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AASP/NJ Voices Opposition to Selection of State Farm’s George Avery as CIC Chair The Alliance of Automotive Service Providers of New Jersey (AASP/NJ) issued a press release saying it was urging its members to contact the current Collision Industry Conference (CIC) chairman and administrator to voice their displeasure with the choice of State Farm’s George Avery as the next CIC chairman. The press release reads as follows: In response to a spirited call to action by AASP/NJ Executive Director Charles Bryant, a record number of association members have been stepping forward to voice their displeasure with the July 18 appointment of State Farm’s George Avery to the position of CIC chairman. The announcement of Avery’s appointment – which came mere hours after an ex-
plosive CIC Open Mic Session where multiple repairers blasted State Farm’s controversial PartsTrader program—has left many repairers throughout the industry with questions. “We feel the timing of this decision is unfortunate because of the perception it creates,” Bryant stated in his message to members. “Mr. Avery holding this position represents an obvious conflict of interest as CIC continues to address this emotionally charged and industry-changing parts program.” Bryant then urged members to contact current CIC Chairman Michael Quinn at mikeq@911collision.com and CIC Administrator Jeff Hendler at jeffhen@gmail.com to voice their displeasure with the deciSee Opposition to Avery, Page 9
SEMA-AAPEX is Oct. 30-Nov 2 in Las Vegas For SCRS’ Repairer Driven Education, see p. 30-32
Update on Lorraine Pilitz Fraud Acquittal
fourth-degree insurance fraud and falsifying business records. On June 22, a jury found Ms. Pilitz not guilty on all charges. The Nassau County District Attorney’s Office had accused and charged Pilitz and her towing company and body shop of trying to extract extra funds from GEICO. Pilitz maintained her innocence, testifying See Pilitz Acquittal, Page 62
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Additional details have emerged on the acquittal of Lorraine Pilitz, owner of Autotech Collision Inc. in Rockville Centre, NY. She was found not guilty of all charges stemming from a 2009 auto accident in which Pilitz’s vehicle was rear-ended by a GEICO insured. See Autobody News, August edition. Ms. Pilitz was charged in September 2010 with three counts of
VOL. 2 ISSUE 6 SEPTEMBER 2012
AASP/NJ Tells State Farm: “Don’t Insult Our Intelligence” Charles Bryant, AASP/NJ Executive Director, released the following open letter to the industry in regards to State Farm’s parts procurement program: There has been plenty written already on State Farm’s PartsTrader program. The fox (State Farm), via George Avery, is actually surprised that the chickens (collision repair industry members) are nervous and upset at their uninvited entrance into our coop to “fix” something that we contend isn’t broken, and at their offer that we can’t refuse—literally. They keep telling us that this is a ‘win-win’ proposition. In reality, ‘win-win’ is an overused phrase to describe an arrangement that’s almost always ‘win-lose.’ There are, however, some true ‘win-win’ scenarios in
our industry, and so it would not be fair to refute Avery’s claim without a closer look. Before we do that, though, let’s first agree on a couple of assumptions. First, I’m going to assume that, within the vast empire of State Farm, there are some fairly intelligent people who are capable of analyzing the business of auto insurance, the business of collision repair and the claims management process. They do this not because they have nothing better to do, but because they have been tasked with the pursuit of higher profits. Despite what [President Barack Obama] has been telling everyone, our capitalist system was built on the selfish pursuit of profit and wealth. State Farm shouldn’t apologize in its See Insult to Intelligence, Page 12
NACE-CARS (ASRW) is Oct. 10-13 in New Orleans Full Schedule of Courses, see p. 19-23
Ed Kizenberger of LIABRA re: PartsTrader
Ed Kizenberger, Executive Director of The Long Island Auto Body Repairmen’s Association (LIABRA), says “Here is where the line in the sand is drawn for our industry: big shop, small shop, DRP/non DRP, it does not matter, factor out some or all of your parts profit and tell me how that contributes to your being a healthy viable collision center. Any percentage of a smaller number results in a giveback of direct profit that comes off your bottom line and goes directly into the insurer’s pocket. This, with a reduction in frequency and severity, should pretty much freeze our industry in place impacting our ability to attract new workers and train existing ones, invest in new equipment, maintain our facilities, etc. Mind you, the insurer’s argument will be they need to control parts to contain costs. That will help keep consumer’s premium costs “reasonable.” If this issue does not polarize and move our industry to action
there will be little left to be concerned about.” In other LIABRA news: ◘ LIABRA Board Meetings are the 2nd Tuesday of each month. ◘ LIABRA General Meetings are the 3rd Tuesday of each month, except December, April, July and August. ◘ LIABRA’s next meeting will be Tuesday, September 18, at 8:00 PM and will include an educational seminar, location to be announced. The Hybrid Training Certificates are available for pick up at this general meeting. In addition, 250 club raffle tickets are on sale now. Call Ed at 631-941-9647 or Flo at 516-6659483. ◘ LIABRA’s Annual Golf Outing is Sept. 24, 2012 at the Port Jefferson Country Club. Call Paul O’Connell 516-524-2353 or Vito Tandoi 631884-3366. LIABRA is headquartered at 425 E. John St., Lindenhurst, NY 11757 See www.liabra.org for more information.
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