S O UTHEASTEDIT I ON
AUTOBODY AL / FL / GA / MS / NC / SC / TN / VA / WV
Private’s Equity’s Influence on Consolidation Predicted to Continue Amidst COVID-19 Disruption, Structural Change by Vincent Romans, as told to Stacey Phillips
uring the SO Symposium in oember, V incent Romans, managing partner of he omans roup, presented a macro-le el iew of the e ol ing .S. collision repair industry. ollowing the irtual show, omans shared further insight from he omans roup industry research with Autob od y N ews contributor S tacey P hillip s, following trends on consolidation, pri ate e uity E and the auto physical damage landscape. n the following article, omans
discusses the impact of O -1 on the collision repair industry and examines how E continues to in uence structural change with consolidation. 2020 will fore er be seen and remembered as a generational foundation year of significant disruption and structural change for the world with far-reaching economic, social and political implications. At the omans roup, we ha e discussed and profiled the ongoing disruption ta ing place during the last fi e decades as part of our study See Influence on Consolidation, Page 4
Collision Repair Industry Associations Make 2021 New Year’s Resolutions by Chasidy Rae Sisk
On ew ear s E e, people typically en oy re ecting on the ending year, but 2020 has been a little chaotic, to say the least.
hile no one seems particularly sad to say goodbye to 2020, there s still excitement and hope for the incoming year, expressed by ma ing
ew ear s resolutions. ollision repair industry associations are optimistic about the upcoming year and graciously agreed to share their 2021 ew ear s resolutions with Autobody ews.
ecause 2020 has contained so many unprecedented e ents and situations, many associations resolutions See New Year’s Resolutions, Page 10
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AUTOBODYNEWS.COM Vol. 11 / Issue 11 / January 2021
Florida Among States with Most COVID-19 Workers’ Comp Medical Claims by John Haughey, The Center Square
lorida was in the top fi e nationally in the rate of O -1 -related wor ers compensation insurance medical claims filed in the first six months of 2020, a report released by the ational ouncil on ompensation nsurance said. lorida recorded more than 00 O -1 -related wor ers compensation medical claims for e ery 100,000 acti e claims between anuary and une, the reported, a 0 increase from 201 a erages. Only Alas a, olorado, on-
necticut, lorida and ew ersey topped 00 O -1 -related wor ers compensation medical claims for e ery 100,000 acti e claims, according to the report, which doesn t explain why these states ha e more such claims than others or what the exact per-100,000-claims ratio is, reporting only aggregates. A wor ers compensation claim is considered a “medical claim if an in ured or ill wor er recei ed at least one “medical encounter while the claim is acti e. he compiled its medical claims data from its See Medical Claims, Page 18
Distracted Driving Skyrocketing During the Pandemic by Kea Wilson, StreetsBlog USA
A new study of COVID-era car crashes finds that a shoc ing 2 of all dri ers were using their cell phones within 0 seconds of impact—and transaportation safety leaders are doing almost nothing to stop it, despite a preponderance of pro en strategies that can compel us to put down our de ices when we re behind the wheel. n an analysis of ,000 collisions that too place on .S. roads in 2020, mobility analysis firm endri e found our country s record-setting crash rates in the loc down months usually in ol ed dangerous distracted dri ing beha iors li e texting behind the wheel, which is illegal in 1 states. Alarmingly, 1 . of dri ers the company studied were using their cell phones in the fi e seconds immediately prior to impact—and the problem got increasingly worse as the year wore on, and more and more cars returned to the road and rates of other dangerous beha iors,
li e speeding, dropped. endri e s technology wor s in the bac ground of a wide range of cell phone apps, from e-taxi software to na igation ser ices countless Americans use e ery day, so the dangerous phenomenon cuts across both commercial and ci ilian dri ing. hose early days of O -1 , of course, were an exceptional time for .S. transportation. ut experts reiterated that distracted dri ing long predates the pandemic, and the recent uphea al in tra el patterns only underscores a long-standing problem. “ istracted dri ing is a needless crisis, and now as we na igate increased health ris s in our day-today, we need to prioritize safety on the road, said Jonathan Matus, endri e EO and co-founder. “ e hope that sharing this data demonstrates the urgency here, and sheds light on a ey to eeping our communities safer. Of course, we now exactly how to stop dri ers from scrollSee Distracted Driving, Page 14
12/15/2020 3:33:52 PM