000-acre prairie fire at the Harry Hanson place near Milesville. That took a number of firemen and three or more days to get around.”

Fishing has been a love for Pee Wee over the years, and the biggest fish he caught was from a canoe in Alaska. “We were fishing near Anchorage upstream in a canoe and I caught what was a 60-pound salmon,” said Pee Wee. “We got the canoe to shore as fast as we could, and then finished bringing in the big fish with our feet on the ground.”

“This area is a great place to live and work,” said Pee Wee. “We had the chance to let our kids and grandchildren hunt and fish and do many outdoor activities as well as school sporting events and extracurricular activities. Not every family in this country has had that opportunity. We feel very fortunate and proud to live here.”

When asked about his responsibilities now, Pee Wee said with a smile, “We read the mail and make sure Toby gets to work on time.”

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Industry Insight

—John Yoswick is a freelance writer based in Portland, Oregon who has been writing about the automotive industry since 1988. He is the editor of the weekly CRASH Network (for a free 4-week trial subscription, visit www.CrashNetwork.com).

Contact him by email at jyoswick@SpiritOne.com.

with John Yoswick

‘Who Pays for What?’ Survey Looks at Billing Practices Related to EVs, Accessing OEM Info

Shop Showcase

As new automaker electric vehicle charging was asked for the first time models—or pledges of new EVs on as part of the “Who Pays for What?” the horizon—get announced almost survey in the fall of 2021. with Ed Attanasio weekly, a recent industry survey “I expect to see the percentage found three out of four auto body billing and being paid for this to shops nationally have never includ- grow in the future as electric vehied a fee on their estimates or invoic- cles become increasingly common,” es for recharging an electric vehicle. said Mike Anderson of Collision Advice, who co-produces the surwith Ed Attanasio veys with CRASH Network.

None of the three major estimating systems provide a standard calculation for electric vehicle recharge, so the only way to be reimbursed for it is to include a line-item charge.

Among those that have billed Audatex says, “We do not inwith Ed Attanasio for vehicle recharging, 31% say they clude any operation, labor alloware reimbursed “always” or “most of ance or costs regarding charging the time” by the eight largest insur- hybrid or electric vehicles.” The ers, though about half say the large company that produces the CCC dainsurers “never” pay for recharging. tabase acknowledges, “Charging of The question related to billwith Ed Attanasio the HV/EV vehicles is not included ing and payment practices for EV in MOTOR estimated work times.”

Mitchell similarly says, “Charging the high voltage system has not been accounted for in any labor operation.”

ing.”

Another factor shops will need to consider is how to determine a fee for the electricity consumed by the

Social Media for Shops

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A “Who Pays for What?” survey last fall found about 20% of shops (up from 15% a year earlier) are paid regularly when billing for labor required to conduct OEM repair procedure research

Anderson also pointed out, “Another labor operation that may be needed is driving a vehicle sufficiently to reduce the battery charge prior to painting given that some OEMs say the battery cannot be above a 20% charge during refinish-

Media and Publicity for Shops

recharge.

“There are several companies that sell charging stations that have the ability to produce a receipt similar to a gas pump,” Anderson noted.

The survey was one of four “Who Pays for What?” surveys con-

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ducted each year.

The latest one, focused on not-included body labor operations, is being conducted throughout April.

Shops can visit https://www.crash network.com/collisionadvice to take the survey.

tion. But as of last fall, the majority of shops reported they have at least sometimes passed those fees along on their estimates or invoices.

Only 42% of shops said they have never sought to be reimbursed for these fees, and nearly one in four

survey found shops are most likely to report having subscribed to the OEM information from high-volume automakers like Nissan, Toyota, Honda, GM and Ford; for each of those OEM information services, more than 60% of shops said they have subscribed.

Interestingly, the survey found some differences among types of shops as to how regularly they say

OEM procedures at the time they write an estimate compared to single-location facilities, franchise locations or even dealer-owned shops.

The survey found 79% of MSO facilities responding to the survey said they research OEM procedures on “most” or “all” jobs. That compares to 60% of independents, 54% of franchise locations and just 40% of dealer-owned facilities.

“Who Pays for What?” surveys have found 42% of shops say they have never charged for OEM information subscription fees, but that’s down from 57% in 2019

Last fall’s survey also found the cost to access OEM repair information is one for which more shops are billing and getting reimbursed.

The surveys since 2019 have asked specifically about the OEM subscription fees themselves, aside from the labor time shops spent actually researching the OEM procedures. In 2019, the majority of shops (57%) said they had never sought to be reimbursed for any charges they incur to access OEM repair informa-

(23%) said they always, or almost always, include a subscription fee charge.

“Most shops are incurring fees for OEM repair information, so it makes sense for them to pass along those charges,” Anderson said. “This is not overhead. A shop would not be paying to access OEM procedures for Nissan, for example, if the shop did not have a Nissan vehicle in the shop that needed to be repaired.”

Perhaps not surprisingly, the

A “Who Pays for What?” survey last fall found 85% or more of shops conduct pre- and post-repair scans on all or most vehicles

they research OEM repair procedures. Repair facilities that are part of a multi-shop operation (MSO) appear to be more likely to research

Only 7% of MSO facilities admitted OEM procedures are only occasionally researched, and none See ‘Who Pays for What?’, Page 42

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©2022 FCA US LLC. All Rights Reserved. Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, Ram, Wagoneer, Mopar and SRT are registered trademarks of FCA US LLC. autobodynews.com / APRIL 2022 AUTOBODY NEWS 31 1/5/22 3:34 PM

From the Desk of Mike Anderson with Mike Anderson

Mike Anderson is the president and owner of Collision Advice, a consulting company for the auto body/collision repair industry. For nearly 25 years, he was the owner of Wagonwork Collision Center, an OEM-certified, full-service auto body repair facility in Alexandria, VA.

Destructive Weld Testing a Crucial Step You Should Be Paid to Perform One of the few discouraging statistics for me from the “Who Pays for What?” surveys we’ve been conducting since 2015 involves destructive testing of welds.

Last year, more than 40% of collision repair shops acknowledged they had never sought to be paid for the labor to create test welds and perform destructive testing on them prior to welding on a vehicle to ensure the welder was set-up properly.

Let me be clear: I’m less concerned with whether shops are being paid for this work, though I believe they should be, and I hope this article will help you negotiate to get paid for it.

What I’m really discouraged and concerned about is that I believe many technicians and shops are skipping this absolutely essential step in the repair process.

Ladies and gentlemen, unless

you perform destructive testing of welds prior to any welding on a vehicle, you cannot know whether the welds you are doing on the vehicle are proper and will perform as necessary. It would be like an automak-

Mike Anderson says shops failing to follow OEM procedures for destructive weld testing would be like an automaker failing to crashtest a new model of vehicle

er not doing vehicle crash testing before selling a new model of vehicle.

It’s a serious liability for your business. If you don’t do this—every

time—you run the risk of someone who is in another accident in a vehicle you repaired being seriously injured or even killed because of a faulty weld.

I cannot emphasize this enough: We have a moral and ethical responsibility to make sure our technicians are doing this. It’s not about whether you get paid for it. It’s the right thing to do. If we don’t do it, somebody could get hurt.

A real-world example of the importance of destructive weld testing came up during an online meeting.

At Collision Advice, we facilitate 20 Groups called The Spartans, which includes virtual estimating training sessions once a month.

During one of these recent discussions, member Dean Massimini of Autotech Collision Service---one of the most committed shops that I know of in terms of following OEM repair procedures---shared with our

members that they make sure their technicians are performing and documenting weld testing every time it is needed. He told us they recently were performing a destructive test weld that failed.

“We had a malfunction on our welder that we would not have found if we weren’t doing destructive tests,” Massimini said.

This is what every shop should be doing.

Another recent cautionary example: I was onsite at another shop in South Carolina, and one of the technicians told me how they had been having issues with a welder, and another industry consultant told them to use a different wire. Fortunately, I knew someone at the manufacturer of the vehicle involved. His first question: Has the shop had the software update done on their weldSee Destructive Weld, Page 42

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autobodynews.com / APRIL 2022 AUTOBODY NEWS 33 10/31/18 10:18 AM

GUNIWHEEL™ Makes the Collision Repair World Go Round One Wheel at a Time

by Ed Attanasio

An auto body shop manager in San Francisco, CA, told me he spends more time moving cars than fixing them.

With limited space on the shop floor and literally zero parking in the lot, staging vehicles is a full-time job for an apprentice whose title is “porter.” He wants to train to be a technician, but in the end he’s nothing more than a valet.

Fixing cars back to their pre-accident condition is tough enough and, in many cases, moving vehicles safely around the shop is a separate job all on its own.

Director of Marketing Mike Dunlap has seen the market for GUNIWHEEL™ explode. Here he is with Ghetto Bob from Count’s Kustoms and the TV show, “Counting Cars.”

With a mission to safely mount and move vehicles with its universal bolt pattern shop wheels, GUNIWHEEL™ is popular with body shops, car restoration companies, towing companies, wheel repair companies and car dealerships.

Its universal four- or five-bolt pattern designs for cars and light SUVs are made of thicker steel for more durability needed in heavy-use shop environments. Easy to mount and safe to install on all hub locations, their skinny compact design frees up work space around the hub, stacks up neatly on racks and stands and eliminates the need for multiple spares laying around.

Drivable up to 5 mph, GUNIWHEEL™ rolls easily over hoses, grates, humps and ramps. It can also be used in the paint booth to avoid overspray on expensive wheels and tires.

It comes in three sizes based on the vehicle’s bolt pattern and the size of the center bore: the GUNIWHEEL™ 45S, 56 and 80.

Made from polyurethane injection molding, the solid black tire on every GUNIWHEEL™ won’t go flat and features a unique safety feature to prevent over speeding. Evenly-spaced ribs are molded across the width of the tire and will begin to vibrate once speeds reach the speed limit rating of 5 mph. The carbon steel rim has a durable design and is painted orange for quick and easy identification. Each wheel weighs just 34 pounds.

Director of Marketing Mike Dunlap has seen the market for GUNIWHEEL™ explode and has been integral to the company’s success. The first big distribution agreement it signed was with LKQ/ Keystone, and shortly thereafter, car rebuilders and many top names in the industry started lining up to try GUNIWHEEL™.

“We were at SEMA setting up a small booth for their Ignited event in [2019], and we ran into some of Chip Foose’s builders,” Dunlap said.

“They saw the GUNIWHEEL™ and said ‘we love it,’ and two weeks later Chip called us. When a major player like Foose starts recommending a product, people listen, and that’s how we found a whole new group of people who became believers.”

Alex Rodriguez owns Dynamic Collision, a mini-MSO with three shops in New York, New Jersey and Florida. He has been using GUNIWHEEL™ products for the past three years and has been an enthusiastic brand ambassador for the company since the first day he tried one. He owns a total of 60 GUNIWHEEL™ products of all different sizes to accommodate every vehicle that comes through his doors.

“When I find products that provide solutions for my business, I am never afraid to recommend them and that’s why we often post photos and reviews about GUNIWHEEL™,” Rodriguez said. “Our shops are busy all the time, so we can’t afford to stop or slow down our production.

We need to keep the vehicles driveable and moving through the body repair process. They make us more efficient and we’re able to get rid of multiple spare tire racks or digging through the customers’ trunk for spares. Our insurance partners are

34 APRIL 2022 AUTOBODY NEWS / autobodynews.com

always looking at our cycle time, so efficiency is paramount and GUNIWHEEL™ helps us to keep the ball rolling without stopping or waiting.”

to’s indirectly led to the invention of the GUNIWHEEL™, Dunlap said.

“We had a high-end body shop in Arizona that we were repairing wheels for and one particular Bentley gave us some trouble. We were having difficulty matching the color on the wheels, so the Bentley sat in the shop as we went back and forth,” he said. “They told us they needed the wheel back so they could finish the repair and get the vehicle out of the shop. So, Sergio thought of a solution, and that’s the genesis of GUNIBody shops use GUNIWHEEL™ to avoid starts and stops WHEEL™.” and keep their production rolling uninterrupted When he came up with Great inventions often start the initial design, Rovito was going as simple solutions for potentially to name it the Uniwheel, but to make complex problems. In 2018, the in- it more unique and personalized, ventor, GUNIWHEEL™ President Rovito added the “G” in honor of and CEO Sergio Rovito, had a com- his daughter, Gabriella. Many peopany that repaired and reconditioned ple call them “Gunis” and the comwheels for body shops and car deal- pany’s motto is “Get your Guni on!” erships.

The true genius behind the See GUNIWHEEL™, Page 43 One particular customer of Rovi-

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Industry Insight

—John Yoswick is a freelance writer based in Portland, Oregon who has been writing about the automotive industry since 1988. He is the editor of the weekly CRASH Network (for a free 4-week trial subscription, visit www.CrashNetwork.com).

Contact him by email at jyoswick@SpiritOne.com.

with John Yoswick

Examples Demonstrate Problems with Collision Techs Making Repair ‘Presumptions’

Shop Showcase

As A presentation at the Collision way to get the adhesive in there.”

Industry Conference (CIC) earlier Jason Bartanen of Collision this year included a number of ex- Hub pointed to something simiwith Ed Attanasio amples of vehicle repairs that could lar with the lower outer rail on the easily be done incorrectly if a tech- Chevrolet Bolt. nician makes presumptions about “It’s attached [at the factory] with the process based on past experience spot welds and MIG-brazed joints, rather than carefully following the essentially,” Bartanen said. “But OEM procedures. when you do the replacement proceScott VanHulle, manager of with Ed Attanasio dure, there’s adhesive, spot-welding, I-CAR’s Repairability Technical weld-bonding, rivets, rivet-bonding, Support and OEM Technical Rela- plug welds and MIG-brazing. Seven tions, cited a Silverado box side in- different attachment methods on that stalled at the factory with 10 welds. one part that came from the factory “In the repair, you’re only with two attachment methods. So putting seven in,” VanHulle said. making an assumption that you know “Where those three extra welds were, what you’re doing because you’ve with Ed Attanasio they want you to put crash-toughened been doing it for a long time is a very adhesive in there. If you were to get dangerous assumption to make.” to this point and only then realize VanHulle also shared slides reyou need to have crash-toughened lated to a sectioning procedures for a adhesive, you’re going to have to re- front lower rail on a Ford Explorer. move that part that youEd already have One slide of the procedure he shared with Attanasio partially installed because there’s no calls for MIG welding.

Social Media for Shops

SEMA Show Goes On

But in addition, he said, depending on which of two zones is being repaired, “you actually have to make these panels out of the service part that you have to rivet bond over the top of the area you just welded. So when you’re doing the repair planning, if you just quickly go through that procedure, you might think, ‘Oh we just need to weld it.’ Well, no, you have to make these parts. You have to do the rivets. So if you’re not truly understanding the procedure, and have those rivets in-stock, there’s no way the technician is going to know what to do, and he’s going to make a mistake or only do part of it.”

VanHulle said another example of the increased use of adhesives by automakers can be seen in I-CAR’s free 51-minute “Repairers Realm” video on the roof replacement procedure for the 2022 Honda Civic.

“The procedure is interesting, but

Media and Publicity for Shops Shop Strategies with Stacey Phillips

if you don’t do the proper planning, and have the proper pieces in place, there’s no way you’re going to put that roof on correctly, especially if you’re assuming it was like the last Honda you did,” VanHulle said. “And this is not just happening with one automaker. All of them are having adhesives show up pretty much everywhere.”

The presentation at CIC was similar to a message from American Honda last fall about making repair presumption. Scott Kaboos, assistant manager of collision repair training and technology for American Honda, said students at Honda’s hands-on training facility in Illinois are often surprised the ADAS cameras on one model year Accord will require different targets and processes than those on another.

“Even within Honda and Acura, we have so many different systems, See Repair ‘Presumptions’, Page 46

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Day Job/Night Job

Ed Attanasio is an automotive journalist based in San Francisco, California. He can be reached at era39@aol.com.

with Ed Attanasio

Painter/Technical Director Creates Amazing Art, Island-Style I have been telling people for deca- ning. des that car refinishers are truly arHe joined the company as its tists, and every time I see a beautiful technical director back in 2012, Gary Wickert car at SEMA orwith on YouTube or so- where he helps collision repairers cial media, it reinforces my beliefs. with things such as product inventoGreat painters continually refi- ry control, technical support, KPIs, ne their skills and techniques, and work in progress (WIP) and training many of them display their creati- focused on OEM procedures. vity and passion through other meIsland Concepts recently estadiums that often shine brighter than blished a training room as well as painting vehicles. a storage area to house the products with Stacey Phillips In this story, a talented car pain- they provide to collision repair faciter created a side business that car- lities. In addition, there is a separate ves and paints tiki statues, as well area where the company has plans as masks, furniture and skateboard to set up a spray booth and/or prep decks, just to name a few. station for hands-on training.

Painter and Technical Director In the past, much of the instStacey Phillips Todd Stogdell, with 52, entered the colruction on the island was conducted lision repair industry three decades by Honolulu Community College as ago, when he was hired at an auto part of its auto body repair and painting program. However, the program closed in the summer of 2021 due to a lack of enrollment because of the pandemic and travel restrictions in with Stacey Phillips Hawaii.

With the addition of the new training center, Stogdell said Hawaiian technicians won’t have to necessarily go to the mainland to learn new skills anymore. with Stacey Phillips “Our new facility will enable us to hold classes and offer hands-on skills training,” Stogdell said. “Two years ago, I traveled to New York to be certified as an I-CAR instructor in Fusor’s product line, teaching metal panel bonding, structural adwith Stacey Phillips hesives, seam sealing, plastic repair, fiberglass and composite repairs, so Painter and Technical Director Todd Stogdell we can feature I-CAR classes now, poses with one of his tikis and several of which is great.” his skateboard decks, displayed at Island To get started in the world of Concepts, a paint jobber with a training center tiki figures, Stogdell put out a call in Oahu, HI for tikis on Craigslist and through with Victoria Antonelli body shop in California as a helper. the Hawaiian grapevine, and got luWithin 10 years, he had moved up cky with a few beauties almost imthe ladder to become a production mediately.

“I’ve always liked tikis and inimanager, and then decided to relocate to Hawaii. tially I got existing ones to paint and Today, Stogdell works for Is- recondition,” he said. “I am always with Victoria Antonelli land Concepts, a paint jobber in looking for ones that are a little weOahu that is the exclusive paint dis- athered. I could see early on I can tributor for AkzoNobel in Hawaii. get really creative with these and The company serves many of the use my painting skills to make them 200-plus shops on the island, with look awesome. In some cases, I even product support and ongoing trai- surprise myself when I see the finis-

The Legal View

hed product.”

As his interest in tikis grew, Stogdell yearned to learn more about the process and reached out to some of the finest carvers on Oahu.

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Stogdell uses his painting skills to make each of his tiki statues vibrant and highly unique

“I met Tonu and Soni at Ohana Island Creations and we have become friends,” he said. “They wanted me to paint a large wooden sailfish

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for them and of course, I said yes.

When it was finished, they wanted to pay me and I said just teach me how to carve and that will be my payment.”

The history of tiki culture dates back to ancient Polynesia. Such carvings were first discovered in Polynesia, and tiki carvings are said to represent a Polynesian god. They’re an integral part of South Pacific mythology, culture and history.

Tiki statues were carved to represent the image of four gods as an embodiment of each of their mana, or power. With well-formed tikis in their possession, people could attain protection from harm, strengthen their power in times of war and be blessed with successful crops.

Kane is the god of sunlight and natural life; Ku is the god of war; Lono is the god of peace, winds,

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National Events

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38 APRIL 2022 AUTOBODY NEWS / autobodynews.com

See Island-Style, Page 47

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Industry Insight with John Yoswick

—John Yoswick is a freelance writer based in Portland, Oregon who has been writing about the automotive industry since 1988. He is the editor of the weekly CRASH Network (for a free 4-week trial subscription, visit www.CrashNetwork.com).

Contact him by email at jyoswick@SpiritOne.com.

Collision Repair Shops Should Check Policies Related to Drugs/Alcohol, Animals in Workplace

Shop Showcase

California-based employment law law or your policy because they’re attorney Corey King discussed a not under the influence by the legal variety of topics during the Col- standard for alcohol.” with Ed Attanasio King also said more employlision Industry Conference (CIC) held earlier this year: company drug ers are getting employee requests and alcohol policies, stocking up on to bring a “service animal” to the COVID tests and “service animals” work place. In order to qualify as a in the workplace. “service animal” under the federal As more states legalize marijua- Americans with Disabilities Act, it na, King said, use of Ed cannabis and has to be a dog or, oddly, a miniawith Attanasio related products grows. It’s a good ture horse individually trained to reminder, he said, for businesses to perform tasks for a person with a ensure their drug and alcohol policy disability. does not include the phrase “under “The ADA does not recognize the influence.” If it does, King said, emotional support, comfort, com“that policy is completely untenable panionship or guarding as a recogand, I would argue, completely un- nized task,” King said. “So your with Ed Attanasio enforceable.” emotional support animal isn’t proIn a state where the alcohol tected under the ADA. This applies DUI limit is .08, King said, “Do even if that person brings you a docyou really want somebody jumping tor’s note that says [they] need this behind the wheel of that car to test emotional support animal.” drive it when they blow a If asked about bringing an aniwithwould Ed Attanasio .07? They’re not in violation of the mal to work, the ADA requires em-

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SEMA Show Goes On

ployers to “engage in an interactive process… and provide reasonable accommodations that will allow disabled employees to perform the essential functions of their job,” King said.

Ask what kind of animal it is, he said. If the employee’s disability is obvious, the inquiry is over and the dog or horse must be allowed.

If it’s not obvious, ask if the animal is required because of a disability— but do not ask for documentation of the disability. If it is, ask what tasks the animal is trained to perform; do not ask for documentation of training nor for a demonstration of the animal’s ability.

Common tasks include guiding the visually impaired, pulling a wheelchair, alerting people who are deaf, calming individuals with PTSD during anxiety attacks, alerting and protecting a person having

Media and Publicity for Shops

a seizure or reminding a person with mental illness to take prescribed meds.

If all those requirements are met, the animal must be allowed unless it becomes disruptive or a danger.

“Now, if someone tries to make an issue of this with you, don’t go this alone,” King said. “Get hold of me, of someone you trust, who knows this stuff, to help you navigate through.”

As COVID-related restrictions continue to be dropped around the country, King still suggested businesses encourage their employees to order the at-home rapid COVID tests being offered for free by the federal government.

“Check your politics at the door: I guarantee you your state law says something about whether an employee can come back into See Animals in Workplace, Page 44

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Continued from Page 32

Destructive Weld

CREF Opens Grant Applications

er? Sure enough, the welder had not had the most recent update.

My friends, performing destructive test welds is not a once-ina-while labor operation. It must be done on every single vehicle.

Recently I had the opportunity to speak with some OEMs considering providing weld coupons with replacement panels. That would be huge.

But again, shops must know how to perform this destructive test, and the OEM procedures spell it out for us.

I only know of two OEMs that don’t have this in their procedures, and they defer to I-CAR, which provides information on how to perform this test.

Roughly 30% of shops across the industry tell us in our “Who Pays” surveys that they are being paid all or most of the time for destructive weld testing when it is necessary and they are doing it.

In my next column, I’ll discuss how you, once you ensure your technicians are doing this important step, can join those getting paid for it.

The Collision Repair Education Foundation (CREF) offers a solution for instructors seeking to fill gaps in funding, tools, equipment and suppliesby opening its 2022 Collision School Career Readiness Benchmark Grants, which allow schools to receive up to $25,000 in funding. Available at https://www. collisioneducationfoundation. org/collision-school-career-readiness-benchmark/, applications are now open with a deadline of June 1. CREF updated this year’s application to make it more impact-driven, goal-oriented and measurable, breaking it down into five sections: Recruitment, Program Maintenance, Program Additions, Employment and Fueling Innovations.

The Benchmark Grant application allows instructors to request specific items needed to help them advance their curriculum, and applying schools that are not selected for grant funds are still eligible to receive a variety of tools, equipment and supplies donated by industry sponsors and supporters.

Source: CREF

Continued from Page 29

‘Who Pays for What?’ said they “never” did the research.

However, 4% of dealer and franchise locations admitted to never researching procedures at the time they write the estimate, and 2% of independents said the same.

“The only way to write a complete and accurate estimate is to know what procedures will be required to repair that vehicle,” Anderson said. “I do like to see that, compared to five or six years ago, many more shops are making use of the OEM websites directly. I know they all have their own system for locating the right information, but many automakers offer online or

in-person training classes on how to efficiently navigate their websites.”

Last fall’s survey showed a continued increase in the percentage of shops regularly performing vehicle scans. In 2019, according to the “Who Pays for What?” surveys, about 88% of shops said they performed a post-repair scan on all or most vehicles they repaired. In 2021, that figure rose to 93%. The percentage of shops that said they performed pre-repair scans was also higher, improving to 85% in 2021 from 78% in 2019.

“It appears we’re trending in the right direction, but still not fast enough,” Anderson said, noting he believes 100% of repairs should be completed with both a pre- and post-repair scan.

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42 APRIL 2022 AUTOBODY NEWS / autobodynews.com

Continued from Page 34

GUNIWHEEL™ product is a universal vehicle bolt pattern Rovito conceptualized and then patented.

The company’s road to success has been random and wonderful, Dunlap said, with a string of amazing victories along the way.

“We have been nominated for the SEMA New Product Awards every year, and we have always been a bridesmaid,” he said. “But, just to be associated with SEMA has given us a ton of credibility. Then, Kristen Felder at Collision Hub did a video about us as part of her ‘Cool Tools’ series, and that was huge.”

Some of the country’s top vehicle restorers praise GUNIWHEEL™.

Chip Foose called them “Great rollers for around the shop!” Dave Kindig said, “GUNIWHEEL™ is awesome for us! Perfect for moving our many projects around the shop.”

Ryan Evans from Count’s Kustoms said, “These are a staple in our shop.”

Goolsby Customs said, “GUNIWHEEL™ is the perfect option for

transporting or just to move things around the shop.”

Every year, GUNIWHEEL™ comes up with new products for new applications, with each one gaining industry acceptance and garnering five-star reviews. One of these is the GUNIHUB™ 45, a universal rotating hub used when brakes are disengaged or when a car is stuck in the parked gear.

“This product is perfect for cars like Teslas and other electric cars where if the battery is dead, the wheels won’t rotate,” Dunlap said.

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Tesla Model 3, Model Y Receive Latest Round of Price Increases in U.S. and China

by Simon Alvarez, Teslarati

The long range variants of the Tesla Model 3 sedan and Model Y crossover have received a $1,000 price adjustment in the U.S. In China, select variants of the Model 3 and Model Y also received a price increase of about $1,500.

With the latest round of price adjustments, the cost of the Model 3 Long Range Dual Motor in the U.S. has increased from $50,990 to $51,990 before options and incentives. The Model Y Long Range Dual Motor now starts at $59,990.

The Model Y Performance now starts at $64,990 before options and incentives as well.

While Tesla did not specify the reasons behind its latest round of price increases, it is believed the recent adjustments were due to the rising price of nickel, which is used in the Long Range Model 3 and Model Y’s battery packs.

This is hinted at by the fact the base Model 3 RWD did not see a price increase. The base Model 3 RWD is equipped with a lithi-

um-iron-phosphate (LFP) battery, which uses no nickel.

While the Tesla Model 3 and Model Y remain strong contenders in both the U.S. and Chinese markets, the vehicles have received a number of key price adjustments over the past year. The price of the Model Y Long Range, for example, has jumped about 20% from January 2021. The Model 3 Long Range saw a 10.6% price hike in the same period.

Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas warned the rising cost of nickel would likely result in electric vehicles like Teslas seeing a price increase. Just recently, nickel surged above $100,000 per metric ton on the London Metal Exchange, prompting a trading halt.

Several reasons are behind nickel’s price increase, though it is believed a driving factor is Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. With potential sanctions being placed on Russian nickel, the supply of the material to Western countries might be constrained in the near future.

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©2022 BMW of North America, LLC. The BMW name, model names and logo are registered trademarks. autobodynews.com / APRIL 2022 AUTOBODY NEWS 43

Continued from Page 40

Animals in Workplace

Rivian Electric Truck Maker Sued by Shareholder for Recent Price Shifts

by Steven Loveday, InsideEVs

your workplace after being exposed or testing positive,” King said. “I would almost guarantee you that it’s going to have a requirement that, before they return, they provide you with a negative test. You want to have those tests around.”

King said his daughter had COVID early this year, putting the whole family in quarantine.

“The four of us could not go back to school or work without having negative COVID tests, and finding a testing facility is a challenge,” particularly if you want immediate results and don’t want to stand in line with people who think they have COVID,” King said. “You and your employees are [likely] going to have to prove at times they have a negative test in many circumstances. Encourage your employees to get those free tests, and be judicious about when they use them. Those are gold. Save them. They are literally going to set you free and allow you to re-enter the world.”

According to a recent story published by Automotive News, a Rivian shareholder has filed a lawsuit against the company due to the recent confusing and misleading price increases, which were followed by a complete turnaround by the automaker.

Essentially, Rivian upped its prices significantly, though it was still able to keep its starting prices listed as they were during its IPO. This is because the company will eventually launch dual-motor options that fit the earlier price point.

Meanwhile, the EVs currently available saw a big increase.

Many Rivian reservation holders were either threatening to cancel their orders or did it.

The electric pickup truck maker quickly changed plans and decided people who currently have an R1T or R1S on order will still enjoy the previously agreed-upon prices. People who canceled their order were welcomed to reinstate them at the original prices.

If the company’s stock wasn’t

already suffering for a variety of reasons, you can imagine what a huge shift in prices, new product announcements and then a shift back could do to the share price.

Moves like this cause investors to become confused and skeptical, not to mention lose faith in a company even if it eventually changes direction and does what’s seen by most as the right thing.

Charles Larry Crews filed a complaint with the U.S. District Court in San Francisco suggesting Rivian “concealed how its R1S SUV and R1T pickup truck were so underpriced that it needed to raise prices not long after its November 2021 IPO.” Crews said the price increases will make people lose trust in Rivian and cause a multitude of potential cancellations. He also said

Rivian’s quick change of direction—along with the apology from CEO RJ Scaringe—was a “futile attempt at damage control.” In a case like this, it can be argued that no matter how the story ends, the damage was already done.

Ahead of the lawsuit filing, Scaringe had already made it clear he shares some of the same views that Crews eventually brought forward.

While Scaringe’s apology is respectable, Crews can try to use the CEO’s admission about breaking the trust of its customers to support his case against Rivian.

In an email to Rivian customers dated March 3, the CEO wrote, “It was wrong and we broke your trust in Rivian.”

For those interested in following the case, Automotive News lists it as Crews v Rivian Automotive Inc et al, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, No. 22-01433.

Russia Accused of Toyota Cyberattack

by Steven Symes, Motorious

At 7 p.m. local time in Japan on Feb. 28, the largest automaker in the world, Toyota, announced it was the victim of a cyberattack.

As a result, the company had to shut down all plant operations March 1, as its supply management system and subsidiaries were affected.The production suspension affects 28 assembly lines in 14 factories located in Japan. Toyota estimates the stoppage will affect about 13,000 vehicles at a time when shortages are common.

Toyota issued an official press release saying it will resume all operations starting with the first shift March 2. The plan is to access a backup network between it and suppliers. Restoring the original system is estimated to take a week or two.

Both Daihatsu and Hino Motors, subsidiaries of Toyota, have halted operations at some of their plants as well.

Also targeted in the cyberattack was Kojima Industries, a plastic components manufacturer and supplier for Toyota. The company is still assessing the extent of the damage done by the attack.

While nobody has been able to pinpoint the origin of the cyberattack, the timing is suspicious. Japan just joined other countries in putting into place financial and economic sanctions against Russia, thanks to the Ukraine invasion. Sensing potential problems, the Japanese government warned domestic companies to be on guard for possible cyberattacks, only for one of its largest corporations to be targeted hours later. Russian Ambassador to Japan Mikhail Yurlevich Galuzin said in an interview on Japanese TV the week before there would be “consequences” if Japan were to impose sanctions on Russia.

He didn’t elaborate what exactly that meant, but many considered it to be a threat. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said his government is investigating the cyberattack. They hope to establish whether or not Russia was involved and why Toyota was specifically targeted.

For now, no other automakers have reported cyberattacks. However, everyone is anxiously awaiting news the already struggling industry could be knocked back on its heels again.

44 APRIL 2022 AUTOBODY NEWS / autobodynews.com

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autobodynews.com / APRIL 2022 AUTOBODY NEWS 45

Tesla Model Y $24,000 Repair: Everything You Need to Know

by Steven Loveday, InsideEVs

Not long ago, we shared a story about a Tesla Model Y that was rear-ended for the second time. It wasn’t drivable after the accident, thanks to a blown “pyro fuse.”

The whole situation turned out quite messy.

The Model Y’s owner, Ryan Shaw, had previously rented out the electric crossover on Turo, which resulted in it being rear-ended the first time. The Tesla, which Shaw hadn’t yet owned very long, needed a $10,000 collision repair.

Fortunately, the Model Y’s repair was covered by the at-fault driver’s insurance, and Shaw also received loss of income and other monetary compensation. However, he was without his new Model Y for a very long period of time, only to have it heading right back into the shop following the second accident.

Shaw noted in the previous video the second Model Y collision repair was going to cost around $20,000, though it ended

up costing more. While he wasn’t responsible for paying the tab, he knew the repair was likely to take forever. Shaw promised a follow-up video breaking down the cost and length of the repair, along with other details.

Shaw said he learned a lot after two Tesla collision repairs over a short time, and there are details he knows now he wishes he knew before the mess. For this reason, the follow-up video should prove very helpful to other Tesla owners, since it will provide you with a solid idea of what to expect if your car ends up in a collision and needs repair.

If you’re without your car for months like Shaw, you’ll still be responsible for insuring it during that time. Rental cars are much more expensive than they once were, and in some areas, they’re much harder to come by. You may be stuck with a rental you don’t necessarily want, and it may cost more than the insurance company is willing to reimburse for.

Shaw went into extensive detail about the whole situation and all the processes involved. He filled us in on the specifics related to diminished value, which we found very helpful and informative.

Despite all of the concerns, Tesla Insurance coordinated everything with the collision center, the repair turned out excellent, the car’s paint looks better than it did prior and the Model Y’s rear hatch now works more smoothly than it did in the past. The only real issue here would be if Shaw decided he wanted to sell the car, since it has lost a significant amount of value.

CCC Appoints Chief HR Officer CCC Intelligent Solutions Inc. announced the appointment of Christy Harris as senior vice president and chief human resources officer. Harris will lead CCC’s company-wide people strategy, including talent acquisition, employee experience and the continued advancement of the company’s inclusion and diversity initiatives.

Harris succeeds Gary Newman, who is retiring after 15 years with the company.

Harris will focus on continuing to advance CCC’s award-winning culture. Named a 2022 Best Places Work by Built In Chicago, Austin and Los Angeles, CCC continues to attract and engage top technology and product talent.

“CCC has an outstanding reputation as a leading technology company and employer,” said Harris. “I look forward to having a positive impact on the employee experience while building on the company’s commitment to inclusion and engagement.”

Source: CCC

Continued from Page 36

Repair ‘Presumptions’ so many different calibrations,” Kaboos said. “There is no one standard way [across models] even within our own company.”

It highlights the need to always check the automaker’s repair procedures for each particular vehicle.

Kaboos said a student in one of his classes last fall told him he’d used an aftermarket scan tool on a 2017 Honda Odyssey, and followed that software’s recommendation to use a certain target and to put the camera into calibration mode.

“He did that, and fried the camera,” Kaboos said, acknowledging he had to look up the reason why.

“It turned out it was a dynamic-only camera. So it allowed it to go into [calibration mode], but then it went into a spiral loop, and would never come out of that function because it wasn’t designed to do a static calibration. He ended up having to buy an $800 camera and get it dynamically calibrated [to get the vehicle] back to the customer.”

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Island-Style rain, sports and fertility; Kanaloa is the god of the ocean. Stogdell appreciates their role on the islands and loves finding out as much as he can about the history behind them and their cultural significance.

“Tikis are special here and people look at them as their protectors,” he said. “I love the tradition and the heritage behind every tiki and enjoy the stories behind them. I have quite a collection now and feel connected to them in many ways.”

Once Tonu at Ohana Island Creations showed Stogdell how to carve a tiki, he was on his way and excited to create his own from scratch.

“Tonu is a fourth-generation wood carver and is a teaching artist of fine art at BYU-Hawaii, so I couldn’t have had a better teacher,”Stogdell said. “The first thing I do when I get a piece of wood is use the chainsaw to do the basic shaping and create a rough version. Then I use a chisel and smaller knives to do

the fine work, followed by sanding.

And then finally I paint them and hit them with the clearcoat.”

Stogdell is now using monkeypod wood for many of his creations and is enamored with the results.

“Carvers want to use Albesia wood or palm, but I really like monkeypod wood,” he said. “You can find monkeypod everywhere here and it’s perfect for tikis. It’s dark inside and lighter on the outside, so if you can integrate that into the design, it gives the piece more depth and definition.”

Creating a buzz and garnering great reviews for his tikis and other items, Stogdell has enjoyed every step of his journey and is always looking for more challenges.

“When people say nice things on Instagram (@island_kustom_ concepts) about my tikis, it’s so satisfying,” he said. “Doing the pieces is fun and the accolades are really fulfilling.”

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The auto industry is in huge upheaval at the moment, thanks in no small part to the ongoing semiconductor chip shortage.

As new car supplies remain tight, people are holding onto the old cars, impacting dealers negatively as they need product to move. For them there’s a light at the end of the tunnel: car repossessions are on the rise.

That sounds horrible but it’s all detailed out in a recent article from The Economic Times.

While that article talks specifically about the Indian market, things aren’t much better here in the U.S. A recent earnings call for America’s CAR-MART detailed the growing rate of vehicle repossessions in this country.

Per CFO Vickie D. Judy, government stimulus money has helped shrink car loan charge-offs, even when consumers are financing greater amounts thanks to increased used vehicle prices. Higher car repossession rates also kept charge-offs lower, with the company achieving 28.5% for the past

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quarter versus 27.1% a year ago and 26.6% two years ago.

Judy also noted the company’s frequency of losses increased in the last quarter. She attributed that to “normalization after the unsustainable historic lows resulting from stimulus payments.”

After cars are repossessed and borrowers can’t bring the loan back into good standing, those vehicles go to auction. From there they filter to dealerships, where other consumers can either finance them or pay cash.

It looks like this repossession problem may become worse before it gets better. After all, Americans are facing inflation like they haven’t seen in decades. That means vehicle payments can be much higher than before.

For those who were barely making ends meet before, it might come down to paying utilities, buying enough groceries, purchasing gas or making the car payment.

Having your car repossessed is no fun, especially if it’s your only vehicle, but it’s a situation more people are facing.

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Ford’s EV and ICE Reorganization Will Have Huge Impact on Dealers

by Steven Loveday, InsideEVs

As was recently reported, Ford officially announced plans to separate its electric vehicle and internal combustion vehicle business models.

Ford CEO Jim Farley made it clear on a number of occasions he’s learning a lot from Tesla, so the fact Ford wants to bank on the growing interest in EVs comes as no surprise.

In order for automakers to sell EVs, dealerships will have to be on board. Otherwise, the brand could try to sell online, direct-to-consumer—much in the same way Tesla and Rivian are operating—but it would most certainly cause contention with dealers since it’s against the rules. Ford will, instead, work alongside dealerships to help them adopt a hybrid version of the model.

Ford said in its announcement it would handle EV sales differently, combining some sort of direct sales model, along with dealers involved providing expertise, service and support. Plans haven’t yet been finalized.

According to Automotive News, Ford’s goals include eliminating inventory, operating with set prices and working out of fewer locations.

“It’s going to be much more efficient, a lot more online,” Farley told the publication. “It’s going to be a really different model.”

Farley also said having dealerships involved could give Ford an advantage over Tesla. He noted lack of physical support for customers can be problematic and some fixes simply can’t be handled remotely.

“We can do things Tesla can’t do,” Farley added.

Farley made comparisons to stores like Target and Home Depot that have a huge online presence and sell products on the internet,

but also have a multitude of physical stores across the country.

Dealerships would certainly raise concerns if Ford just attempted to abandon them and sell its cars directly, so the hybrid plan is a compelling option. However, it’s likely some aspects of the automaker’s potential future plan will be a disruption to dealers’ policies and operations. However, Automotive News noted, thus far, it seems dealers are “cautiously optimistic” about what the future may hold.

Ford will allow its dealers to decide if they want to sell EVs in addition to gas cars. There are not yet details about whether a dealer could choose to become “EV-only,” though Farley said Ford is “betting on” its dealerships, and they should “get ready to specialize.”

Ford National Dealer Council Chairman Tim Hovik made it clear he’s happy Ford is working to cooperate with dealerships. He also said dealers are already learning to deal with a lack of inventory, so having no EV inventory on hand wouldn’t be that different.

Another dealership execu-

tive, Vadim Makhlis, shared his support of Farley, though making it clear he’s anxious.

“I love the concept but am anxious to see how it plays out,” Makhlis said. “Given Mr. Farley’s leadership the past few years, I do believe if they’re going in this direction, it must be what the consumer wants.”

Despite any apprehension from dealers, which is to be expected, NADA spokesperson Jared Allen claimed franchised dealers are “allin on EVs.” He said dealers will be integral in increasing EV adoption.

In the end, Ford doesn’t really have another viable option. It can’t abandon its dealerships, and it needs their support in order to succeed. It’s motivating to see the automaker is making every attempt to move into the future while also continuing to support its dealers in the process.

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Ford Will Sell Explorer SUVs with Missing Chips Due to Global Shortage

by Ameya Paleja, Interesting Engineering

Amidst the ongoing ship shortage, Ford has decided to ship and sell its Explorer SUVs without the chips that control non-safety features such as heating and cooling for the rear seats, Automotive News reported.

The global chip shortage came into the limelight during the pandemic as global supply chains were disrupted. From smartphones to cars, the production of a wide range of goods was affected.

Last year, more than 70,000 Ford vehicles were waiting in storage for chips. Ford was to ship cars in undrivable conditions to its dealers last year, where the chips would be installed on availability. However, the company seems to have found a solution around this, and according to recent reports, the cars will be missing a few non-critical non-safety features.

Ford’s new strategy will result in its vehicles being sold without a few features. These include the controls of heating and cooling for the rear seats, although these features

can be controlled from the front seats. It is likely the company expects the shortage will end later this year since it is promising the customers the dealerships will install the chips within a year from purchase.

Customers willing to still purchase Ford Explorers without these features can expect a reduction in the final price for this small inconvenience. Last year, Ford shipped its popular F-150 without the automatic start-stop feature and gave a $50 credit to customers who opted to purchase without it.

Ford isn’t the only carmaker working around chip shortages in such a fashion. While electric vehicle maker Tesla shipped cars without some USBs, General Motors dropped features like wireless charging and HD radios.

Chip makers such as Intel are also investing heavily in manufacturing facilities in the U.S. but it will be a while until one sees the benefits from the move. For now, the chip shortage is here to stay and might even be exacerbated by the conflict in Ukraine.

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Tesla Raises Prices Across Entire Vehicle Lineup, Model X Plaid Sees $12.5K Rise Tesla CEO Elon Musk recently noted Tesla and SpaceX are seeing significant inflation pressure in raw materials and logistics.

This is understandable, considering the ongoing war in Ukraine and the sanctions being imposed on

ed the company’s entire vehicle lineup, from the base Model 3 RWD to the top-tier Model X Plaid.

The price increases range from $2,000 to $12,500.

As can be seen in the company’s online configurator, the Model 3 RWD now costs $46,990—$2,000 more than its previous price. The

Russian commodities. The price of Tesla’s current vehicle lineup appears to have been adjusted accordingly to correspond to these pressures.

Fresh off a recent price adjustment for the Model 3 and Model Y in the U.S. and China, Tesla has now implemented an even more substantial round of price increases for its vehicle offerings. But this time around, the adjustments affect-

midrange Model 3 Long Range now costs $54,490, up $3,500. The topof-the-line Model 3 Performance has been adjusted to start at $61,990, up $2,000.

On the Model Y’s side, the Model Y Long Range now starts at $62,990, which is $3,000 more.

The Model Y Performance now starts at $67,990, also up $3,000.

Being Tesla’s flagship vehicles, the price adjustments for the

by Simon Alvarez, Teslarati

ACA Announces Membership Head

Model S and Model X line were much more substantial. The Model S Long Range now starts at $99,990, $5,000 more than its previous price.

The Model S Plaid, Tesla’s fastest car as of writing, now starts at $135,990, $6,000 more than its previous price.

Tesla’s largest vehicle in its current lineup, the new Model X, received the most notable price adjustments. The Model X Long Range now starts at $114,990, up $10,000 from its previous price. The Model X Plaid now starts at $138,990, up $12,500.

While the price adjustments recently implemented by Tesla are some of the company’s most significant yet, demand for the Model 3, Model Y, Model S and Model X still seems fairly strong. A look at Tesla’s U.S. configurator hints the company is still backlogged for several months, with deliveries for some vehicles like the Model X Long Range being estimated as late as January 2023. More affordable cars like the Model Y Long Range are listed with an estimated delivery date of September 2022.

The Auto Care Association announced Todd Finnerty as the director of membership engagement, where he will be responsible for providing leadership and strategic direction for member engagement and retention efforts by developing strong relationships with member companies in the automotive aftermarket industry.

In this role, Finnerty will leverage his experience as a former industry participant to more deeply connect and engage with members. He will lead a membership team dedicated to understanding member challenges, presenting solutions and fine-tuning the member experience to ensure seamless, end-to-end service.

Having served nearly six years with the association’s membership department, Finnerty is already well-respected and connected with the entire supply chain: manufacturers, warehouse distributors, retailers and shops.

Source: Auto Care Association

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Ford to Collaborate with Universal Technical Institute on EV Training Curriculum

by Joey Klender, Teslarati

Ford Motor Company and Universal Technical Insititute (UTI) are collaborating to roll out a new curriculum responsible for training students to maintain and work on electric vehicles.

UTI is rolling out a new curriculum in its Ford Accelerated Credential Training (FACT) program.

With substantial increases in electric vehicle purchases and ownership in 2021 and forecasts for plenty of additional growth over the next several decades, the need for EVtrained automotive technicians will only increase over the coming years.

Ford’s FACT program and UTI plan to train students in the art of servicing high voltage batteries and electric vehicles, as they will become essential to Ford’s business model in the coming years.

The Ford EV curriculum will feature blended learning courses on high voltage systems safety, hybrid vehicle components and operation,

All SCRS RDE Sessions Online During the 2021 SEMA Show, the Society of Collision Repair Specialists (SCRS) captured every classroom delivery of Repairer Driven Education (RDE) on video and the content is now fully uploaded and available to watch online at https://rde.scrs.com.

The 2021 Repairer Driven Education (RDE) full series product contains both the general sessions plus the OEM Summit sessions. Participants will have access to more than 35 hours of educational programs designed for collision repair businesses and delivered by the nations’ leading subject matter experts. These sessions can be shared with an auto body shop’s entire staff with one subscription, all from the comfort of the business. Current SCRS members are entitled to an online coupon code which will provide them a 20% discount on purchases at https:// rde.scrs.com. For members who have misplaced their coupon code, contact the office at info@scrs.com to receive a new one.

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battery electric vehicle (BEV) components and operation and an introduction to high voltage battery service, as well as a Ford instructor-led class on hybrid and electric vehicle operation and diagnosis, UTI said in a statement.

“Ford has been working with UTI for more than 20 years to ensure our students receive state-of-the-industry training to prepare them for a rewarding, lifelong career in the transportation industry,” UTI CEO Jerome Grant said about the program’s new additions. “Demand for our graduates remains strong, and

by staying at the forefront of new technologies like EV, we are building the workforce of tomorrow and supplying automakers like Ford with the skilled technicians they need to adapt to consumer demand.”

Ford will send a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) to every campus the curriculum, currently available at nine of the 14 UTI campuses. The PHEV will be a necessity in students receiving hands-on training, which will eventually lead to the acquisition of a certification in high voltage systems.

There will be 11 other required certifications to pass the curriculum, with three additional certification pathways that will require attendance at Ford’s Training Center.

The nine campuses are: Avondale, AZ Bloomfield, NJ Exton, PA Houston, TX Lisle, IL

Mooresville, NC Orlando, FL Rancho Cucamonga, CA Sacramento, CA The course will take 15 weeks to complete and students are immediately eligible to enroll in the FACT program after completing UTI’s core automotive or diesel programs. More than 25,000 students have graduated since the program launched in 1999.

“Ford has been investing in building a pipeline of qualified technicians for years now, and our alliance with Universal Technical Institute allows us to do that through the Ford FACT program,” said Ford Manager of Technical Support Operations Elizabeth Tarquinto. “The enhancements we’re making to the program ensure that Ford and Lincoln dealers across the country will be able to find certified technicians ready to work on the vehicles of the future, and help them keep up with consumer demand for hybrid and electric vehicle service.”

CCC Report Reveals Accelerated Innovation in P&C Insurance Economy Amid Disruption CCC Intelligent Solutions Inc., a leading SaaS platform for the P&C insurance economy, announced March 15 it has released CCC Crash Course 2022, a data-driven report covering the business, consumer and technology trends shaping the automotive, claims, repair and collision industries.

The report offers insights on today’s economic, social and technology trends impacting and reshaping the P&C insurance economy, including shifts in driving behavior, advances in vehicle technology and the record pace of growth in digitization across the insurance economy.

CCC Crash Course 2022 marks the 27th year for the industry-leading report, which this year explores the future of digital journeys in the wake of disruption: supply versus demand, labor shortages, inflation, increasing vehicle technology and more complex repairs.

The extensive report draws insights based on decades of experience from solutions offered by CCC and its affiliates, including 260 million claims-related transactions,

50 billion miles of driving data, and millions of auto bodily injury and personal injury protection (PIP)/ medical payments (MedPay) casualty claims.

“After tracking key trends for so many years, we can confidently say the P&C insurance and automotive industry landscape has been forever changed,” said Susanna Gotsch, senior director and industry analyst, CCC. “The disruption experienced over the last two years has accelerated the pace of innovation driven by everything from supply chain and labor to climate change.

There is more urgency than ever for the industry to adapt and evolve with an increased focus on the advancement of digital technologies, user experiences and connected networks foundational to change and growth.”

Gotsch continued, “Today’s customer expects a business to provide an always-on user experience. This coupled with managing growing complexities presents both challenges and opportunities for the P&C economy.”

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Course 2022 include: • Supply versus demand imbalances and the impact on U.S. inflation.

• Labor shortages and the role its playing in driving up wages and altering experiences across nearly all industries.

• The operational future of automakers, insurers, repairers and other providers.

• The role of vehicle technology (ADAS, EVs) and complexity in increasing repair costs.

• Technologies such as AI, mobile, cloud and the Internet of Things, and their role in user experiences.

• Changes in driving behaviors and the impact to frequency and severity of auto accidents and auto casualty claims.

In addition to macro trends and topics, CCC Crash Course 2022 also includes industry-level detail on claims frequency and severity, parts costs and use, total loss trends and more.

Download the full report here: https://cccis.com/crash-course-2022/ Source: CCC Intelligent Solutions

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