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AUTOBODYNEWS.COM Vol. 10 / Issue 2 / November 2020
The 2020 Election and Auto: Cars.com Compares Each Presidential Candidate’s Automotive Policies
SEMA Show and SEMA360: What’s the Same?
A team of experts at Cars.com, a leading digital automotive marketplace and solutions provider, explored the differences in each presidential can-
Day-to-day business production has changed drastically during the past seven months, and specialty-equipment companies have discovered creative ways to keep operations running and adapted to an inconsistent marketplace. In the interest of serving those companies and supporting the association’s mission to help member businesses succeed and prosper, SEMA360 was created. “Each year SEMA Week creates a community exchange of innovation, education and networking that sets the course of business for the
didate’s platforms and looked into major impacts the upcoming election will have on the automotive market
and American consumers. The full report can be found at Cars.com/news/election2020. “The first point people should understand about the auto industry is that vehicles are manufactured for years in essentially the same form based on an enormous upfront investment—vehicle platforms last 6.7 years on average,” said Joe Wiesenfelder, executive editor for Cars.com. “Contrast this with a four-year presidential term, and it’s hard to accept any claim that a president or nominee has changed, or could change, where See The 2020 Election, Page 28
by Jason Catullo, SEMA
following year,” said Tom Gattuso, SEMA vice president of events. “During this year’s SEMA Week, Monday through Friday, Nov. 2-6, the amount of content exchange and interaction between manufacturers, buyers and media will again be unmatched.” There are currently more than 600 manufacturers ready to offer an exclusive look at their newest products, highlight trendsetting vehicles and in-progress project builds, and meet with buyers through SEMA360. Gattuso has also been contacted by retailers and resellers whose businesses have not stopped moving See What’s the Same?, Page 26
Registration for the 2020 MSO Symposium Now Open
AI Has Already Changed the Game for Auto Insurers
The Automotive Service Association (ASA) announced earlier this month the ninth installment of the MSO Symposium would take place as a five-day virtual event the week of Nov. 9, and that for the first time ever, the program is open to the entire industry and at no cost. Registration is now open. The 2020 MSO Symposium will run as a series of 90-minute, daily webinar sessions that provide insight and guidance on the most important issues in the automotive collision repair business. Similar to years past, the agenda, timing and content is driven and directed by
by Christoph Plenio, CCC Information Services Inc.
industry leading members who participate on the program’s advisory board. The program features speakers like Susanna Gotsch, industry analyst from CCC Information Services; Rex Green, global co-head automotive aftermarket investment banking with Jefferies LLC; OEM and insurance company representatives; and panel participants from a variety of multi-shop organizations, both large and small from across North America. Additional information on this year’s agenda and speakers can be found at www.msosymposium.com/ See MSO Symposium, Page 27
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AI is changing how insurers do business. Accelerating decisions. Improving outcomes. Constantly adapting to customized rules and permutations. This isn’t a vision, but the reality for more than 50 insurance carriers working with CCC across AI use cases. In conversations and media, AI is often discussed as a concept. That’s yesterday’s news. Today, AI is a proven factor in improving experiences and processes for countless policyholders. For example: AI applied to a single photo can predict repairable versus total loss claims, resulting in real-time decisions that don’t leave policyholders waiting days or weeks to know the fate of their vehicle. AI applied to auto damage estimates flag outliers based on carrier-specific rules and guidelines, identifying line-level items that appear out of the norm, and resulting in greater estimate accuracy. AI-powered estimating automatically predicts which parts are damaged, whether they can be repaired or
need to be replaced, and approximate labor hours, boosting appraiser productivity. AI-powered 3rd-party injury evaluations ensure accurate assessments of impact severity, availability of complete injury causation analytics, and that medical bill review is accomplished in the most efficient and effective manner for the third-party adjuster. These are just a few examples of the near touchless claims experience that exists today with people engaging where necessary to confirm AI-led claims flow from accident detection, to first notice of loss, to predictive method of inspection and beyond. This is a small snapshot of AI today. Tomorrow’s AI will empower even more business decisions earlier in the process and with even greater precision. AI run on edge devices, such as mobile phones, will detect contextual information from the accident scene while augmented reality technologies deployed on these same mobile phones will more fully See Changed the Game, Page 8
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