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GM Wants Dealers to Stock More Service Parts, Parts Managers and Dealers Debate Costs and Discounts General Motors is revamping its service parts program and giving incentives to dealerships to increase their inventory for more same-day repairs and to buy more of those parts directly from the factory, Automotive News recently reported. However dealers and their parts managers have expressed serious concerns about the inventory cost and impact of the Service Lane Parts program. GM estimates that the majority of dealerships will spend $6,000 to $10,000 to buy the additional inventory, but worried dealers also believe it may result in buying parts that won’t
move as quickly as GM believes, wasting valuable shelf space as well as money. GM rolled out the program April 1 as an incentive designed to improve service times and make customers happy. The program is voluntary, but dealers risk losing the discounts they get from wholesale distributors, who could curtail or eliminate their discounts because so much of their business is being shifted to GM. The automaker’s 4,400 dealerships can earn bonus money if they stock the parts GM recommends and if See GM Dealers’ Parts, Page 25
VOL. 4 ISSUE 3 MAY 2013
Repairer-Only Meeting Focuses on Shops’ Response to Key Industry Issues at April CIC Phoenix Meeting by John Yoswick
Insurer-mandated parts procurement systems, and I-CAR’s decision not to follow through with its plans to work with automakers to identify and close the gaps in existing collision repair procedures, dominated discussion at a repairer-only meeting held in Phoenix in April. Aaron Schulenburg, executive director of the Society of Collision Repair Specialists, led the “Repairer Roundtable” meeting, but said it was less tied to any one organization than to an over-arching goal of providing
PAINT AND REFINISH TECHNOLOGIES Second of 2 Issues
Ray Gunder Wins Another Battle on Labor Rates
to any wrongdoing or liability, they elected to provide full payment for the disputed amount of $553.77 to settle a lawsuit that Gunder had filed on behalf of his customer. State Farm agreed to pay the disputed amount and Gunder’s legal fees. An elated Ray Gunder said, “This is huge! This is the first of what we anticipate will be many such decisions from State Farm in the numerous other See Gunder Wins Battle, Page 4
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State Farm Insurance, the nation’s largest private automotive insurer, recently elected to settle a lawsuit with Ray Gunder, who had sued the company on behalf of his customer, for underpayments of labor rates and paint and materials. Attorney Brent Geohagan, legal counsel for Ray Gunder and Gunder’s Auto Center, recently received a letter from State Farm’s legal counsel stating that while they were not admitting
repairers a place to discuss and establish objectives without the influence of other industry segments. “I think our industry has become well-informed,” Schulenburg said. “There is a great network of information going in and out of the associations, and from the trade I-CAR Board member press. But just Dusty Womble being informed did not support board decision isn’t enough. We See Repairer Roundtable, Page 14
• Custom Painter Stories, p. 26, 30, 32, 34 • Training and News, p. 4, 10, 28, 36
Suit Filed Against Safelite and Toyota After DoubleFatality Rollover, Safelite Says Not Repairer of Record
A Houston, Texas-based personal injury attorney has filed suit against Safelite and Toyota on behalf a Montana woman who he says lost both her husband and young daughter in a rollover crash, in which the windshield allegedly separated from the vehicle. The attorney, Rob Ammons, contends Safelite had replaced the windshield on the vehicle involved, while Safelite argues its claims division processed the claim on behalf of another glass shop. “While traveling on a North Dakota highway one December afternoon, the family’s 2005 Toyota Tundra contacted an icy patch and went out of control. The pickup crossed the highway’s median and rolled over,” Rob Ammons said in a news release. “Safelite, who had installed a windshield on the Tundra, was also named as a defendant,” the document continues. “According to the lawsuit, the windshield separated from the
pickup in this crash and exacerbated the movement of the roof’s pillars. As a result, the driver and rear seat passenger were partially ejected from the pickup, despite the fact that they were wearing their seatbelts.” Ammons listed Safelite as a defendant because he contends the company installed the windshield on the pickup, according to the release. Safelite’s senior corporate counsel has another take: “Safelite typically does not comment on pending litigation. However, in this tragic case, after a preliminary investigation we determined that Safelite AutoGlass did not perform the windshield replacement,” says Brian DiMasi, Safelite’s senior corporate counsel. “Rather, Safelite Solutions, the claims management business, processed the plaintiff’s vehicle glass claim on behalf of another glass shop who performed the replacement,” he adds. “We See Safelite and Toyota Suit, Page 4
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