Collision Repair Magazine 17#6

SPEAKING OUT! WHAT COLLISION PROFESSIONALS REALLY THINK ABOUT DRPS!

RINGING IN THE NEW

YEAR

The biggest headlines of 2018, and why they mattered.

PLUS our 2019 forecast!

THE

5 PILLARS OF

HEALTH & SAFETY How you can build a culture of safety at your business!

CELEBRATING AT

SEMA

Canada’s delegates warmly received at this year’s recordbreaking SEMA Show!

INVEST IN YOUR

BEST

How you can stop a talent exodus before it’s too late!

THE 2018 AWARDS SPECIAL

ALL GRADES

FINAL

A MANAGER FOR ALL SEASONS

Collision pros pass their final verdicts on auto insurers!

A natural leader with an in-depth knowledge of collision repair, Jason Tanguay drives the CCS Star Motors team forward!

PLUS Kelvin Campbell tackles cannabis concerns, Terry Fortner breaks down LKQ’s ambitious grand strategy, David Gold hosts the Auto Recyclers Association Annual Conference, and much, much more!

Visit us at collisionrepairmag.com Volume 17, number 6 l December 2018

l

$7.95

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Canada Post Canadian Publications Mail Sales Product Agreement No. 40841632 l 86 John Street, Thornhill, ON L3T 1Y2

CONTENTS

VOLUME 17, ISSUE 6, DECEMBER 2018

16 ON THE COVER Jason Tanguay, collision centre manager of Star Motors in Ottawa Photos: Jordan Arseneault

38

Jason Tanguay and the team at Star Motors are ready for anything winter throws their way.

DEPARTMENTS PEOPLE ON THE MOVE | 10 A look at the big names in new positions

IN THE HEADLIGHTS | 13 The latest collision repair, auto industry, technology and insurance headlines.

The biggest and brightest stars in the collision repair industry were present at this year’s SEMA in Las Vegas.

45

REGIONAL | 87 A look at the news from collision repairers in every region!

MEMORIALS | 98 Remembering the friends of the collision repair community lost this year.

RECYCLING | 101 Auto recyclers go global at the ARA’s 75th!

SPECIAL FEATURES THE YEAR IN REVIEW | 20 Reflecting on the big headlines of the year and why the mattered!

THE 2019 INDUSTRY FORECAST | 24 Consolidations and a new role for OEMs in the billing process loom! A look at what to expect in 2019!

SPOTLIGHT: INDUSTRY AWARDS | 45

A look back at this year’s industry awards honourees.

29

COLLISION REPAIRERS GRADE INSURERS

36

STOPPING THE TALENT EXODUS

64

SPEAKING OUT ON DRPS

e Co-operators live up to its name as Canada’s Th collision community turns the tables on auto insurers!

e most productive collision professionals are often the Th first to leave a business. Management consultant Jim Harris explains why, and what you can do to keep them on the team!

Direct repair networks are changing the way the collision industry operates, and many repairers aren’t convinced it is such a good idea. They share their candid concerns with Collision Repair!

A look back at the many industry figures who received awards this year!

DECEMBER 2018 COLLISION REPAIR 5

CONTENTS

71

EVENTS

LKQ’s Nick Zarcone and David Willshire unveil a new facility serving the east of the GTA.

74

73 74 79 80 84

Porsche heads to Vancouver for its first Canadian dealer conference!

AkzoNobel shares strategies with key market influencers in Montreal!

Fix hits the FAN with a brandspanning network summit in Quebec!

CSN stargazes with Chris Hadfield at an arid annual conference in Arizona!

CCS brings top performers together from across Ontario!

COLUMNS PUBLISHER’S PAGE | 8

A great year, but speedbumps are ahead Bodyshop owners and managers were among the 150 attendees at AkzoNobel’s Canadian conference in October.

by Darryl Simmons

HEALTH AND SAFETY | 32

77

Instilling a safety culture

by Theresa Jachnycky

PRINCIPLES OF REPAIR | 55 Bridging OEM and insurer expectations

by Peter Sziklai

ENGINE KNOX | 57 Considering the customer’s perspective

by Steve Knox Dave Procunier of CSN-Heartland B&B Collision Centre Mississagua and Peter Woo of Excellence Auto Collision in Scarborough at BMW’s dealer conference in Las Vegas.

ATLANTIC INSIGHT | 59

99

The pot heads are coming

by Kelvin Campbell

TRAINING | 61 The latest developments from the AIA

by Andrew Shepherd

WHO’S DRIVING | 63 Taking charge: the key to staying in business

by Jay Perry

RECYCLING | 103 Goodbye to all that

by David Gold (Left to right) Steve Fletcher, David Gold, Olivier Gaudeau, Ed MacDonald, Ted Taya, Andy Latham attend the annual ARA conference in Orlando.

YOUR ONLINE SOURCE Canada’s collision repair information resource. New articles and top news stories daily. Visit www.collisionrepairmag.com.

6 COLLISION REPAIR COLLISIONREPAIRMAG.COM

HAVE YOUR SAY. We welcome your comments on anything you see in Collision Repair magazine. Send your feedback to editor@collisionrepairmag.com.

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PUBLISHER’S PAGE

JOY TO THE REPAIR WORLD

By Darryl Simmons

Looking back on a great year for Canada’s collision community—and forward to another

W

hen you are knee deep in the action, it is all too easy to forget that things in the Canadian collision repair world are changing at a break-neck pace.

In producing this holiday season special issue, which includes our 2018 industry awards spotlight and a look back at some of the biggest stories of the year, I got the chance to take a step back from the dayto-day, and reflect on the community’s accomplishments over the year—and what a great year it has been!

THE COMING YEAR WILL BRING ITS OWN NEW CHALLENGES. BUT FROM WHERE I AM STANDING, CANADA’S COLLISION COMMUNITY HAS NEVER LOOKED BETTER PREPARED TO HANDLE THEM. From uniting to protect the industry’s reputation in the wake of the excessive press coverage given to a major insurer’s spurious allegations of widespread fraud, to participating in many regional summits and working to build consensus about everyday concerns facing collision repair facilities, the community’s accomplishments have left me breath taken.

What is even more impressive about these accomplishments is that, for much of the year, the entire Canadian automotive sector stood under a cloud of uncertainty. It was not until the end of September that the threat U.S. tariffs would let up.

Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t to say that it will be smooth sailing from here on out. The coming year will bring its own new challenges. From where I am standing, however, Canada’s collision 8 COLLISION REPAIR COLLISIONREPAIRMAG.COM

community has never looked better prepared to handle them.

Of all of these approaching speedbumps, the shift in power away from auto insurers and towards OEMs, looms particularly large. After decades of having their pricing structures dictated by auto insurers, collision repairers are beginning to see this influence wane. Insisting on absolute adherence to their own repair procedures, OEMs have gained a foothold in setting the terms of a repairer’s bill.

It is hardly surprising that many feel repairers are in the middle of a game of tugof-war between auto insurers and OEMs. The threat posed by the distinction between insurer pricing demands and manufacturer repair expectations should not be underestimated. Though, I suspect, it isn’t necessarily without its upsides.

For the growing number facilities embracing progressive strategies, the power struggle presents great opportunity. These industry leaders have calculated the odds carefully. They know the benefits of equipping their teams with the right equipment to repair today’s vehicles, and giving them the training to make the most of these tools is no short-term investment.

In the long-term, those repairers prepared to meet the technological challenges of 2019 can rest easy. Despite many attempts to convince Canadians to surrender their right to choose their repairer, that right remains absolute.

Given the option of having their vehicle repaired by a facility that can demonstrate it has the right equipment, procedures and people, it is hard to imagine Canadians making another choice.

PUBLISHER DARRYL SIMMONS (647) 409-7070 publisher@collisionrepairmag.co EDITORIAL DIRECTOR GIDEON SCANLON (905) 370-0101 gideon@mediamatters.ca

STAFF WRITERS CINDY MACDONALD cindy@mediamatters.ca JORDAN ARSENEAULT jordan@mediamatters.ca LINDSEY COOKE lindsey@mediamatters.ca ASSOCIATE WRITERS KAVIKA MISRA, LAURA ORCHARD, SARTHAK ARGAWAL, CLARA LUCK ART DIRECTOR MICHELLE MILLER michelle@mediamatters.ca GRAPHIC DESIGNER JILL THACKER jill@mediamatters.ca VP INDUSTRY RELATIONS & ADVERTISING GLORIA MANN (647) 998-5677 advertising@collisionrepairmag.com MANAGING DIRECTOR, INTEGRATED BUSINESS SOLUTIONS ELLEN SMITH (416) 312-7446 ellen@mediamatters.ca PUBLISHER’S ASSISTANT LAURA JENSEN (647) 998-5677 laura@mediamatters.ca INDUSTRY RELATIONS ASSISTANT WANJA MANN (647) 998-5677 advertising@collisionrepairmag.com CONTRIBUTORS DAVID GOLD, PETER SZIKLAI, JAY PERRY, THERESA JACHNYCHY, STEVE FLETCHER, KELVIN CAMPBELL, JIM HARRIS, STEVE KNOX, STACEY PHILLIPS, JORDAN PORTER SUBSCRIPTION One-year $39.95 / Two-year $64.99 Collision Repair™ magazine is published bi-monthly, and is dedicated to serving the business interests of the collision repair industry. It is published by Media Matters Inc. Material in Collision Repair™ magazine may not be reproduced in any form without written consent from the publisher. The publisher reserves the right to refuse any advertising and disclaims all responsibilities for claims or statements made by its advertisers or independent columnists. All facts, opinions, statements appearing in this publication are those of the writers and editors themselves, and are in no way to be construed as statements, positions or endorsements by the publisher.

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Collision Repair magazine is published by Media Matters Inc., publishers of:

NEWS

PEOPLE ON THE MOVE TRISTA ANGER - BASF BASF announced that Trista Anger will serve as the new regional sales manager, coatings, Western Canada. An industry veteran with more than 14 years of experience, Anger has also held senior positions with CARSTAR, Boyd and, most recently, with CSN. In her previous role as CSN’s national insurance director, Anger had distinguished herself by improving the banner’s insurance communications.

ROBERT BRYANT - AXALTA Axalta has a new chief executive officer, Robert Bryant. Formerly Axalta’s executive vice president and chief financial officer, he is now the company’s top executive. Bryant has a strong record of experience taking on roles as executive vice presidents and financial officers. He has been working as the executive vice president and chief financial officer since 2013, and previously worked as the chief financial officer and senior vice president for Roll Global LLC.

FRED DAOUST - AZKONOBEL AkzoNobel appointed Fred Daoust from Marine & Protective Coatings to the role of Canadian country manager for Automotive & Specialty Coatings. Since joining AkzoNobel in 1989, Daoust has held various roles in Marine & Protective Coatings including yacht regional sales manager for parts of Canada & the U.S. and Yacht general manager-Interlux North America.

JAMES MUSE - AXALTA Axalta has announced that sales and marketing director James Muse will serve as the company’s vice president of global refinish sales. Joining Axalta in 2015 as the national accounts and industry relations manager, Muse had previously served as the vice president of business development at FinishMaster. Muse also served as a regional sales manager for Sherwin Williams.

LARS HANSEID - 3M CANADA 3M Canada has a new president and general manager, Lars Hanseid. Hanseid is not new to the company as he possesses 30 years of international experience at 3M. He most recently worked as vice president of the Central East Europe, Middle East and Africa area. Hanseid also held a variety of management and executive roles at 3M in Norway, Belgium, Denmark, Poland, Russia, and the U.S. Earlier in his career he was instrumental in setting up 3M operations in East Europe, including Russia, shortly after the fall of the Berlin Wall.

DAVE BLACK - COLOR COMPASS Color Compass has announced that CFL Hall-of-Famer Dave Black will be joining the company team—the sales team, that is. As the new Canadian national account manager, the former Winnipeg Blue Bomber will be tasked with enhancing Color Compass’s market position within Canada.

His efforts will focus on building customer and network relationships, identify business opportunities, negotiating and closing business deals.

A 10 year auto refinishing veteran, Black most recently was key account manager with 3M Canada.

10 COLLISION REPAIR COLLISIONREPAIRMAG.COM

NEWS

align with CARFAX, the U.S.-based provider of vehicle history information-based services, as both companies are owned by global business information provider IHS Markit. The name change helps CARFAX Canada leverage the strength of the CARFAX brand.

INDUSTRY NEWS AUTONOMOUS CARS TO KILL COLLISION REPAIR JOBS The Canadian Press has obtained a copy of a federal government document looking at the long-term impact of autonomous vehicles on Canadian jobs. It suggested that more than one million transportation sector positions - including some from within the collision repair industry - will be lost. According to the document autonomous vehicles would bring about the end of half-a-million transportation roles, and 600,000 positions in other transportation-related industries. While many industry analysts remain skeptical of how much of an impact autonomous vehicles will have on accidents, a report from Tesla this month revealed that their autonomous vehicles were about seven times less likely to be in accidents than human drivers.

Color Compass Canada president Gord W. Milford

Jean-Francois Champagne, Patrice Hadju and Darcy Hunter.

AIA EMPLOYMENT INITIATIVE BREAKS GROUND Looking for employment within the automotive industry just got a little bit easier, thanks to the new AutoConnex.ca website which consolidates job profiles, provides training, and even forecasts upcoming positions. The Automotive Industries Association (AIA) and the Government of Canada made the announcement in early October presenting it as a website. The product was marketed as a one-stop hub of information for those in the automotive industry who are actively seeking employment. AutoConnex will act as the place to go when searching for regional job forecasts, employment profiles or accessing educational resources including a list of trade schools across Canada.

BUSINESS NEWS

Vehicle gurus can be called in minutes through the repair service CarGeekSquad.

CARGEEKSQUAD’S PART-TIME PRO-REPAIRERS Today if a shop does not employ diagnostics scanner trained technicians or lacks the knowledge to perform the repair, CarGeekSquad, an on-demand online service linked with vehicle gurus can be called in minutes. This service operates similar to Netflix or Amazon and has become a viable source of added income for shop owners, technicians and estimators who have the necessary credentials to become a guru. Vehicle gurus are alerted through their smart phones when there is a request from a shop and then can receive over $100 for every shop session and positive rating, while the sponsor receives a referral fee.

MAJOR MERGER Color Compass has merged with the WESCO family of companies, a group which distributes equipment and paint supplies throughout the Western U.S. With the acquisition, the subsidiary, now called WESCO Autobody Supply Color Compass will also service Western Canada as well. Color Compass’s 27 Canadian locations will serve as the Canadian part of WESCO’s business. Despite the merger, there will be little change in the day-to-day operations of more than 260 members on the Color Compass team.

Students attending one of the PPG courses.

CARPROOF REBRANDS AS CARFAX CARPROOF Corp., a definitive source of automotive history and valuation, is now known as CARFAX Canada. Earlier this year, the company began a rebranding process to

PPG ABSORBS SEM PRODUCTS PPG has finalized a deal to acquire U.S.-based SEM Products for an undisclosed sum. The South Carolina-based acquisition is a leading manufacturer of repair and refinish products used primarily for automotive and other

DECEMBER 2018 COLLISION REPAIR 13

NEWS

transportation applications. Best known to the automotive repair community for Clear Coat, a flexible coating and mixing system, SEM’s 80-person team will officially join PPG when the deal closes later in the year.

BMW RECALL EXPANDS

Lift Auto Group CEO and president Mark Reineking and COO Michael Schurink.

ENTER LIFT AUTO Lift Auto Group is an emerging consolidator of automotive collision repair centres in the Western Canada region with six locations in British Columbia and Alberta. The Canadian Business Growth Fund (CBGF) has made its first investment of 15 million dollars to help Lift with its plans to expand across western Canada. According to CBGF, a portion of the investment has allowed the company to close a significant acquisition in Edmonton.

OEM NEWS

CEO of GM, Mary Barra makes the announcement.

GM’S ZERO EMISSIONS PROGRAM At the end of October, General Motors proposed a national zero emissions program for the United States as part of a plan to place millions of electric vehicles on the road by 2030. GM Canada has also voiced a desire to see something similar in Canada.

The manufacturer reportedly wants the Trump administration to support a national program that would increase the sales of zero emission vehicles. They said that the company plans to offer 20 EVs globally by 2023. GM looks forward to discussing the proposed US National Zero Emission program with the Canadian government,” GM director of communications, Jennifer Wright told Collision Repair.

BMW expanded their recall notice to 1.6 million specified diesel models globally due to a potential fire risk in late October. About 54,700 vehicles were affected in the U.S and Canada. BMW said last week that the issue is derived from the car’s intake manifold, which could potentially melt and increase the risk of a fire, in “extreme rare cases.” In August the company issued a recall to 480,000 vehicles in Asia and Europe after there were fires reported in South Korea. Further examination into the issue led to an expanded recall.

FORD ISSUES FOCUS RECALL A recall notice has been issued to 1.5 million Ford Focus owners in North America, 136,000 of which are Canadian, due to a fuel system malfunction. Ford issued the statement near the end of October and said that the affected vehicles were the 2012 to 2018 Ford Focus 2.0-litre models. The reason for the recall was because the vehicles were equipped with a canister purge valve that may become stuck in an open position. If this is the case, an excessive vacuum in the fuel system could cause deformation of the vehicle’s plastic fuel tank.

This means that the engine control computer may not be able to detect the problem, which could then increase the risk of a crash.

TECHNOLOGY NEWS

AUDATEX’S REPAIR SHOP SUGGESTION BOX Audatex now offers a decision-support tool for insurers that suggests the best shop for each repair using predictive analytics. AudaTarget

14 COLLISION REPAIR COLLISIONREPAIRMAG.COM

integrates and analyzes two years’ worth of vehicle and repair data. It provides real-time information to insurers to help them determine if a vehicle involved in an accident is repairable or not, and if so, which shop is the best choice to make the repair, all based on historical data. One of the factors considered

by AudaTarget is whether the cost of previous repairs matched an estimation.

HONDA, CRUISE AND GM’S AUTONOMOUS VEHICLE Honda, Cruise and General Motors are teaming up to fund and develop their own autonomous vehicle. Honda will be contributing approximately $2 billion over 12 years which together with a $750 million equity investment in Cruise, brings its total commitment to the project to $2.75 billion. “This is the logical next step in General Motors and Honda’s relationship, given our joint work on electric vehicles, and our close integration with Cruise,” said General Motors Chairman and CEO Mary Barra.

Privacy4Cars founder, Andrea Amico.

THE DANGERS OF VEHICLE DATA THEFT Privacy4Cars.com founder Andrea Amico has warned insurers that cars may contain garage codes, home addresses, destinations and a log of calls and texts—all information that hackers could steal and use to exploit drivers. “Hacking a car and turning it into a deathtrap is a threat,” said Amico, “but it’s hard to make money off of an owner you’ve killed. Targeting personal information is lowrisk and potentially more lucrative.” Amico went on to explain that insurers and repairers should consider their own legal position, with both groups potentially liable for costs related to data stolen from vehicles while in the possession of insurers or repairers.

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ON THE COVER

A STAR IN THE MAKING

By Jordan Arseneault

MEET JASON TANGUAY, THE MANAGER OF STAR MOTORS IN OTTAWA. JUST 34, HE MAY BE YOUNG FOR THE ROLE, BUT TANGUAY HAS BEEN PREPARING FOR IT FOR ALMOST 30 YEARS. 16 COLLISION REPAIR COLLISIONREPAIRMAG.COM

ON THE COVER

Meet the CSS Star Motors’ team: Jason Tanguay, Matthew De Dominicis, Ivo Paldus, Justin Derosiers, Adam Deslisle, Kevin Amorim, Abdulla Mutter, Jesse Anderson, Noor Shairzai and Ginger Cozac.

W

orking in collision repair is more than just a job for Star Motors manager Jason Tanguay, it’s a life-long passion.

“As a kid I always had the desire to drive.

I would beg family members to let me drive the tractor out in the fields. When camping with family, my father would have me sit on his lap and steer the truck as we drove around the camp ground. It was during those years I developed a passion for vehicles,” Tanguay said.

As Tanguay grew older his affection for the automotive industry grew with him.

At the age of sixteen Tanguay wanted

nothing more than to get his hands on a vehicle of his own. Luckily for the aspiring collision repairer, he wouldn’t have to wait long. That very year Tanguay and his friend Joey purchased two Honda Preludes from a neighbour.

Joey’s father, a mechanic at the time, had the tools necessary for the two young men to get their hands dirty and feel what it was like to fix a vehicle for the first time. The opportunity wasn’t just a dream come true for Tanguay, but also the beginning of what would blossom into a successful career in collision repair.

Collision technician Justin Derosiers investigates the extent of damage to a client’s vehicle.

Desrosier and Tanguay have been friends since high school.

▶ “If you are open

minded and are not scared to get your hands dirty, this career can be truly rewarding.”

- Jason Tanguay “You can just imagine, two sixteen-yearolds grinding rust and slapping on Bondo with no real clue what we were doing, and whether or not we were doing it right. We worked on those cars day and night, using parts from one car to build up the other,” he said.

In high school Tanguay excelled in shop class, reaffirming his belief that the automotive trade was what he was born to do.

Under the tutelage of a high school teacher by the name of Mr. Walker, Tanguay learned the fundamentals of fixing vehicles, but more importantly, he gained the confidence necessary to move forward into a career.

“He believed I could be nothing but successful as long as I put in the effort and determination. He is a big reason I am where I am today,” Tanguay said.

Becoming a collision centre manager for the luxury Mercedes dealership Star Motors in Ottawa wasn’t an overnight accomplishment. After high school he immediately began working in the trades. He started

DECEMBER 2018 COLLISION REPAIR 17

ON THE COVER

▶ “Having a guy in charge who

Technician Adam Deslisle performs delicate operations on the underside of a Mercedes-Benz GLA. Part of a Mercedes-Benz dealership, the collision centre is certified by the German OEM, and are trained to have an in-depth knowlege of the manufacturer’s repair procedures.

out sweeping floors, before making his way up to washing cars. From there Tanguay moved to prepping cars for body repairs and painting, before becoming an appraiser and production manager. At the age of 22 he received his collision repair Licence.

Tanguay’s journey to Star Motors was long and grueling, but one the Ottawa resident wouldn’t change for the world.

“Learning and advancing has always been my goal. Management allows me to be a part of every department. It allows me to be a team leader and influence how and why we do things. Every day I constantly deal with

knows what’s going on is a huge asset for the guys on the floor. He’s a licensed autobody mechanic who knows how to paint a car and how to fix a car, so when it comes to on-the-floor experience, Jason can relate a little better because he knows what we’re doing.”

- Justin Derosiers

something new and learn something new and that, to me, is what keeps me fascinated and pleased with this role,” he said.

Tanguay’s past experiences in the shop have certainly come in handy, not only in acquiring his position at Star Motors, but also helping him excel in the role.

Just over one month into his new position, Tanguay has already impressed many within the shop, including Justin Desrosiers, a body technician at Star Motors, who graduated a ref inishing program alongside Tanguay at Algonquin College.

Technicians Abdulla Muttar and Ivo Paldus inspect damage on back glass damaged in a tornado.

18 COLLISION REPAIR COLLISIONREPAIRMAG.COM

“Having a guy in charge who knows what’s going on is a huge asset for the guys on the floor,” said Desrosiers.

“He’s a licensed autobody mechanic who knows how to paint a car and how to fix a car, so when it comes to on-the-floor experience, Jason can relate a little better because he knows what we’re doing.”

What might appear like a life time of work for some, is just the beginning for Tanguay. Now, at 34 years-of-age and firmly established on the management side of the industry, Tanguay is focused on soaking up as much information as he can from those who came before him.

“I look forward to learning a lot from Dan Drouin our fixed operations manager and Yves Laberge our vice president and general manager,” Tanguay said.

“These two gentlemen are great leaders who have not only been in the business many years, but have also been successful. Both are astounding people who support me and my growth 100 percent.”

Despite the early success that has led to his current position, Tanguay’s outlook hasn’t changed one bit. In fact, he still maintains the same passion he developed for the industry riding around on a tractor some 30 years ago.

“If you are open minded and are not scared to get your hands dirty, this career can be truly rewarding,” Tanguay said.

“There’s never a dull moment.”

A YEAR IN REVIEW

20 18

THE YEAR IN COLLISION COVERAGE

Top row, left to right: Bob and Nicole Kirstiuk

of Advantage Parts Solutions at IBIS; Gloria Mann, Paul Prochilo and Flavio Battilana at CCIF’s Montreal Forum; delegates at CARSTAR’s Momentum Conference in Calgary. Second Row: Dan Hogg and Harry Dhanjal at the FAN conference in Montreal; CARSTAR’s Dave Foster, Michael Macaluso, Jeff Labinovich with Darryl Simmons at NACE Automechanika; France Daviault speaking at the AIA’s Young Executive Summit in Toronto.

COLLISION REPAIR’S PUBLISHER DARRYL SIMMONS AND EDITOR GIDEON SCANLON REFLECT ON THE YEAR’S BIGGEST STORIES Which headlines involving stories about auto insurance caught your eye over the year?

Collision Repair Publisher Darryl Simmons: It has to have been the Aviva sting. In March, CTV aired a special report which claimed to have found widespread fraud in Canadian collision repair facilities, allegedly keeping insurance prices high. The press ran wild with the story for a few days, despite a host of issues related to the study and how it was conducted.

The insurance company used the coverage to push its own recommendations into the public consciousness without letting counter-arguments to be made. Among these points was the innocent-sounding suggestion that insurers be allowed to offer deals to customers who used DRP facilities.

I was in the awkward position of having to become part of the news story itself. As the publisher, I felt it was my duty to point out a few concerns the industry had with the piece—primarily that the claims made in the piece slandered more than 5000 collision repair facilities—and used the whole experiment as a platform to push a somewhat disconnected agenda.

20 COLLISION REPAIR COLLISIONREPAIRMAG.COM

A YEAR IN REVIEW

Collision Repair editor Gideon Scanlon:

Without a doubt, the most interesting stories about the insurance side of the business came out of our coverage of the fallout of the financial disaster facing the Insurance Company of British Columbia.

For anyone unfamiliar with the story, B.C., like Manitoba and Saskatchewan, have a crown corporation responsible for providing auto insurance to the province. While it is a system that works relatively smoothly in the other provinces, the ICBC is deeply in-the-red—either for reasons of mismanagement at the hands of successive governments or the corporation itself, depending on who you believe.

With the incoming New Democratic Party provincial government responsible for sorting out the financial “dumpster fire,” it was clear that they were prepared to blame everyone—except themselves—for the mess, and the province’s auto repairers were no exception.

Based on the spurious claims of a former ICBC estimator—backed up by an over-eager union, the province ended up buying into the thoroughly vacuous idea that repair shops were responsible for over-billing ICBC to the tune of hundreds-of-millions-of-dollars. It didn’t seem to matter that the ICBC’s own executive team said this was flawed, the government pursued it. Collision repairers became the bogeyman—but only for one news cycle.

Acting with incredible speed, the local auto repairers very quickly made it clear that the allegations could not possibly be true, and even offered the provinces solutions for lowering the cost of repairs.

While this case of public relations seemed to pacify things, it later emerged that the government later hired several dozen estimators to the ICBC’s payroll, sending them to the very north of the province to make spot check on repair facilities.

Which aspects of the industry has grabbed your attention over the year?

GS: Again, I am going to go with a bit of a slow-boiling story here. If there is one thing that has really impressed me, it is how quickly Canadian auto repairers are getting on board with the importance of pre- and post-scanning. I think that the John Eagle case was a bit of a watershed moment for American repairers, but without there being a similar legal case in Canada, I thought our own repairers might not be as galvanized. When we ran the pre- and post-repair special in the autumn, I realized just how much I was wrong—the collision repair community isn’t waiting for insurers to get their act together, they are conducting their scans judiciously—in general, at least!

DS: I’ve been involved in this business since Gideon was in short pants, so I am, perhaps, a bit less surprised to see how effectively the Canadian repair community can get its act together. For me, the biggest story was a bit more repair facility-oriented. Bonding plastics together effectively, which was right out of science fiction a decade ago, has become a reality this year. Gideon even ran a piece in the spring about one of the pioneers in the plastic bonding field—and it seemed to be the one thing people kept talking about in SEMA, six months later!

DECEMBER 2018 COLLISION REPAIR 21

A YEAR IN REVIEW

What auto recycling story captured your attention most in 2018?

DS: Definitely Dom Vetere helping to bring down a killer! An alleged killer, that is. In case anyone missed it, Dom made headlines around the world because his business, Dom’s Auto Parts, in Courtice, Ontario, bought a red minivan from Bruce McArthur.

With the help of Dom’s famously meticulous records, police were able to find every piece of the vehicle, and process it for evidence later used to make the case against McArthur.

If there’s a lesson to be learned, it is that any business with a U-pic yard as well-organized as Dom’s Auto Parts, is a bad place to stash your evidence. Also, don’t mess with Dom Vetere.

Dom Vetere of Dom’s Auto Parts in Oshawa. In January, Vetere was the subject of an international media frenzy after playing a role in the arrest of accused serial killer Bruce McArthur.

GS: There’s no beating the Dom Vetere story, that’s for sure! But I will offer a second opinion. From my perspective, the next biggest story was the internationalization of the auto recycling industry—largely as a result of the work of Canadian industry professionals.

It is actually a story that has been developing over the last eighteen months. After working together to host the International Auto Recycler’s Roundtable in September of 2017, the Auto Recyclers Association and Auto Recyclers of Canada have become quite tightly knit. With our own David Gold serving as the president of the ARA, his commitment to making the organization more active internationally can be seen in his own connection-building trips around the world. It really came to a head, of course with the 75th ARA Convention, which saw the most international participation ever. Full credit to ARC executive director Steve Fletcher for leading a panel of global recyclers.

How about in terms of technology?

GS: For me, the story with the biggest potential impact on the

collision repair community didn’t actually receive that much coverage or attention. The rise of park-and-pay subscription car rental service has the potential to fundamentally shift the dynamics within the industry—in ways that could be either great, or terrible for collision repair professionals.

If car ownership starts to move away from the individual, and into the hands of groups, those facilities best able to become involved in collective bargaining may be best set to receive the lion’s share of business in the repair market of tomorrow.

It may also be that OEMs become more involved in these fleet-access schemes. If they do, it would mean that OEMs would become responsible for both setting the standards for repairs, and for covering their costs. The result of this double-burden could mean a cross-the-board rise in repair expectations, or, less likely, a lowering of repair standards.

To quote a magic eight ball, the future appears hazy.

22 COLLISION REPAIR COLLISIONREPAIRMAG.COM

ARC executive director, Steve Fletcher leading a globespanning panel at the ARA convention in Orlando, Florida.

A YEAR IN REVIEW

DS: I don’t want to be the one to jump the gun here—and there’s no faster way to look like a fool than by talking about cutting edge technology. But at SEMA, I saw so many things that would have seemed impossible a few years ago. A bunch of college kids rigged up an autonomous vehicle capable of teaching itself to drive in new neighbourhoods—and if they can do it today, I’m sure the OEMs will be fast on their heels. The big paint companies have self-learning colour-matching algorithms that are becoming more-and-more accurate by the day. Whether or not those algorithms ever come to replace professional colour matchers is a side point. What is clear is that self-learning analysis tools are going to start playing a big role in the day-to-day affairs of the business. Maybe not today, maybe not this year, but one day, and for the rest of my life, I will see computers making hiring, firing, procurement and repair decisions.

ARA president, David Gold discussing ideas with prominent UK dismantler Allen Prebble.

DECEMBER 2018 COLLISION REPAIR 23

THE 2019 FORECAST

FORTUNE WILL THE BOLD FAVOUR IN 2019, FORTUNE

WILL FAVOUR THE BOLD A SURGING ECONOMY, AN AGING VEHICLE FLEET AND BOUNDLESS NEW OPPORTUNITIES—THE INDUSTRY IN 2019

The Auto Aftermarket

Owner Marc Marier and the team at Marcel’s Collision Centre in Windsor, Ontario.

For the past six decades, the border between Detroit and Windsor was not a serious barrier to business for the collision repair facility. For most of this year, that status quo looked likely to come to an end until the signing of the USMCA deal in September.

Canada's auto aftermarket appears set for a bull year. For one thing, the USMCA agreement appears to have spared the nation's economy from punishing tariffs.

From an aftermarket perspective, the benefits appear to be trickling down throughout the industry. Rates-of-pay for collision repair workers have risen a full 1.8 percent over inflation, while manufacturers and distributors can enjoy selling their services and parts for 1.5 percent more than the previous year.

Best of all, Canadians are buying moreand-more vehicles. In fact, the number of light vehicles has risen by 19.5 percent in the past five years and is expected to continue growing until 2022.

Collision Repair Business Outlook Professionalization is not going to slow. Like every year since 2002, Canada will see an increase in the amount of money going through bodyshops, but a decline in the total number of facilities. In fact, the trend is likely to increase in pace, as the market punishes facilities that have not invested in the training and equipment needed to repair modern vehicles and lavishes more rewarding work on those that are prepared.

For those shops still poorly equipped to handle repairs on the technologically complex modern car, some hope remains. In 2019, the average Canadian car will surpass 10-years-of-age for the first time in history.

Beyond collision repairs proper, this year will also see a new trend pay dividends to bold owners. With a number of new technologies, like mobileconnected car security systems, requiring hardware to be installed by collision repair professionals, some shops will benefit from offering third party equipment installations.

24 COLLISION REPAIR COLLISIONREPAIRMAG.COM

Mobile connected-car security systems are slowly

becoming a trend with newer vehicles, allowing drivers to perform tasks such as remote starting their vehicle, locking and unlocking the vehicle as well as locating and tracking the vehicle.

THE 2019 FORECAST

For 2019 there will also be a proving period for the ‘scientifically designed’ Italian-style repair facilities. With a half-dozenor-so facilities already up and running, industry analysts will soon reach an agreement on whether the promise of a streamlined shop floor is worth the extra costs, or not. Should they be worth their salt, expect local competition to emerge in the form of Canadian firms offering similar ‘ground-up’ development oversight of efficient facilities. This will both lower the entry price, and likely make the approach ubiquitous with new developments.

arrell Pitman of P&G Parts in North Bay (far left) during his D most recent trip to Nunavut for the Tundra Take-Back. Run by Canadian Auto Recyclers and Scout Environment, the program is designed to provide remote Northern communities with assistance in recycling end-of-life vehicles properly.

Auto Recycling Like the collision repair industry, auto recyclers will benefit from a surging automotive economy and reduced trade restrictions.

Rising rare-earth metal prices will also drive the market.

With more complex parts trading agreements growing among Ontario recyclers, the developing internal market is likely to benefit larger, more established facilities, and make it harder for cottage-industry recyclers to stay solvent. Expect high insurance premiums across Canada to drive some major insurers to develop closer relations with recycled parts providers, though the benefits may be seen primarily by larger businesses offering both used OEM and new aftermarket parts.

DECEMBER 2018 COLLISION REPAIR 25

THE 2019 FORECAST

Auto Insurance Across Canada, private insurers are likely to make concerted efforts to push for the right to offer discounts to customers who use insurer recommended facilities. While the industry had some success in galvanizing the public behind the issue in 2018, the public’s good will towards the industry has been frayed by a number of judgments that have come down against several of Canada’s leading insurers.

In 2019 you will likely see the liberalization of auto insurance markets in British Columbia, where efforts to preserve the flailing public insurer look doomed to fail. While the NDP Government might not wish to be responsible for ending forty years of publicsector dominance, increased oversight of the crown corporation will continue to fan the flames of discontent in the province.

As the provincial wing of the party remains resolutely pragmatic, privatization—or at least a thawing of the protected market—seems inevitable.

In Manitoba and Saskatchewan, the strong public-sector insurers are unlikely to move away from their efforts to develop large direct repair networks. Not facing the same financial troubles as ICBC, these public insurance will likely remain politically uncontroversial.

Ontario’s market deregulation is a boon to insurance companies, though their continued failure to provide provincial drivers with valuefor-money means widespread premium increases may be untenable. It will likely mean that insurers will look to adopt new technologies better able to punish bad drivers without stigmatizing the good ones.

Expect numerous new approaches to be adopted by Ontario-based insurers, including phone-based driver monitoring.

Expect one of the larger auto insurers to invest in a subscription-based fleet-access option, giving customers the opportunity to use and drop-off vehicles. While some insurers will be cowed by the potential for failure, the larger ones have the opportunity to win a ‘first-mover’ advantage.

Training The Ontario College of Trades was founded at the end of 2009 by the Government of Ontario. Under the legislation that created it, the College was given the mandate of regulating the trades in the province.

Among the duties it performs, the college is responsible for issuing licenses and certificates of membership to the collision repair industry’s qualified professionals, and inspecting businesses to ensure that only qualified professionals or apprentices were performing collison repair work. After news of the College’s imminent closure broke, an employee for the College, came forward to Collision Repair. The inspector said that it was unclear if these duties would continue to be performed after the College’s closure.

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The decision to close the Ontario College of Trades will have a dramatic impact on training within the industry, both in Ontario and the other provinces. Without a public service to enforce many of the OCT’s duties overseeing the qualifications of tradespersons, other provinces are likely to adopt similar policies by the end of 2019, unless the scheme results in political blow back for Ontario’s Government. Oversight of the collision repair industry will likely go into decline, though, should Canadians see a case similar to America’s John Eagle case, the Federal Government could, conceivably, attempt to enforce national standards.

As has been the trend, major distributors will continue to provide ever-more holistic training to their businesses. It is likely that bodyshop reliance on distributor-level training will remain high, as oversight of shop worker qualifications wanes.

THE 2019 FORECAST

Consolidation The strategic divide between Driven Brands (CARSTAR and MAACO) and the Fix Auto Network will continue to grow in 2019, as Driven Brands keeps up the pressure on building up its already enormous presence in North America, and FAN turns overseas.

In the long haul, both organizations may have to eschew their efforts to enlist new individual franchise members and turn towards streamlining their chains, but this will likely not happen within the year. With up-and-coming franchises still able to thrive, both brands are unlikely to back-off their expansionary policies.

For those smaller franchises, the market remains relatively open. In just a year, Simplicity Car Care, has been able to grow to a 10-shop brand known nationwide. While those looking to sell facilities might be tempted to wait out 2019 in the hopes of everhigher prices in the future, buyer interest will eventually wane-though likely not until the 2020s.

Expect CSN to consider absorbing smaller franchises. Already a bit out-of-step with the other franchises from a strategic perspective, CSN seems to be preparing for the later stages of market consolidation, emphasizing shop performance growth over brand presence and awareness building.

With its dealer-driven model, CSS is likely to continue its efforts to grow outside of the Ontario region, and in Alberta. With its name recognition at an all-time-high within the industry and among dealerships, the banner may stand to benefit more from a soft auto sales year than a strong one. A bear auto market could drive dealer interest in investing in new business opportunities.

CARSTAR cuts the ribbon on its 600th location. During this

year’s International Bodyshop Industry Symposium, industry analyst Brad Mewes predicted that industry consolidation would shift in the near future, with giants focusing on cutting costs and absorbing other large competitors.

DECEMBER 2018 COLLISION REPAIR 27

FACTS AND FIGURES

REPAIRERS TURN THE TABLES ON INSURERS CANADA’S COLLISION REPAIR PROFESSIONALS GRADE THE NATION’S LEADING COVERAGE PROVIDERS

By Lindsey Cooke

A

s we might know, bodyshops and insurers have an interesting—sometimes fractious— relationship. As is well known in the industry, the tug-o’-war between the two factions is not exactly a level playing field.

To help level it a bit, Collision Repair conducted a survey of Canadian bodyshops grading insurance companies based on three categories: how timely their payments were, their dispute management practices and their overall approach to bodyshop relations.

From September to November various bodyshops took the survey and revealed which grades they thought each of the Canadian insurance companies deserved. Grades were given out to private insurers (Intact, TD Insurance, Aviva, Statefarm, Wanwessa, Desjardins, Co-operators) and public ones as well (Insurance Corporation of British Columbia, Saskatchewan Government Insurance and Manitoba Public Insurance).

With a tremendous number of responses received, we can now reveal the final grades—and assure our readers that, despite the best efforts of a number of insurance company officials to skew the results, only those responses submitted by verifiable

▶ “ Business is a two-

sided relationship and our side is not in the game. We have a great opportunity to change this with accreditation and training. Let’s have a voice!”

- Survey Respondent collision repair facilities were included.

With a ‘class average’ of B- across all fields, the Co-operators came out on top, with an A-. Public insurers MPI and ICBC brought up the rear, scoring a C+ for their efforts.

First, we asked bodyshops,“Is your business part of a designated repair program (DRP)

with any of the following insurance companies?” Many of which responded that the DRP program is killing a lot of their shops.

“If insurance companies were not so aggressively promoting their DRP's the Ma and Pa shop would stand a chance.

The phrases, ‘we don't guarantee the work of a shop that is not on the program’ is all too common nowadays and costing us customers of 28 years. Having my customers go to the competition for an appraisal is ridiculous and us having to work off of their sheets is so unfair,” commented a business owner who participated in the survey.

The survey continued and followed up with the question of how they would grade insurers for paying bills in a timely manner? “Usually A+ but when the job is over $20,000 it gets harder,” an anonymous shop owner commented.

“If you don't have to go through an independent adjusting firm,” stated another comment.

Although, Co-op had the best grade overall, the survey read that Intact Insurance excelled in this category with an 83 percent, while MPI received a 67 percent, taking on the spot of the lowest grade again.

DECEMBER 2018 COLLISION REPAIR 29

FACTS AND FIGURES

INSURER RESULTS SUMMARY PRIVATE INSURERS

BILLING PAYMENT

REPAIRER RELATIONS

DISPUTE MANAGEMENT

FINAL GRADE

Co-operators

81%

81%

85%

A-

Wanwessa

78%

75%

76%

B+

Intact

83%

68%

74%

B

TD Insurance

75%

68%

75%

B-

Desjardins

75%

70%

71%

B-

Aviva

72%

67%

71%

B-

State Farm

74%

67%

70%

B-

PUBLIC INSURERS

BILLING PAYMENT

REPAIRER RELATIONS

DISPUTE MANAGEMENT

FINAL GRADE

SGI

70%

72%

69%

B

ICBC

67%

70%

67%

C+

MPI

67%

69%

67%

C+

When it came to repairer relations and dispute management, Co-op Insurance took over with grades in the 80s and MPI fell behind again with the lowest grade.

The issue that Collision Repair uncovered through this survey is some shops are not happy with the way insurance companies

somewhat tamper with their business.

“Most of the Insurance Company's treat bodyshops poorly. It's the only businesses in the world that you are told how to run your business, how much you can charge, who you can and can't buy from, and get told you will be paid in 30- 60 days,” another commenter wrote.

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Shops recognized that their business involves a two-sided relationship with insurance companies that either make or break their shop.“Business is a two-sided relationship and our side is not in the game.We have a great opportunity to change this with accreditation and training. Let’s have a voice,” another participant commented.

HEALTH AND SAFETY

INSTILLING THE SPIRIT OF SAFETY

AN EFFECTIVE INTERNAL RESPONSIBILITY SYSTEM CAN HELP PREPARE YOUR BUSINESS FOR ANY DISASTER

By Theresa Jachnycky

P

icture this: An employee of a company you own or are responsible for is working under a vehicle when it catches fire and is quickly engulfed by flames. The man is screaming.

His clothes are on fire. You run over and pull him out from under the burning vehicle.

Emergency crews are on the way. He dies in hospital the following day. Workplace Safety is investigating. You are later charged with criminal negligence.

Horror story? You bet. Tragically this workplace accident happened at a Halifax shop in 2013. If it happened in your

workplace, would you be able to prove all parties exercised their legal duty to take reasonable precautions to avoid harm to other persons or property?

In law this responsibility is known as “duty of care” or “due diligence” under workplace safety legislation. Due diligence in its basic form is the act of both working safely and showing you are concerned with the safety of others.

Successful due diligence depends on the company having an effective IRS, which stands for internal responsibility system. Made up of all employees, management and the em-

32 COLLISION REPAIR COLLISIONREPAIRMAG.COM

ployer the IRS requires every person working for the company to pay constant attention to workplace health and safety, report any potential and/or actual hazards, and follow all safety and health procedures. Employers and supervisors have a greater responsibility because they have more control over what goes on in the workplace.

Throughout Canada all workplace safety and health legislation is based on the belief that all people in the workplace share responsibility for health and safety because together they are in the best position to know and resolve hazards and risks at work.

HEALTH AND SAFETY

History of IRS & Due Diligence The history of the IRS is rooted in the workers’ experience. In the 1960s and 70s uranium miners of Elliot Lake Ontario became aware that an unusual number of workers were dying of cancer and other diseases. They knew the problem was in the workplace but couldn’t get any answers from their employer or the government.

On April 18, 1974 the workers staged a wildcat strike which led directly to the formation of a Royal Commission. Dr. Ham led this Commission. The conclusion—workers needed a say in matters affecting their health and safety. Ham recommended a system

▶A n effective internal responsibility system requires every single member of a business to pay constant attention to workplace health and safety.

where well-trained workers (auditors) would come advise management of unsafe conditions and worker and management representatives would work together on workplace health and safety initiatives in partnership or through committees.

Management was to be responsible for making sure the system worked. The internal system was to be backed up by the Ministry of Labour to help ensure workers had a say in identifying workplace risks and hazards and that management acted on the issues and concerns brought to their attention.

The Role of Social Media Social Media is also having an impact on workplace issues, particularly in regard to harassment. The “#MeToo” movement provided swift condemnation and action against people whose predatory behavior was overlooked by employers or other persons with responsibility for what goes on in the workplace.

In Winnipeg a popular restaurant chain watched its reputation plummet in recent days after more than 275 disclosures of workplace incidents blew up on social media under the tag #Not My Stella’s.

This call to action illustrates not only how quickly news about safety and health concerns can spread but also the powerful role social media can play in effecting change without waiting for officials to investigate or business to act. continued on page 34...

Health and Safety columnist Theresa Jachnycky and the team at Gateway Autobody celebrate receiving their provincial health and safety certification. In order to ensure the whole team is committed to health and safety procedures, the Gateway Autobody team holds regular staff-led safety meetings.

DECEMBER 2018 COLLISION REPAIR 33

HEALTH AND SAFETY

THE FIVE PILLARS OF A STRONG SAFETY CULTURE: Continuous learning about safety is an ingrained feature of the organization

The work environment is inclusive, regardless of role or background Each person in the organization is personally invested and accountable for safety and health

Safety and health hazards and concerns are meaningfully addressed

Leaders demonstrate a commitment to safety and health going beyond lip-service 34 COLLISION REPAIR COLLISIONREPAIRMAG.COM

Main Components of IRS Safety Culture – At the core of a safety culture is a set of shared values encompassing six dimensions: safety and health concerns are addressed; leaders are committed to safety and health; trust and respect are essential in the work environment; everyone in the organization feels personally committed to and accountable for safety and health; the work environment is inclusive; and continuous learning is a feature of the organization.

The starting point for nurturing a safety culture is an employer or company policy on workplace safety & health. Setting out in writing the company’s policy implies that the company cares about its people and reflects the importance the company gives them. In turn an authentic and genuinely crafted policy typically generates goodwill from persons at the workplace.

Safety Committee or Designated Worker Representative – the requirements and responsibilities for this component is described in the legislation throughout all jurisdictions in Canada. Generally, companies with 19 or fewer employers only require a designated worker representative; more than 19 must form a committee. The point here is to have employers and employees working together on ways to eliminate hazards and risks. To be effective committee and designated worker representatives must receive appropriate training and education so that they understand and are able to execute the work they are mandated to perform under legislation.

Cooperation, communication, accountability - Ensure that managers and supervisors talk to new employees about safety during orientation training and meet regularly with staff to discuss health and safety matters. They should be inspecting areas of the workplace under their responsibility and respond promptly to unsafe conditions and activities. Lastly, they should also be monitoring the workplace to ensure that employees are following the policies, practices and procedures; and when breaches in safety rules occur take time out with employees to point out the breach, reinforce compliance; document the occurrence and if necessary discipline.

More than ever before workplace safety and health is becoming a strategic imperative for all businesses. Making time to establish an internal responsibility system will help protect the people at work, the employer and business from foreseeable harm. Unsafe situations will not necessarily bring about injury or illness but is the risk of not taking precautions to prevent harm worth it?

If a critical accident occurs in your workplace, will you be able to prove due diligence? The former owner of the Halifax shop was unable to.

After a distinguished career in the not-for-profit sector, Theresa Jachnycky joined the family business in 2014. She has provided executive leadership to small, medium and large corporations, and worked with diverse client populations and professionals in the areas of strategic and operational planning, community development, administration and finance. She holds a masters degree in health services administration & community medicine from the University of Alberta and a bachelor of arts degree from the University of Manitoba.

BUSINESS STRATEGY

The Don-Mor CARSTAR staff gather for one of the four daily production meetings.

KEEP THE BEST IN YOUR BUSINESS IS YOUR FACILITY’S TOP TALENT ALREADY LOOKING ELSEWHERE?

By James Harris

W

hy do productive people leave organizations? For many employers, the assumption is that it is for money, better benefits or more vacation time. This is a misconception.

In reality, people who leave organizations for other ones can expect to earn about four percent more pay, and a similarly marginal improvement to their level of benefits.

If not for pay, benefits or vacation days, why then, do some employees leave organizations?

The answer is simple. The most common reason people leave one workplace for another is because of workplace culture and the working environment. They also leave when the workplace becomes inconsistent with their values.

They leave because they do not want to work alongside people who do not share their commitment to their work. An engaged employee wants to work alongside other engaged employees. So what is employee disengagement?

Well, if an engaged employee is entirely focused on their work, a disengaged one is

someone who feels uncommitted to their role.

Beyond productivity issues, disengagement leads to workplace conflict, poor communication, safety concerns, turnovers, and absenteeism. Issues involving disengaged employees and business owners/managers have an adverse affect on others working in an organization creating a toxic environment where even your best performers become caught up in the situation, causing them to eventually leave.

Needless to say, with the high cost of turnover, which can be determined by costs required for the employee’s recruitment and selection, their number of years of service, and the level of experience, the expense to businesses can range between 30 -150 percent of an employee’s annual salary.

Therefore, it can be much more cost effective to work with an external expert on providing solid solutions, as most consultants will gladly create customized proposals, amounting to a fraction of the cost of turnover.

My role as a consultant is to listen to an owner or manager’s concerns, trying

36 COLLISION REPAIR COLLISIONREPAIRMAG.COM

to understand what they have observed, regarding what an employee is doing or not doing. The answers to the following four questions provide me with a template for making recommendations:

1. Does the employee understand what you have asked them to do?

2. Does the employee have the right tools and equipment for the job?

3. Does the employee have the ability to perform the work?

4. Is the employee deliberately choosing not to perform the work?

BUSINESS STRATEGY

▶ An effective internal responsibility system requires every single member of a business to pay constant attention to workplace health and safety.

FAST FACTS • Engaged employees only make up 16 percent of the workforce

▶ As a rule-of-thumb, businesses can expect turnovers to cost the business between 30 -150 percent of the departing employee’s annual salary.

Understandably, since time and money have been invested in employees, by the time a business owner or manager calls me, it usually concerns a specific disengaged employee. In most cases, they want to help an employee whom they feel is not pulling their weight and avoid losing productive employees as a collateral effect of having disengaged employees. The bottom line is that disengaged employees come at a high cost.

An employee engagement specialist, like myself, would be able to provide the appropriate training for those managing disengaged staff or those managing staff who are exhibiting performance issues, along with providing them with the tools required to establish a better working environment.

I once supervised two people each of whom had their own unique work styles.

One was hard working and took pride in producing output whereas the other was less dedicated, delivering the minimum

C.J. Harris is a human resources consultant specializing in employee relations dealing with issues around employee engagement, conflict management, mediation, coaching and training and development.

CJ Harris focuses on creating a workplace culture where all members are valued believing that a healthy and productive workforce will give employers a competitive advantage in the marketplace.

amount of work and at times, less than the minimum; finding creative ways to avoid work such as extended lunches, frequent bathroom breaks, conversations with other co-workers and telephone calls unrelated to the work activity.

Beyond these productivity issues, disengagement leads to workplace conflict, poor communication, safety concerns, turnovers, and absenteeism. Issues involving disengaged employees and business owners/managers have an adverse affect on others working in an organization creating a toxic environment where even your best performers become caught up in the situation, causing them to eventually leave.

In conclusion, through coaching, organizations have the opportunity to create a culture where all employees are valued, increase productivity, reduce errors, and create an environment where everyone is committed to overall goals and objectives.

• This group most likely to move into a position with another organization • Of the other 84 percent of workers, approximately 14 percent are thoroughly “checked out”

▶Employee disengagement leads to lowered productivity, workplace conflicts, poor communication, safety concerns, increased turnover rates, and absenteeism.

DECEMBER 2018 COLLISION REPAIR 37

EVENTS

CANADA’S SPECTACULAR SEMA CANADIAN REPAIRERS STEAL THE SHOW AT THE LARGEST-EVER AUTO AFTERMARKET EXTRAVAGANZA

Andy Valantis and Gabriel Merino.

Darryl Simmons, Rodica Matei, Keith Jones and Paul Stella.

C

Dave Meery and Tom Bissonnette.

ollision repair is a high-stakes game.

It is a business that forces its leaders to make frequent gambles—on million-dollar procurement decisions, on timing new technology adoption and on hiring the people who can best serve the customers. Sure, it takes more than luck to succeed—but to win, you have to come to the table.

This November, the ante was cheap—a return ticket to Las Vegas, a hotel room and the cost of admission to the 51st annual SEMA Convention. For the many major players who

38 COLLISION REPAIR COLLISIONREPAIRMAG.COM

touched down in Sin City, the convention was about far more than reconnecting with friends and business partners. It was their first chance to read the mood of the industry as it prepares for 2019.

With more than 100,000 sq. ft. of floor space devoted to the automotive aftermarket, and close to 150,000 guests, Canada’s repairers did not fail to bring their A-game.

Doing far more than simply representing the True North, delegates helped make the strength and resilience of Canada’s automotive aftermarket the talk of the town! In fact, one

EVENTS

Erik Spitznagel, David Swanson, Dennis Rooenroth and Dan Maloney.

Anthony Iaboni, Cristina Spanesi, Joe Saputo and Simone Spanesi.

Dave Swenson.

Norm Angrove, Arman Gurarslan and Jason Gray.

Roger Turmel and Gloria Mann.

David Black, with Mike Savage, Peter Wrong and Rick Orser.

of the most warmly received events was the Automotive Industry Association of Canada’s Canada Night at Caesar’s Palace.

The strength of our auto market was noted by many companies. With the ink dried on the USMCA deal and solid economic forecasts coming from Ottawa, more business-oriented figures made repeated references to Canada as a land of automotive opportunity.

That sentiment only seemed to gain in strength after the November 1 release of stronger-than-expected vehicle sales for Fiat Chrysler Canada, and Cellette’s announce-

Andrew Neufeld, Emmanuel Gyebi and Michel Verroneau.

Wanja Mann and Harry Dhanjal.

DECEMBER 2018 COLLISION REPAIR 39

EVENTS

Andrew Neufeld and Rick Orser.

Stephane Jorudan and Matt Lepore.

Dave Swenson and Zubair Siddiqui.

Tom McGee, Darryl Simmons and Tim Morgan.

ment that Chief Automotive Distribution would now offer Celette’s full line of OEM-approved collision repair and measuring systems in the country.

As word of Canada’s economic advantages began to spread, those Canadians on the shop floor found themselves a hot commodity.

Representatives of the thousands-of-businesses scouted Canadians from the floor, eager to ply their wares and probe partnership possibilities.

From cutting-edge panoramic security equipment, to new digital tools that automatically alert emergency services to accidents, an astounding number of new products were on display—especially Canadian ones. One Canuck even quipped that he felt like ‘the belle of the ball’—though the special event planned for Canadians would involve more gambling than dancing.

Draped in maple leaves, the iconic den of iniquity looked far less than an ancient pleasure palace, and more like a belated July 1st. With more than 1,000 people in attendance, it was a veritable who’s who of the Canadian auto aftermarket—though with some notable absences.

Timothy Morgan.

While some of those who missed Canada Night may have lamented their chance to wave the maple leaf in the Mojave, they would get another chance the next day.

As Las Vegas celebrated Halloween, more than 200 Canadian repairers joined in the

40 COLLISION REPAIR COLLISIONREPAIRMAG.COM

street-level celebrations on the jam-packed party on Fremont St.—and had some fun along the way.

As one live radio report announced,“Wow, it looks like the Mounties have arrived! Can I get a cheer from all the Canadians out tonight?”

EVENTS

Jörn Stöver, John Turner and Joerg Goettling.

Rey Torres.

Augustin Diaz.

Derek Naidoo.

SEMA SHOW HIGHLIGHTS INCLUDE INDUSTRY TRAINING, AWARDS AND EVENTS

Ronnie Guidon and Lance Watkins.

By Stacey Phillips Product demonstrations, training sessions and a variety of special events were all part of the Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) Show held in Las Vegas, Nevada from Oct. 30-Nov 2. The four-day event, featuring 1,500 vehicles and 3,000 new products, drew about 160,000 industry professionals, manufacturers and buyers from around the world.

1) S ociety of Collision Repairs Specialists

(SCRS) Repairer Driven Education Series: The national association of collision repair businesses and professionals offered educational seminars throughout the week highlighting relevant industry topics. This year, many of the sessions focused on the importance of following OEM repair information. One of the days was allocated to the OEM Collision Repair Technology Summit, which included information about architectural and technological developments in modern vehicles as well as emerging trends that influence repairs

Denise Ford and Daniel Beaulieu.

and preparation in the industry. In addition, the first IDEAS Collide showcase was held.

During the event, 10 presenters discussed innovative ideas and concepts to potentially apply to the collision repair industry.

Andreas Kämper and Lukas Hoffmann.

DECEMBER 2018 COLLISION REPAIR 41

EVENTS

2) New Products Showcase: Every year,

exhibitors are invited to showcase new automotive aftermarket products being introduced to the market.

An awards breakfast is then held to recognize innovative products with consumer appeal and marketability.

In the category of Collision Repair and Refinish Product, ITW Evercoat was honoured on Oct. 29 for its OPTEX Color Changing Body Filler and Putty.

The two runners-up included Bonding Solutions for its Like90 Gun Cleaner and Scangrip for the company’s NOVA-UV S.

SATA’s trade show booth on SEMA’s show floor.

The Polyvance trade show booth at SEMA.

4) SCRS Collision Industry Red Carpet Awards Breakfast: SCRS hosted its second annual industry awards breakfast on Oct. 31. The event recognized dedication, commitment and achievement in the collision repair industry. The following businesses/ organizations presented awards: Automotive Management Institute (AMi), Automotive Service Association (ASA), BodyShop Business magazine, CIECA, I-CAR, National Auto Body Council (NABC) and SCRS. A graduation ceremony was also held for those who earned a professional AMi designation.

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3) C ollision Industry Conference (CIC): On October 30, CIC held an all-day meeting for industry stakeholders.

The forum meets four times a year to discuss issues relevant to the collision repair industry. Extensive committee work is an important aspect of CIC. In addition to several committee reports given during the October meeting, there were also industry presentations. The Collision Industry Foundation talked about its 2018 hurricane relief efforts. Brandon Eckenrode, director of development for the Collision Repair Education Foundation, discussed the foundation’s career fairs, and Abagayle Boden, the recipient of a 3M Hire our Heroes scholarship and a bronze medalist in this year’s SkillsUSA competition, was recognized.

EVENTS

5)

018 SEMA Collision Repair and Re2 finish Stage: Free hands-on collision repair training demonstrations were held daily by I-CAR, the Inter-Industry Conference on Auto Collision Repair.

Estimator interactions, plastic and composite repair, adhesive bonding, measuring and squeeze-type resistance spot welding were some of the skills taught by the industry organization. This year, I-CAR also offered attendees the opportunity to see some of the most up-to-date welders on the market and ask questions from industry experts.

Larry Craig, Kevin Gray, Jeremy Wilcox, John Jenkins and Chuck Foster.

Jim Loveridge.

DECEMBER 2018  COLLISION REPAIR  43

AWARDS

INDUSTRY AWARDS 2018 A LOOK BACK AT THIS YEAR’S HONOUREES SHERWIN-WILLIAMS HOSTS VENDOR AWARDS Sherwin-Williams Automotive Finishes announced its selection for the annual Associated Product Vendor Awards in February. The awardees were honoured at a special reception with over 200 attendees composed of suppliers, employees and guests, at its national sales meeting in Orlando, Florida. The associated products suppliers that were acknowledged were 3M for Sherwin-Williams Program of the Year and Innovative Tools for Sherwin-Williams Canada Vendor of the Year. 3M, in addition to its Program of the Year Award, has received back-to-back accolades, having been honoured as Sherwin-Williams’ Vendor-of-the-Year at last year’s award ceremony.

TOYOTA CLEANS UP AT CANADIAN AUTO INDUSTRY AWARDS Toyota Canada cleaned up at the Canadian Auto Industry awards earlier this year, winning 16 awards. The honours include Top Overall Brand – Trucks/ Crossovers/SUVs (CBB), Toyota FJ Cruiser – mid-size SUV (CBB) minivan, Toyota Prius v - compact car (CBB). The Canadian Black Book Best Retained Value Awards recognize vehicles that retain the highest percentage of their original manufacturer’s suggested retail price (MSRP) after four years. The ALG Residual Value Awards recognize vehicles from the 2018 model year that are forecasted to retain the highest percentage of their MSRP over the next four years.

AIA OF CANADA NAMES YOUNG LEADER OF THE `YEAR Shannon Spano, national sales manager and retail of Wakefield Canada, was awarded the Automotive Industry Association of Canada’s Young Leader of the Year Award. Spano was presented the award immediately following the AIA’s 76th annual general meeting that took place in Toronto. The award is given to an outstanding young employee for their dedication to the industry, leadership and innovation. Spano and her team at Wakefield have also been recognized as recipients for the Canadian Tire Vendor the Year Award in the Automotive Category, for both 2015 and 2016.

Shannon Spano, national sales manager and retail of Wakefield Canada was given the AIA Young Leader of the Year Award.

DECEMBER 2018 COLLISION REPAIR 45

AWARDS

PPG AWARDS PAINTER SUPPLY WITH PLATINUM DISTRIBUTOR OF THE YEAR AWARD Painters Supply (PSE) was chosen as PPG’s Platinum Distributor of the Year award. The award was presented by John Parran, director of the Platinum Distributor program, PPG, during its annual conference in February, which brings together PPG Platinum Distributors from across the United States and Canada. PSE was established in 1952 and immediately became a single-line PPG distributor. It was one of the charter members of the PPG Platinum Distributor program when the program started in 1995. The PPG Platinum Distributor program began as a loyalty and support initiative for PPG single-line distributors with the ultimate goal of providing exceptional service and benefits for PPG automotive refinish customers. The program delivers competitive advantages to participants by aligning the technology, training and customer support of PPG with the entrepreneurship, customer awareness, local market knowledge and service capability of the independent distributor.

AUTOMOTIVE AWARD OF EXCELLENCE GOES TO HONDA MOTORS The Steel Market Development Institute (SMDI), a business unit of the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI), awarded the “Automotive Excellence Award” to Honda Motor Company, for their advanced high-strength steel (AHSS) innovations in the 2018 Honda Odyssey. The award was presented by David Anderson, senior director, automotive market, SMDI at the 17th annual Great Designs in Steel (GDIS) seminar in Livonia, Michigan. Nic Goldsberry, senior body design engineer at Honda, received the award for his GDIS 2017 presentation, titled, ‘The All-New 2018 Honda Odyssey.’ The SMDI ‘Automotive Excellence Award’ is presented each year at Great Designs in Steel. Individuals or teams from automakers, suppliers or the academic community who embrace innovation and make significant contributions to the advancement of steel in the automotive market are awarded for their innovation.

Honda Motors presented the Automotive Excellence Award.

MAGNA RECOGNIZED FOR INNOVATIVE TECHNOLOGY Magna International took home three first-place awards during the 2018 Society of Plastics Engineers (SPE) Automotive Awards gala in July. The Ontario-based company was recognized with a first-place finish in the body exterior category, for its thermoplastic liftgate on the 2019 Jeep Cherokee. In the enabling technology category Magna came out on top with its thin-wall torsional welding process. To wrap things up Magna also won the chassis category for its carbon fibre subframe.

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Magna International took home three first-place awards.

AWARDS

CARSTAR AWARDS CANADIAN FRANCHISE OF THE YEAR At the annual conference in Calgary, Alberta, CARSTAR executives presented the Franchise of the Year award to Tim and Shelley McKay, the owners behind a four-business operation that consists of CARSTAR Sackville, CARSTAR Chainlake, CARSTAR Upper Sackville and CARSTAR Halifax in Nova Scotia. According to the franchise, the McKays distinguished themselves with their approach to management, growth and business leadership. Having joined the network in 2006, the McKays were initially the owners of a single 3,500 square foot facility.

Executives presented the Franchise of the Year award to Tim and Shelley McKay.

CARSTAR’S ROOKIE OF THE YEAR AWARD This year’s Rookie of the Year award, which is given in recognition to a new CARSTAR franchisee as it gets “up and running” with CARSTAR in their first year, went to Sébastian Labrie at CARSTAR Levis in Quebec. Sébastian and his wife, Maude, purchased an existing CARSTAR location in 2017 and within a year doubled the sales from the previous owners. “It’s an honour to receive recognition for all the efforts and hours we’ve put in the business during the last year,” said Sébastian One key to the new owner’s success came from the renovation of the facility with the support of CARSTAR’s head offices. “CARSTAR is really dedicated to their franchise,” said Sébastian.“I’ve never heard about any banner that offers that much support on any basis of the job.”

Maude and Sébastian Labrie at CARSTAR Levis in Quebec.

FAMILY-RUN AUTO RECYCLER BUSINESS WINS AWARD Blenkhorn Auto Recyclers in Truro, Nova Scotia has received the Small Business Achievement award at this year’s Small Business Awards for the Truro & Colchester Chamber of Commerce. A family-run business, Blenkhorn’s Auto Recyclers was founded half-a-century ago by current-owner Sheldon Blenkhorn. The team processes approximately 600 locally sourced vehicles each year in the facility’s three dismantling bays. Blenkhorn’s team and representatives of the other award-winning small businesses were honored at the Small Business Week luncheon that was held on Thursday.

Blenkhorn Auto Recyclers in Truro.

STEELE WINS EY ENTREPRENEUR OF THE YEAR Automotive entrepreneur Rob Steele is the winner of this year’s EY Entrepreneur of the Year 2018 award for the Atlantic region. Steele is chief executive officer of Steele Auto Group, a diversified group of automobile dealerships and collision repair facilities in Atlantic Canada, and Newfoundland Capital Corporation, one of Canada’s leading radio broadcasters. As the Atlantic region’s EY Entrepreneur of the Year in 2018, Steele competed with the top entrepreneurs from the Pacific, Rob Steele is the winner of this year’s Prairies, Ontario and Québec regions for the national honour of Canada’s EY EY Entrepreneur of the Year 2018 award.

Entrepreneur of the Year 2018, that was presented at a gala celebration on November, 29 in Toronto. EY is a global leader in assurance, tax, transaction and advisory services. EY Entrepreneur of the Year is a business awards program for entrepreneurs. The program encourages entrepreneurial activity among those with potential and recognizes the contribution of people who inspire others with their vision, leadership and achievement.

DECEMBER 2018 COLLISION REPAIR 47

AWARDS

BASF NAMED ONE OF CANADA’S TOP EMPLOYERS For the fifth consecutive year, BASF was named one of Canada’s Top 100 Employers by Mediacorp Canada. Mediacorp Canada’s annual ranking is determined through a survey comparing employers to other organizations in their field based on eight different categories which include: physical workplace; work atmosphere; social, health, financial and family benefits; vacation and time off; employee communications; performance management; community involvement, and training and skills development. BASF Canada was highlighted for its efforts in several areas including its Professional Development Program for college students and recent graduates, engagement for science education; environment, health, safety and community-based initiatives, and employee development opportunities.

CSN-TURPIN-CAPTIAL-COLLISION WINS OTTAWA’S 2018 CONSUMERS CHOICE AWARD Each year across Canada, Consumer Choice Awards gathers opinions, perceptions and expectations through the responses of thousands of consumers and businesses. For this year, CSN-Turpin-Capital Collision in Ottawa was recognized and awarded in the auto and transportation category. The winners were conducted by a third-party research firm to ensure only the most outstanding service providers are the winners within their respective industry.

CSN-Turpin-Capital Collision in Ottawa.

FIX AUTOMOTIVE’S NATIONAL CONFERENCE AWARDS During the Fix Automotive Network (FAN) National Conference held from May 3-5 in Niagara Falls, Ontario, awards were handed out to salute the achievements of franchise strategic partners from all brands in the FAN family. “These awards give us a chance to recognize the best of the best from within our network family,” said Steve Leal, president and CEO of Fix Auto World. The Fix Automotive Network team announced the award winners for outstanding performance in 2017 within four categoDelegates from the FAN National Conference. ries- sales growth, customer experience, brand ambassador and president’s award. The total sales under $1.5M was awarded to Fix Auto Hamilton Mountain, Ontario and the total sales under $1.5M was given to Fix Auto Cold Lake, Alberta.

Speedy Auto Service for Brampton North, Ontario and NOVUS Glass Ottawa St. Laurent, Ontario were also recognized for their sales growth. As for the customer experience awards, Fix Auto Carrefour Laval in Quebec, Speedy Auto Service Brampton North in Ontario, and NOVUS Glass Halifax Bayers Lake, in Nova Scotia were acknowledged.

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AWARDS

ASSURED AUTOMOTIVE’S EMPLOYEE OF THE YEAR Assured Automotive hosted its 10th annual employee appreciation event in April at the Toronto Congress Centre. Two of the guests were given the special “Employee of the Year” award, Cara Strong of Meyers Volkswagen in Ottawa, and John ‘Junior’ Mansutto, a mechanic at Meadowvale Auto Repair. Strong, who has been working at Meyers Volkswagen for three years, was commended for her efforts to go aboveand-beyond in her dealings with clients, showing initiative to resolve problems as Cara Strong of Meyers Volkswagen in quickly as possible. In fact, during her time with Assured, a number of direct calls Ottawa, and John ‘Junior’ Mansutto. from satisfied customers had been made to the head office, from customers eager to thank the company for her services. Mansutto was commended for his willingness to put in extra hours, take on additional projects and commitment in his craft. To quote Canadae, “Mansutto has been the Doug Gilmour of his team,” referring to the key man of the Toronto Maple Leafs during the 1990s.

BOYD RECOGNIZED WITH THE BUSINESS EXCELLENCE AWARDS Boyd Autobody and Glass has been recognized in Ottawa and Kelowna, British Columbia, for the annual regional Business Excellence Awards. The company was nominated for the Service Excellence Award in Ottawa. In total, the event received 200 nominations across 15 categories. These awards recognize businesses, organizations and individuals in Penticton and area that have achieved excellence in the community through their own abilities, efforts and initiatives. As for Kelowna, Boyd Autobody was one of the three finalists for the Large Business of the Year category. This program offers finalists and award recipients well-deserved recognition for their accomplishments as well as valuable publicity for their organization.

FIX AUTOMOTIVE NETWORK’S QUEBEC AWARDS During the annual regional meeting for Fix Automotive Quebec, several shops were recognized for significant milestones and years of service to their communities. “It is important that we recognize those shops that have been dedicated to serving their communities for many years as they directly contribute to the strength and longevity of our national network,” said Yves Roy, general manager of Fix Automotive Network Quebec.

Yves Roy, general manager of Fix Automotive Network Quebec.

5 Year Milestone – Kamouraska, St-Rémi & Trois-Rivières West 10 Year Milestone – Terrebonne, Hull, Repentigny, Cartierville & Laval West 15 Year Milestone – St-Lin-Laurentides, St-Georges-de-Beauce & Gatineau Center 20 Year Milestone – Alma, Boucherville, Charlesbourg & Sherbrooke East 25 Year Milestone – Rosemont, St-Hyacinthe, Blainville, Coaticook, Charny, St-Eustache, Granby, Varennes & Décarie As for the Speedy Auto Service there was 2 milestone awards given out: 5 Year Milestone – Kirkland 35 Year Milestone – Pont Viau Laval

DECEMBER 2018 COLLISION REPAIR 49

AWARDS

UNI-SELECT CANADIAN SUPPLIER AWARD SHOW This year PPG Canada Inc. took home the Diamond Award at the Uni-Select Canadian Supplier Award show. This prize is awarded in recognition of dependable and detail-oriented service to the supplier who’s given the best support to Uni-Select customers.

It recognizes the quality of sales tools, fill rate, lead time, inventory management, service (training, tech PPG team winning the Diamond Award. support) and manpower support, amongst others.

It is attributed to a supplier who offers quality products and sustainable and efficient service. Three suppliers were given the Achiever Award for high sales growth performances.

Wilson Auto Electric distinguished itself in the Automotive Parts category, while AkzoNobel Coatings Ltd and SureWerx stood out in the Paint and Body Equipment and Tools and Equipment categories.

In celebration of Uni-Select’s 50th anniversary, there was special recognition presented to 11 suppliers who have been partners with the company since it all started. These companies include, Docap Distribution Inc., Federal-Mogul Motorparts Corporation, Valvoline Canada, Tenneco Inc., MANN+HUMMEL Filtration Technology Canada ULC., 3M Canada Company, Exide Technologies Canada Corporation, Kleen-Flo Tumbler Industries Limited, Phillips & Temro Industries Inc., SKF Canada Limited and PPG Canada Inc.

SCHRODER BROTHERS AWARDED AT THE ARA CONVENTION Car-Part’s Roger and Jeff Schroder were honoured by the Auto Recyclers Association during the group’s 75th anniversary convention in Orlando, Florida.

Roger took home this year’s Member of the Year Award, which is given to an individual each year who has distinguished himself or herself among the ARA Membership. Jeff was awarded the ARA’s President’s Award, given to a member whose distinguished themself in their service to the ARA. The Schroders’ company was also a recent recipient of the CIECA E-Commerce Company of the Year Award.

Left to right: Jeff Schroder holding the ARA’s President’s Award and Roger Schroder holding the 2018 Member of the Year Award.

COLOR COMPASS WINS PROSPOT WELDING DISTRIBUTOR OF THE YEAR Color Compass has been awarded for the fourth year in a row as the ProSpot Welding Distributor of the Year. The distribution group has been acknowledged for this award since 2015, when they first formed a partnership with ProSpot.

While the award recognizes distributors in all of North America, a factor into the company’s win may be its after-sale care techniques. ProSpot examines more than just sales numbers when determining the Distributor of the Year. Customer service and pre- and post-sale, are important to ProSpot as well. Color Compass offers not only training and installation, but consultation as well.

For the fourth year in a row, the Color Compass distribution team takes home the ProSpot Welding Distributor of the Year Award.

MANITOBA’S RURAL EMPLOYER OF THE YEAR A dealer/collision repair facility owner in Westman, Manitoba has been named the province’s rural employer of the year. Ken Forman, who owns Forman Mazda, Forman Honda and Forman Collision, received the award during the Apprenticeship Manitoba Awards of Distinction Honouring Excellence in Training & Education, which happened in Winnipeg on November 1.

During his acceptance speech, Forman said he was particularly touched that the nomination had come from his staff, who felt his efforts to find new talent and provide apprentices with training and support were worthy of recognition, particularly as Forman faced an uphill struggle of finding apprentices.

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Ken Forman, owner of Forman Mazda, Forman Honda and Forman Collision, was awarded with rural employer of the year for the province of Manitoba.

RED & WHITE AND READ ALL ACROSS CANADA Here at Collision Repair, we are proudly Canadian. We are committed to telling the stories our collision repair community cares about most. Perhaps that is why we were the trade publication of choice for 80% of respondents to a recent industry magazine readership survey.

Based on an independant survey conducter by IPAO Market Research Full results available by request to: publisher@collisionrepairmag.com

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PRINCIPLES OF REPAIR

ROCK AND A HARD PLACE

By Peter Sziklai

Our professional duty to make the right repair

O [MANUFACTURER PROCEDURES] ...

HAVE BEEN MADE WITH MINIMAL OR NO CONSULTATION WITH INSURERS, WHO PAY MOST OF THE BILLS.

Peter Sziklai is the owner of Tsawwassen Collision, an independent collision repair shop near Vancouver. Actively involved in the industry since 1982, he is the founder of the Ready For its Next Accident project (rfina. ca), which focuses on fostering an awareness of the principles of repair.

He can be reached at peter@tcltd.pro.

ne of my ongoing themes has been the need for change in the culture of the collision repair industry. Culture does not develop overnight and it certainly does not change overnight. We have had 50 years (maybe longer but anyone that remembers more than 50 years back had better be retired) of a business style that has very much set a culture.

One of the challenges for progressive collision repairers today is that a huge part of that culture was formed on simply following the rules and not getting in trouble. Because there were very few rules set by government regulators it was the insurance companies that became the rule setters. As an example of the depth of this culture; one morning over 25 years ago I was talking with a few other repairers in my area and in the conversation I told them I charged more for private repairs than for insurance companies. The response from one person was ‘you can’t do that, it’s against ICBC rules.’ I clearly remember thinking ‘what does the insurance company have to say about what I charge a private pay customer for uninsured damage.’ The answer was, and is, nothing. But there were people that had accepted that the insurance companies made the rules and over the years this turned into industry culture.

Now we have the manufacturers making rules through their OEM procedures. While mostly good these are sometimes disconnected from on the street reality, and more importantly have been made with minimal or no consultation with insurers, who pay most of the bills.

One result has been manufacturers and insurers throwing stones at each other. Another result has been repairers thinking they are stuck in the middle. We are used to following rules,

but which rules are we supposed to follow?

Here is where the shift in culture comes in. You can have a say in how the rules should be applied if you have been paying attention and doing the work to shift the culture in your own business (it is a cultural shift and results take years to form).

If you have been doing nothing but waiting to be told what to do, you are in for a tough period. If you have been changing the internal culture of your business, you are ready for the next phase. You have been paying attention, taking courses and supporting staff in training and education. You have been buying equipment, learning how cars should be repaired and engaging your technicians and repair writers to be proactive participants in the new processes of repair. You know how to work with the existing rules but also that many situations are not well covered by the rules as they are written.

You have something to offer that both the insurers and OEMs need. That is real world, honest experience and understanding. You can’t (and don’t) guess how to do a repair, but you can (and do) apply the experience of your entire team into getting that repair done properly and at a cost that makes sense.

The signals are out there that the insurers and manufacturers will start to talk to each other. As they move forward with these conversations they will be looking for intelligent input from progressive repairers. You can pretend none of this is happening, in which case you can plan to close your doors in a year or two.

You can make sure your equipment and staff are up to date while you wait to see what happens, in which case you will probably be ok. Or you can actively engage and provide input, in which case everyone will be ahead.

DECEMBER 2018 COLLISION REPAIR 55

ENGINE KNOX

SHATTERED GLASS SHAKEN LIVES

By Steve Knox

A driver’s trust in repairers is about so much more than a vehicle

A

MOM, HOWEVER, WON’T SLEEP TONIGHT. SHE’LL KEEP REPLAYING THE SCENE OVER IN HER HEAD.

CARSTAR Fredericton and CARSTAR Fredericton North general manager Steve Knox is a member of the CCIF Steering Committee and an I-CAR instructor. He can be reached at sknox@ carstarfredericton.ca.

s I sat at my desk, an SUV was towed into our yard. From my window, I took note of the damage to the front. Both headlights damaged, grille, front cover, hood tented up — typical front hit. I was thinking that it would work out to about $4,000 in revenue.

The vehicle passed into the hands of the estimating team, and my attention turned elsewhere. Everything damaged came off; the bumper, headlamps, grille, and other frontend parts. Our blueprinting tech rolled the 3D frame measuring system over to the car, and had the scanner ready to extract all of the pertinent information.

We needed to know the whole story of what this vehicle went through in the accident. As it turned out, the airbags didn’t deploy, nor did the seat-belt pretensioners. There was a code in the system for a failed airbag indicator light, however the airbag control module could not tell us anything and therefore we had no way to know that the system was unarmed. All found on the pre-scan.Frame measurements didn’t tell us anything we hadn’t already suspected, and the rest of the estimate was written without any further drama.

I offered to drive the vehicle out of the stall so they could bring in their next case.That is when I realized that the damages that were assessed were only a small part of the story.

It was apparent that this vehicle had been very well cared for. There was a new air freshener, it’s apple spice. The carpet had been recently vacuumed, and there was also an expensive child seat. A few details that stood out, like the coffee on the console and the Goldfish

crackers on the passenger side rear floor. These were signs of the vehicles’ other, more personal story about the family who owned it.

There were two occupants in this vehicle.

They were on their way to a preschool drop off and were running five minutes late. As a result of the collision, Mom is now suffering from a bruise across her chest. The little fellow is pretty shaken-up. He had cried for a while, but he’s already getting over it. Kids are resilient that way, aren’t they?

Mom, however, won’t sleep tonight. She’ll keep replaying the scene over in her head. Why hadn’t she noticed the traffic stop? Is the man whose car she hit going to be alright? What is she going to feel like tomorrow? She’s already stiffening up. The SUV was purchased when she was still pregnant because they needed something larger, but the family still had payments left on their old car. The loan that they took out was for more than the SUV was worth. Will it be written off? Will they pay for the rental while she’s in it for the full time? Oh, and then, of course, there is the new car seat that has to be purchased. Where is that money coming from until she’s reimbursed? Sure, the folks at the repair center seemed nice, but is her car ever going to be the same? Will she ever feel safe in it again?

As I parked her SUV in the compound, I saw another vehicle towed in. Another set of measurements, more codes to read, more parts to remove. More important than any of that, another coffee stain, another appointment missed, another group of lives disrupted.

These aren’t just cars we are repairing. They are disruptions. They are lives.

DECEMBER 2018 COLLISION REPAIR 57

ATLANTIC INSIGHT

A BUDDING CONCERN FOR THE INDUSTRY

By Kelvin Campbell

The liabilities legal cannabis brings to our businesses

I COULDN’T HELP BUT NOTICE THE REDNESS, AND GLAZE OF THE EYES FROM THE PERSON SERVING ME. I THEN REALIZED THAT THIS WILL BE SOMETHING THAT MANY CANADIAN EMPLOYERS WILL HAVE TO DEAL WITH.

Kelvin Campbell is the owner and operator of CSN Chapman Auto Body and CSN Chapman West Bedford.

He can be contacted at kelvin@chapmanautobody.com.

A

s we accept the legalization of marijuana I find myself pondering the impact legal marijuana use may have on our industry.

In July 2017, I attended a performance group meeting in Denver, Colo.

The meeting was held at a homeless shelter operated by a former bodyshop owner. It was definitely an eye-opening experience for me.

Wherever you went, the smell of pot was all over the streets. I happened to walk into a coffee shop and I couldn’t help but notice the redness, and glaze of the eyes from the person serving me. I then realized that this will be something that many Canadian employers will have to deal with.

Since the legalization, I think it’s fair to say that many owners and general managers of collision repair facilities from all across the nation have probably come across the same question – what happens if one my employees decides to come to work stoned? Especially when bodyshop owners are ultimately responsible for how the vehicle gets fixed.

For that, I have an answer – have a conversation with your employees regarding the consequences of working under the influence. It is not only important for the safety of themselves and their co-workers but for the safety of the people whose vehicles we are repairing.

It is not only important for the safety of themselves and their co-workers but for

the safety of the people whose vehicles we are repairing.

It also doesn’t hurt to be aware of what the symptoms are when someone is high, and cautious of people who seem to show them.

I found a study while surfing the net, titled Clearing the Haze. The Human Resources Professionals Association (HPRA) put together the report based on the impact of the legalization of cannabis within the Canadian workforce. Collision repair was listed as one of the businesses to be negatively impacted the most. The main concerns mentioned were, employees operating motor vehicles, challenges related to disciplinary procedures, decreased work performance, the use of heavy machinery and diminished attendance.

A zero-tolerance cannabis policy in the workplace would be a solution to most. But what about people that use cannabis for medical purposes? This actually might not pose as much of a problem as some people might think.

The study found that within their survey, 11 percent of respondents have had to deal with an employee that requires medical pot.

So, I guess, only time will tell if this will be a bigger issue for Canadian bodyshops. But I think it’s safe to say the industry can expect a spike over the coming years while law enforcement hones their skills on the detection of impaired individuals under the influence of cannabis.

DECEMBER 2018 COLLISION REPAIR 59

TRAINING

I-CAR CANADA CHANGES FOR 2019

By Andrew Shepherd

Detailing I-CAR Canada’s big plans for the new year

THESE DIRECTIONS ARE DRIVEN BY THE VEHICLE MANUFACTURERS, INSURERS AND SUPPLIERS WHO CONSTITUTE THE CORE OF I-CAR, AND ULTIMATELY BY CHANGES IN VEHICLE REPAIR TECHNIQUES AND TECHNOLOGIES.

Andrew Shepherd is the executive director of I-CAR Canada, a non-profit organization that provides collision repair training and ongoing education. He can be reached via e-mail at andrew.shepherd@ aiacanada.com

A

s introduced in our last article, I-CAR Canada will be making a series of changes to training and recognition following the direction of I-CAR U.S., announced in August at NACE. These directions are driven by the vehicle manufacturers, insurers and suppliers who constitute the core of I-CAR, and ultimately by changes in vehicle repair techniques and technologies. Following are some details on these changes, which will take effect on January 1, 2019.

The first one to keep in mind is I-CAR’s welding certifications that will be in effect for three years, down from the current five. Anyone achieving their certification before Jan. 1, 2019 will still have the five year certification.

The Gold Class definitions and requirements will also be changing. All structural technicians must be Platinum recognized, and 50 percent of all other staff must be Platinum as well.

One technician will be able to hold a maximum of two roles, down from the current four. Shops will have a full year (until Jan. 1, 2020) to move to the new standard without loss of Gold Class status.

Following this, shops who lose an employee will have a full year to once again meet recognition requirements, without Gold Class status being affected.

Another change is that Gold Class

in Progress will be eliminated as a recognition category, with no applications taken after Jan. 1, 2019.

A new “Gold Class – Aluminum” recognition will be established, requiring all structural technicians to take structural aluminum training.

Shops will also no longer have to apply (and pay) to have supplier training added to technician transcripts – this will be done automatically and at no cost if the supplier belongs to the new I-CAR Canada Industry Training Alliance program.

Finally, around the end of the the first quarter of 2019, repairers will see a significant change to the online training courses offered by I-CAR. Currently there are around 100 courses, that are each three to four hours in duration. The new set-up will see about 320 courses in the one to two hour range.

This shift has several advantages – it helps technicians pursue training before work, at lunch or after work and it helps managers choose exactly the skill or technical area they want staff to engage in. Perhaps most importantly, it removes redundancy in course materials. This will reduce role training requirements by between 8 percent and 30 percent in terms of training hours.

Many of the details of these changes will be worked out through the fall – stay up to date by visiting www.i-car.ca.

DECEMBER 2018 COLLISION REPAIR 61

WHO’S DRIVING

CLEAR THE WAY TO LEAD THE WAY

By Jay Perry

Carifying the why behind the how of your business objectives

THE LACK OF CLEAR DIRECTION PROVIDED BY LEADERS IS KILLING PRODUCTIVITY AND EFFICIENCY. IT IS NOT DONE DELIBERATELY OR KNOWINGLY BUT IS THE RESULT OF ASSUMPTION ON THE PART OF THE LEADERS.

Jay Perry is co-author of the book Success Manifesto with Brian Tracy, and the founder of Ally Business Coaching, a process improvement and leadership development firm.

He can be reached at jayperry@a-bc-inc.com.

T

his is a quote from a recent Gallup Workplace poll, “Only half of employees globally clearly know what is expected of them at work.”

The lack of clear direction provided by leaders is killing productivity and efficiency. It is not done deliberately or knowingly but is the result of assumption on the part of the leaders. They assume that people are as clear as they are with what the objectives are. It is not true and fully supports the old axiom, “To assume makes an ass of you and me”. One of the consistent conversations I have in coaching leaders is directed at helping them see the reality of leadership of their subordinates, you must always practice the 3Rs, reiterate, repeat and review the objectives. You cannot assume common sense will prevail.

My wife and I recently went to brunch and saw poor leadership in action. This is an excerpt from my restaurant review, “What could have been a great experience was spoiled by a disorganized manager who had all of his people running. I believe it to be the manager’s fault as no one was assigned sections or duties which would have streamlined everything and made it much nicer.” I am sure they had their marching orders at the morning scrum, “Let’s make our customers happy today” but of course without clear direction the workers are going to do their personal best in the way they interpret the directive.

How organized are your leaders? Do they clearly understand the “why” behind

the “what” of the job? Do they have communication skills that excite and inspire their people to support the mission of your company?

Most of what I find in my work and in hundreds of companies over the years reflects this as where the problem starts - the lack of skill set required to get people, first to understand, then to act in a supportive way. Like I said in my book, Success Manifesto, you must develop clarity, it is part of a leadership skill set that can be learned.

Have you practiced getting to the “why” of something? You should do that exercise on your own first. You will end up with a clearly defined reason. You do what you do and that “why” will support the action.

Another enormous benefit of the “why” is when you are motivated by it you are less attached to the method of achievement which means you will free up creativity that could create a better way of doing the “what” for the solution.

The “why” is also much easier to communicate when you are crystal clear. If that picture in your mind is clear then you can work on the word track necessary to communicate it in a way that others understand and support it. Practice it then “beta-test” it with a trusted colleague to understand its effectiveness at sharing the root message of what you are shooting for.

Developing these skills in your people is another one of the things necessary to remain as the one who’s driving.

DECEMBER 2018 COLLISION REPAIR 63

SPEAKING OUT

The Low Down on Direct Repair Programs COLLISION COMMUNITY MEMBERS SHARE ANONYMOUS THOUGHTS ON INSURER DIRECT REPAIR PROGRAMS Direct repair programs are killing small, independent repair shop.

Insurance companies will use every dirty trick to force customers to a DRP shop: 1) T hey refuse to offer warranties on our repairs. You feel like an ambulance chaser, having to explain to customers that it is the shop, not the insurer, who guarantee the work.

2) They sometimes put a five-day wait on the customer receiving a rental car unit 3) If they have possession of the vehicle, they will wait four or five days to drop it off; if there is a price difference between us an a DRP, they’ll refuse to pay the difference.

The ‘D’ in DRP really means ‘discount’! If insurers were not so aggressively promoting their DRP's, the Ma and Pa shops would still stand a chance. When insurers say: "We don't guarantee the work of a shop that is not on the program," it costs us customers who have trusted us for 28 years! Having my customers go to the competition appraisals is ridiculous. Working off of their sheets is unfair.

If I try to get a supplement after the fact, it means jumping through pointless hurdles.

Most insurers seem too willing to blame shops for problems, despite insisting they can't guarantee our work. They also use archaic methods for calculating the amount of time spent on repairs.

I have been in business for 30 years, and have never had a problem from an insurer about my repairs. Still, they will try and redirect my company to DRP shops!

Most of insurance companies treat repair facilities poorly. It is the one and only businesses in the world that tells other businesses how they should be run, how much you can charge, who you can and can’t buy from! Oh, and it takes them a month or two to settle-up the bill!

Insurers walk all over us. We say, “just let us know when you have a new hoop to jump through and we will take it on the chin!” Business should be a two-way street.

Accreditation and training could change this.

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Most insurance companies treat our industry poorly. Since when did sitting down with collision repair facilities periodically and discussing wins and losses, and process improvements become taboo?

FINANCIAL REPORT

AUTO SECTOR GEARING DOWN GM HEADS OUT OF ONTARIO AND AUDI FACES FINES AS OEMS BRACE FOR A BITTER FINAL QUARTER General Motors

GM’S CLOSURE AND HOW IT AFFECTS THE REST OF CANADA The closure of Oshawa’s General Motors plant will be sure to have lasting effects in the city and the surrounding area, but what does it mean for the rest of Canada?

According to Dennis DesRosiers of DesRosiers Automotive Consultants, the reality is a “fly speck.”

“There are over 800,000 jobs in the automotive sector (in Canada) and this is 2,500 (unionized) jobs,” DesRosiers told The HuffPost Canada.

DesRosiers’ numbers are referring to the total number of jobs both directly and indirectly related to the automotive sector. As of right now, the auDennis DesRosiers of DesRosiers Automotive Consultants. tomotive industry directly employs approximately 140,000 people in Canada.

According to economists from BMO, the impact on Ontario and Canada’s broader economy will be limited. The province’s economic output will shrink from 0.3 to 0.5 percent, while the Canadian output will move from 0.1 to 0.2 percent. The change won’t be significant enough to affect either the Ontario or Canadian unemployment rate.

In Canada’s $2-trillion-plus economy, the numbers can add up. Despite this reality, the economic impact isn’t the same due to Canada’s declining auto industry.

Since 2005 the Canadian auto industry has suffered declines, particularly during the Great Recession of 2008-09. Employment and auto production have never been able to recover to the same level as before.

“The canary in the coal mine has been dead in the cage for about a decade at this point,” DesRosiers told HuffPost Canada by phone. “And we’re just noticing that now.”

DesRosiers believes there needs to be a shift in focus from manufacturing to technological innovation, in order to make the best out of an unfortunate situation.

“If 15 years ago we had focused on the intellectual side of the industry, then we may have been positioned for the new technology era that the industry has begotten,” DesRosiers told The HuffPost Canada.

“Today we can get a piece of that action if we change our focus away from pure production.”

DECEMBER 2018 COLLISION REPAIR 65

FINANCIAL REPORT

Renault-brilliance-Jinbei Automotive THE FRENCH/CHINESE CONNECTION French OEM Renault and the Brilliance Group—a Chinese auto maker—have partnered with the government of Laoining in China. The two automakers, known under their new partnership as Renault-brilliance-Jinbei Automotive, have signed an agreement with government officials allowing them to manufacture three electric light commercial vehicles set to launch in 2020.

Ford

Volkswagen

FORD’S SCOOTER STRATEGY

PAPERLESS PAYMENTS

Ford has acquired Spin, a San Francisco-based electric scooter-sharing company operating in 13 cities and campuses across the United States.

The acquisition of Spin is the latest strategic move by Ford in the mobility space, as the company builds a mobility portfolio to help customers travel quicker and more affordably. Earlier this year the automaker created Ford X as a division within Ford Smart Mobility, with the mandate to quickly build, acquire and pilot transportation products and services. The most successful of these projects will become part of the company’s growing mobility offering. Spin has operations in 13 cities and campuses across the U.S.

Volkswagen announces digitization of sales by 2020. The German Auto giant is currently developing a new, first of its kind, fully digital system for transactions and customer care.

Audi AUDI FINDS ITSELF IN DEUTCH The German government has slapped Audi with a £700m fine; after facing charges of breaching Diesel emission rules. Parent company VW has announced it will be accepting responsibility and will pay the fine.

Jaguar-Land Rover JAGUAR’S JAWS WIRED SHUT

Copart COPART CROSSES THE RHINE

Jaguar-Land Rover’s manufacturing facility in Solihull, England, will remain shut for two weeks. The UK’s largest automaker is blaming fall in demand as the reason, with China being their most disappointing market.

Copart, a global online vehicle auction company, has opened several new locations in Germany in recent weeks, reaching a total of five. Location openings near Hannover, Leipzig and Mannheim in Germany, were followed by a new facility located at Fürth, near Nürnberg, in Bavaria, and then one in Brandenburg, near Berlin.

“With our national and international buyers asking for more locations from which they can buy used and salvage vehicles in Germany, we are proud to open this facility near Nürnberg,” said Alain Van Munster, managing director, Copart Germany.

“We are committed to transforming the experience in Germany for salvage vehicle buyers and policy-holders alike,” said Nigel Paget, CEO – Europe & the Middle East. With facilities in the U.K., Ireland, Spain and Finland, Copart is extending a strong platform in Western Europe.

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FINANCIAL REPORT

PPG TOUGH QUARTER In its third quarter report, PPG states high inventory levels drove down sales in the auto refinish segment. For all segments, the global coatings supplier reported net sales of approximately US$3.8 billion, up one percent versus the prior year. Net sales in constant currencies grew more than 3 percent year-over-year aided by higher selling prices of more than 2 percent.

The company continued to implement higher selling prices and execute restructuring actions, which partially offset persistent raw material and logistics cost inflation.

Organic sales of automotive refinish coatings declined “by a mid-single-digit percentage stemming from a change in customer order patterns.” The company said several U.S. and European customers have high inventory levels due to lower end-use market demand.

Automotive original equipment manufacturer (OEM) coatings sales volumes were flat, slightly better than overall global automotive OEM industry builds.

Enterprise Rent-A-Car A SATISFYING ENTERPRISE The Enterprise Rent-A-Car brand received the highest score in the J.D. Power 2018 North America Rental Car Satisfaction Study. This year marks the seventeenth time – and the fifth year in a row – that Enterprise has captured the top spot in the annual study of leisure and business travelers who rent vehicles at North American airports.

“Customer service excellence, combined with strategic innovation and private family ownership, continues to differentiate us in the marketplace,” said Christine Taylor, executive vice-president and COO of Enterprise Holdings.

“We are able to stay ahead of the curve not only by listening to our customers, but also by making key acquisitions and investments for the long term.”

Since 2008, Enterprise has spent almost $2.4 billion making acquisitions and corporate-venture capital investments or commitments in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., France, Ireland, Spain, Brazil and China. Acquisitions include car rental companies, car-share operations, technology platforms and franchises.

Wards Intelligence and LMC Automotive TWO MINDS ARE BETTER THAN ONE Wards Intelligence and LMC Automotive plan to join their business intelligence and global automotive forecasting capabilities to better serve the automotive market.

The alliance leverages the strengths of both brands by uniting Wards Intelligence’s comprehensive automotive business insights, analysis and consulting with LMC’s independent, unbiased global automotive forecasts of vehicle sales, production, powertrain and electrification.

“We’re very pleased to be joining forces with LMC, a company with truly global perspective and a shared customer-first culture,” said John Sousanis, managing director of Wards Intelligence.

“Working with Wards Intelligence makes perfect strategic sense,” said Jeff Schuster, president, Americas Operations and Global Vehicle Forecasts at LMC Automotive. “It will enable two of the industry’s top analytics companies to leverage each other’s core expertise in the automotive sector to strengthen real-time analysis of current and future trends in a very dynamic automotive industry.”

DECEMBER 2018 COLLISION REPAIR 67

FINANCIAL REPORT

Mercedes-Benz OLD NAME JOINS NEW GAME Mercedes-Benz Unveiled its new electric SUV ‘EQC’ in Stockholm. The brand claims to be going “all-in” on this new model. In a quip, CEO Dieter Zetsche described the new vehicle as the “Mercedes of Electric Vehicles.”

GM GM’S GRIM GLUT GM faced a rough third quarter, with the OEM seeing a 15 percent decrease in sales compared to the third quarter of 2017. The All-America company has credited a fall in demand from the Chinese market as the reason for the sales decline. The decline is likely the result of the Trump Administration’s tariffs, and the retaliatory measures taken by China which have raised the price of American vehicles being sold there.

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Global Automakers of Canada

FINANCIAL REPORT

CLEAR SKIES ON CANADA’S ROADS The decline in Canadian light vehicle sales that began in March continued into October.

The industry sold 161,125 units in October 2018, down 1.9 percent compared with the same period in 2017.

Global Automakers of Canada (GAC), an industry group representing a select number of auto manufacturers who are based outside of Canada and the United States, reports that overall year-to-date sales fell for a third straight month based on sustained reduced monthly sales totals. Yearto-date sales through October were down 1.6 percent to 1,727,035 units.

“We’ve seen interest rates rise and, despite a rather significant increase in consumer confidence as measured by the Conference Board of Canada, that confidence does not seem to have extended to big ticket items like vehicles that are more sensitive to interest rate increases,” said David Adams, president, GAC. GM sold the most vehicles in October taking the sales crown from Ford, however Ford retains the overall sales lead on a year-to-date basis. The Ford F-Series pickup truck also remains Canada’s best-selling vehicle through October, while the Honda

Civic retains that distinction for passenger cars, according to GAC. “Members of Global Automakers of Canada continued the year-long trend of posting better-than-market sales results once again in October,” Adams commented. In October, members’ sales of 101,688 were better than market for the tenth straight month and rose 2.6 percent for the month.

The overall market was still better than the five-year average for October markets.

Light trucks continue to gain market share from passenger cars. They comprised 72 percent of the market in October compared to 70 percent in 2017. Ford Motor Company of Canada sales increased two percent in October. Ford F-Series pickups and Ford commercial vehicles achieved their best October sales on record.

“We’ve committed to a strategy focusing on trucks, utilities and commercial vehicles, and we’re starting to see that strategy pay off,” said Mark Buzzell, president and CEO, Ford Canada.

Similarly, FCA Canada reports strong Ram truck sales in October. The Ram brand reported sales of 6,677 vehicles for

the month, an increase of 10 percent compared with the previous year. The light-duty Ram 1500 was the driver with 5,329 sales, up 10 per cent.

At Toyota Canada multiple models set sales records in October. The company’s Lexus division reported the best sales month in history, with 2,916 units sold (up 11.6 percent). The Toyota division reported a new October record, with a total of 18,756 units (up 9.9 percent) compared to 2017. Strong sales were led by a best month ever for Canadian-made RAV4 with 5,607 units sold (up 20.7 percent).

Hybrid sales for Toyota continue to climb, as strong consumer demand for electrified vehicles continued to grow in 2018.

Outpacing overall growth, hybrid vehicle sales set a new October monthly record with 2,242 units sold (up 24.6 percent). Hybrid vehicles represented 19 percent of the company’s total sales in October.

DECEMBER 2018 COLLISION REPAIR 69

EVENTS

Nick Zarcone and Derek Willshire.

LKQ TEAM OUTLINES THE GRAND STRATEGY

WHEN IT COMES TO BUSINESS, AUTO PARTS GIANT LKQ ABIDES BY ONE RULE: LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION

By Gideon Scanlon

S

pecialty parts designer, LKQ unveiled their new state-of-the-art East Toronto location in front of more than 200 of the automotive aftermarket’s key influencers last October. For the executive team, however, the celebration was about far more than showing off the company's latest infrastructure.

"Its a great day for us," said Derek Willshire.

"We have VIPs from different levels of the industry, including insurance partners and executives, representatives from banners and MSOs, and shop-owners."

While LKQ had previously serviced the Greater Toronto Area and the surrounding Golden Horseshoe out of their Brampton-based facility, the leadership team strongly believed that the Toronto East would provide LKQ with a tremendous opportunity to grow.

"We've made a big investment here. We have increased our costs by 25 percent, but we haven't increased our revenue by 25 percent, but this is about the long-term. At the end of the day, we know that our revenue will grow

Justin Jude and Terry Fortner.

because we will be able to out-service our competitors." said Justin Jude, senior vice president of wholesale operations.

"As the GTA and Golden Horseshoe region grow, traffic congestion becomes an increasing problem. By being able to service the region more efficiently, we can help reduce a collision repair shops' overall cycle time."

The facility's construction is part of a broader strategic investment plan aimed at regions across Canada and the United States.

"When they are repairing cars, collision repair facilities want to receive them in a timely manner. In densely populated areas like the GTA, that is a challenge," said Terry Fortner, vice president of insurance, sales and marketing.

"Unfortunately, a drone cannot deliver a fender - at least not yet, In the meantime, LKQ is committed to investing in facilities capable of servicing regions as efficiently as possible.

We are building more facilities like this one, and are developing a proprietary mapping technology for our delivery vehicles."

LKQ is a leading provider of alternative and specialty parts to repair and accessorize automobiles and other vehicles.

Offering customers a broad range of replacement systems, components, equipment and parts to repair and accessorize automobiles, trucks, and recreational and performance vehicles. The company has nearly 1,500 operating locations in over 20 countries worldwide.

For more information, please visit its website at lkqcanada.ca.

DECEMBER 2018 COLLISION REPAIR 71

EVENTS

More than 20 Canadian Porsche certified shops, along with technical and product specialists from Porsche AG, Porsche Cars North America and Porsche Cars Canada gathered for the first Porsche conference.

THE FIRST-EVER CERTIFIED PORSCHE CONFERENCE CANADIAN PORSCHE CERTIFIED SHOPS LEARN ABOUT UPCOMING TECH THAT WILL CHANGE THE GAME

By Lindsey Cooke

V

irtual reality glasses and 3D printers were just a couple of the interesting innovations Porsche presented during their first-ever certified collision conference in the world.

Held in Vancouver, Peter Woo, owner of Auto Excellence in Toronto, was one of the 30 Canadian Porsche certified shops that attended the conference. Collision Repair caught up with Mr. Woo where he exposed some of the interesting announcements that Porsche revealed at the event.

An upcoming tech innovation that might change the way the automotive industry will receive parts, is the 3D printer. “They’re moving ahead perhaps at the distribution level or even at the dealer level, and a lot of these parts that aren’t super high-grade steel will be 3D printed.” If you order something, instead of having it come from Germany they’ll have the software and the tooling just to push a button and create that part.

Beyond the 3D printer, Porsche revealed that they have special glasses in the works for technicians. Glasses that will allow the Porsche team from the headquarters in Germany and North America to see through them in

order to guide the technician through his/ her work if they’re having troubles.

“Say the technician is unsure of the proper diagnostics, there is someone in Germany or North America that is actually seeing what he/she is seeing and guiding him/her through the repair procedure… very sci-fi (ish),” Woo remarked.

Porsche also made a note of saying that Canada will be getting their own distribution warehouse. As of right now, everything comes from Porsche North America in the U.S.

and Porsche Germany. But now it’s going to go from Porsche Germany straight to parts distribution here in Canada and will be the first distribution center direct from Germany located in Ontario. “It’s going to help us with the delayed parts,” he said.

The other significant announcement they had made was that they want to take on a broader footprint with electric vehicles.“They said they want to take about 20 percent of a market share within the next five years.”

DECEMBER 2018 COLLISION REPAIR 73

EVENTS

AKZO NOBEL’S PROFITABILITY CONFERENCE C ollision centre owners and managers were amoung the 150 people that attended AkzoNobel’s Canadian conference in October.

REPAIR SHOPS SHOW COMMITMENT TO THE INDUSTRY

By Stacey Phillips

R

epair facility owners and managers from all across Canada took care of business during AkzoNobel’s Acoat Selected Canadian Profitability Conference in Montréal. Koos Reineking, AkzoNobel’s Canadian services manager, facilitated the event, which attracted approximately 150 people. Bodyshop owners and managers had the opportunity to network with peers,

share their best practices and take part in training sessions led by industry experts.

Tony Mahon, AkzoNobel’s North American service manager, welcomed attendees and applauded them for taking the time to work on their businesses rather than in their businesses.

“We work in a great industry, an ever-changing industry,” said Mahon. “It’s

A variety of industry vendors showcased their products during the event in Montréal.

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a testament to your commitment to the industry that you are here and working on your business. We need more of that in this industry.”

A welcome reception and tradeshow were planned the evening of October 3, prior to the start of the training sessions. A variety of industry vendors, such as Mirka Canada, Pro Spot International, Symach and Wedge Clamp

Bob Dubreuil and Karen Clarke

EVENTS

( Left to right) Patrick Aiello, Michael George, Reg Nadort and Tony Mahon at the conference in Montreal

Systems, showcased their products and services.

A variety of training sessions took place the following two days.

Kevin Wolfe, president of Leaders Way, challenged participants to change the way they run their businesses and become the employer of choice by creating an innovative environment. He stressed the importance of looking forward, finding ways to challenge employees, and becoming a better listener.

Gerry Grenier and Eric Belanger of AkzoNobel shared information about colour innovation and the company’s digital colour techniques and technologies. They also talked about the MIXIT mobile app, which was designed to help with colour matching and efficiency in the refinish industry.

Global automotive trends were discussed

by Deirdre Mayhood, AkzoNobel’s global accounts manager. Mayhood said there are four key megatrends for 2020-2050: zero-emissions vehicles, vehicles within IoT (Internet of Things), the growth of shared mobility and the mass adoption of autonomous vehicles.

Other sessions throughout the day included detailed tax information from tax lawyer Thomas Copeland an information session about optimizing a company’s online presence conducted by Tyler Brunatti at Podium, and some tips on how to build a multi-generational workforce presented by Michael Kuntz of AkzoNobel.

The following day, attendees were invited to tour certified collision centre, Centre de

▶ “ It’s a testament to your commitment to the industry that you are here and working on your business. We need more of that in this industry” – Tony Mahon Collision Europa before the afternoon training sessions began. After lunch, Tim Ronak, senior services consultant from AkzoNobel, gave an in-depth presentation on severity, why it doesn’t matter and what to do about it.

The last part of the day was allocated to an Acoat Selected customer panel consisting of repair shop representatives from across the country.

That evening, a dinner reception was held for all who attended the conference.

One of the highlights included a retirement celebration for Bob Dubreuil, senior services consultant at AkzoNobel, who has worked at the company for 25 years.

“Thank you,” said Dubreuil. “I feel very

humbled and I feel blessed. I have been extremely privileged because I’ve worked with many of you.”

“People have said that I’ve been very successful at AkzoNobel implementing many things and I’ve worked coast-to-coast, but I’ve only been successful because of people like you—people who believed I could help them with their business.”

Special guest Dennis Hull, often referred to as “The Third Best Hull," also gave an entertaining memoir of his hockey career.

Overall, attendees deemed the event a success. “This conference was great,” said Roya Khodabandehloo, manager of CSN Elite Bodyshop in North Vancouver. “I think the best thing is the speakers. They get you motivated and remind you what’s important and get you going.”

Scott Kraft, regional manager for CARSTAR Collision Centres, Badlands Collision Management Group, agreed. Kraft traveled to the conference with two of his managers and one lead appraiser. He said one of the most significant advantages of coming to the conference was to hear an overview of the challenges that are facing the collision repair industry and recognizing they aren’t just in his territory but happening across Canada as well as the United States.

“It was a big benefit for us to get the exposure to see the challenges that we face every day,” said Kraft. “Hearing it from other people gives us a better perspective on how to tackle them and move forward.”

DECEMBER 2018 COLLISION REPAIR 75

EVENTS

Representatives of BMW-certified collision repair facilities gather for the telematics panel at the OEM’s conference in Las Vegas.

BMW CONFERENCE FOCUSES ON THE FUTURE OEM HOSTS EVENT LOOKING AT EVERY THING FROM TELEMATICS AND AUTONOMY, TO THE FUTURE OF INSURANCE

By Lindsey Cooke

T

he future of telematics, autonomous vehicles and the partnership of certified shops with insurance companies were a few of the interesting topics of discussion during this year’s BMW conference.

The three-day event was held in Las Vegas had only invited BMW certified automotive shops, one of which included Excellence Auto Collision in Scarborough, Ontario.

Owner of the shop, Peter Woo, explained that besides discussions of BMW’s new vehicles and audit scores, a number of discussions caught his attention.

The first was presented by one of the hosts BMW Canada certified repair program specialist, Gary Lin, who addressed the theme of telematics. He explained that in the future new cars will have a feature that will let the driver know if their car has been hit. As of right now, drivers don’t really notice right away if their car has been dinged in a parking lot. But in the near future, new cars will alert the driver through their phone if their car was brushed in a parking lot.

Woo shared that one of the keynote speakers from the event included, Igal Mayer, CEO

of Kanetix Ltd. As the former CEO of Aviva Insurance Canada and Europe, he spoke from his wide range of experience with the insurance industry. Mayer presented the idea that if insurance companies partner up with certified shops, it would decrease the cost with claims as well make it less time consuming.

He went on to further explain that there are too many liability issues with the trend of insurance and distracted driving that it is creating a hardship because they are losing too much money in claims.

While insurance was one topic up for discussion so was the autonomous future. Another one of Woo’s takeaways was a presentation done by key account manager OEM & industry relations at BASF, Jeff Wildman as he spoke about what is to be expected from our autonomous future. As it turns out, ownership won’t be the trend anymore and the market will largely be based on subscription services.

Urbanization will play a huge factor into the future, and he explained that Uber as well as any ride share program will actually reduce traffic and free up parking space which will result to more infrastructure.

Dave Procunier of CSN-Heartland B&B Collision Centre Mississagua and Peter Woo of Excellence Auto Collision in Scarborough.

Michel Matte, national manager for aftersales business development and marketing at BMW Canada and Gary Lin, BMW Canada certified repair program specialist hosted the event.

DECEMBER 2018 COLLISION REPAIR 77

EVENTS

Nearly 200 delegates from the Fix Auto Network were in attendance for the annual regional meeting in Quebec.

FAN GOES ALL-IN FOR NETWORK’S QUÉBEC TEAM TEAM-BUILDING AT THE FOREFRONT OF FIX AUTO NETWORK’S REGIONAL CONFERENCE IN MONTRÉAL

By Lindsey Cooke

N

early 200 delegates from Fix Auto, Speedy Auto Service and NOVUS Glass gathered at the Manoir Saint-Sauveur resort in Quebec for the annual Fix Automotive regional meeting last October.

“Fix Auto began its journey here in Québec over 25 years ago,” said Yves Roy, general manager of Fix Automotive Network Québec.

“Since then, we’ve welcomed Speedy Auto Service and NOVUS Glass to our family and I am pleased to see all of our brands together for the first time at our annual Québec regional meeting.”

The two-day event consisted of teambuilding, networking, business updates and special guest presentations. Outside the resort various booths were set up demonstrating products in sight of the supplier tradeshow.

But first the event kicked off with some team building activities and special guest speakers such as, Réal Jacob and Sophie Brochu. The two presented dynamic ideas focusing on establishing goals, strengthening teamwork and coming up with original

Valérie and Michel Véronneau owners of Fix Auto Sherbrooke, Québec.

General manager of Fix Auto, Yves Roy was happy to see all of the brands together for the first time.

ideas to help drive businesses forward.

Among some of the special guest speakers that attened the gala dinner were JeanFrançois Champagne, president of the Automotive Industries Association (AIA) of Canada and Brigitte Pesant, director of collision programs for AIA Canada.

Business meetings took up the second day, giving the FAN corporate team the opportunity to update shop owners on sales, marketing and operations results, and initiatives at both the national and regional level.

The initiatives such as the Speedy Zone and the FAN training centres, one of which is set to open in Québec in 2019, help to ensure that shops keep up-to-date.

Steve Leal, president & CEO of Fix Automotive Network World, enlightened the crowd with a global update. “The regional meetings give me the opportunity to share our successes and the vision for FAN going forward with our partners, not to mention a chance to engage with shop owners in a more collaborative, social environment,” said Leal.

DECEMBER 2018 COLLISION REPAIR 79

EVENTS

The first Canadian commander of the international space station, Colonel Chris Hadfield.

CSN LOOKS TO THE HORIZON AT ANNUAL CONFERENCE A BRIGHT FUTURE LOOMS AT THE ANNUAL CONFERENCE IN ARIZONA

A

s the entire CSN team and industry partners infiltrated sunny Scottsdale, Arizona, the focus this year was on exploring “What’s on The Horizon” for CSN and for the collision repair industry.

As Chief Operating Officer Flavio Battilana mentioned in his opening address, “I’m

excited about what’s before us. It’s a road of opportunity and growth.” Battilana went on to address a growth strategy at the corporate office including a 35% increase in the number of corporate staff as well as continuing to attract new shops across the country.

Following Battilana’s remarks, a true Canadian hero, Colonel Chris Hadfield took

Flavio Battilana, Larry French, Dana Alexander, Carol Alexander, Ryan Bruno, Jay Hayward and Wade Bartok.

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to the stage and wowed attendees with his stories of going beyond the horizon and being the first Canadian to walk in space and to be the first Canadian Commander of the International Space Station. After meeting Colonel Hadfield the night before during a book signing session, all attendees were inspired and captivated by his first-hand

EVENTS

(Left) Rob Pavan, Kim Phuc, Lorenzo D’Alessandro and Nick DiLuca.

Ashely Thorpe, James Hinchcliffe and Larry French

▶ “I’m excited about what is before us.

It is a road of opportunity and growth.”

– Flavio Battilana accounts of space travel and his amazingly disciplined work ethics and his philosophy of life being comprised of a “series of small individual decisions”. He was a perfect fit as the keynote speaker as he exemplifies CSN’s core values of being performance driven and committed to excellence.

Following Colonel Hadfield was Tim Ronak from Akzo Nobel who provided an interesting and thought provoking session on whether average severity is an accurate measurement tool when it comes to pricing repairs and comparing year over year costs.

After Tim Ronak, Vietnam war survivor and “Girl in the photo” Kim Phuc delivered a heart-wrenching account of her village being bombed in 1972 and her journey to forgiveness and gratefulness. Colonel Chris Hadfield led the audience into space and Kim Phuc brought everyone back to earth by reminding everyone of what’s truly important in life.

The afternoon sessions started off with a media training expert, Jeff Ansell talking about “When the Headline is You” and how to communicate with confidence. The Mar-

keting team of Larry French and Ashley Thorpe were up next providing highlights from 2018 and providing a sneak-peak into what’s in store for 2019. Canadian IndyCar driver James Hinchcliffe, CSN’s new brand ambassador joined in on the marketing presentation to talk about his excitement of working with CSN and what the future holds for the partnership.

To close out the daytime session, CSN’s Chief Financial Officer, Ryan Bruno hosted an insurance panel to talk about the future of DRP programs and what’s on the horizon for insurance relations.

For the evening program, James Hinchcliffe was the emcee and talked about his connection to CSN’s charity of choice, MakeA-Wish. The founder of Make-A-Wish, Linda Pauling, who is from Phoenix, joined the event and shared her story of losing her son who was the first-ever wish recipient

and the inspiration behind the creation of the charity. As Flavio had mentioned earlier in the day, “giving back is our responsibility” and the CSN shops and conference attendees proved that this was in fact true by raising an overwhelming $175,000 for Make-A-Wish.

The evening concluded with the awards portion of the night recognizing the top performing shops in the network in a series of different categories. Taking home the top hardware for the evening was Shop of the Year winner CSN Dana’s from Fredericton, New Brunswick. A well- deserved award for a shop who has been a leader in the industry for many years and a shop owner who others continually look up to for advice and leadership.

The conference continued on November 24 with a number of events restricted to CSN collision centres licensees including a desert cookout complete with hot air balloon rides and a mechanical bull.

DECEMBER 2018 COLLISION REPAIR 81

EVENTS

Seven of the network’s top performing dealer collision centres attended CCS’ fall high-performance meeting on November 7.

CONSOLIDATING BUSINESS STRATEGIES CONSOLIDATED COLLISION SERVICES’ HIGH PERFORMANCE GROUP SHARE STRATEGIC INSIGHTS

By Lindsey Cooke

C

onsolidated Collision Services may be a new name, but there was more than half-a-century of collision industry expertise in the room at the high-performance group meeting. Held in November, the event brough together the key individuals

from seven of the network’s top performing dealer collision centres from across Ontario. Spending the day dissecting and critiquing each other’s financial and operational performances, the event was hosted by Russ Forbes and Ray Lavoie of Forbes Motors.

The dealers spent the day evaluating and critiquing each other’s business performances.

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Moderated by Nicky Woerner and Lindsey Bleach of Enterprise Holdings, the pair led an informative discussion regarding rental vehicle trends. The Forbes team led the group on a shop tour. This tour led to open discussions on topics ranging from staffing, parts procurement, production flow and all things collision.

“We’re excited to implement our commitments to the group at our collision centre between now and the next meeting,” said Corrado Olindo from Highland Chevrolet Buick GMC Cadillac in Aurora. “Being held accountable by your peers who want to see you succeed has really helped drive improvements to our process and guest experience”.

The next meeting has already been set on the calendar for the spring of 2019. This time, it is expected to be hosted by Chris Laking and Paul Michaud from Laking Toyota, Northern Nissan

and Imperial Collision in Sudbury.

BRITISH COLUMBIA | REGIONAL NEWS

One of the 15 damaged vehicles from the fire at Overseas Autobody.

COLLISION CENTRE FIRE DAMAGES 15 VEHICLES A fire damaged 15 vehicles at an Abbotsford repair facility on November 3, 2018.

The blaze, which is now being investigated by police as a possible arson case, occurred at approximately 11:30 p.m. at Overseas AutoBody, 2342 Windsor St- south of Peardonville Road and west of Towline Road.

No one was hurt as a result of the fire, but the building sustained minor damage including a couple broken windows.

Two separate vehicles were set ablaze not far from the autobody’s premises earlier in the week.

The incident which took place at Oakridge Crescent and Martens Street inside a residential neighborhood is also being investigated by police as another case of potential arson.

WINTER TIRES AS MANDATORY FOR B.C.

Any B.C. driver that does not have winter tires on their vehicle while riding along a major highway in the province, will receive a fine of up to $109.

At the beginning of October, all B.C. drivers are now required to have winter tires on their vehicles while driving on the majority of the province’s highways.

The regulations were created as an initiative to further promote safe travel during the winter months.

Appropriate winter tires are being defined as those with either an M+S or mountain/snowflake symbol and must also be in good condition with a minimum tread depth of 3.5 millimetres.

The regulations will affect highways in the north, interior and south coast regions, and select areas of Vancouver Island.

Despite not being mandatory province wide, drivers found without proper winter tires on regulated highways may face a fine of up to $109.

Approximately 60 percent of B.C. drivers own winter tires, compared to 38 percent in 2014, according to the Tire and Rubber Association of Canada.

B.C. is reminding drivers to slow down and to check DriveBC.ca when heading out onto the roads during the winter months.

A majority of the highway tire regulations will come to an end March 31, but select mountain passes and rural highways have been extended to April 30, to account for early spring snowfall.

DECEMBER 2018 COLLISION REPAIR 85

REGIONAL NEWS | BRITISH COLUMBIA

CEO of BCAA, Shom Sen was named as one of the Top CEO’s in Canada by Glass Door.

BCAA NAMED BEST EMPLOYER OF THE YEAR The British Columbia Automobile Association has been named a 2019 Best Employer in Canada, becoming one of three large employers in British Columbia to earn a platinum distinction.

Aon recognizes BCAA with the highest status for creating and sustaining a highly engaged workforce. This year marks the ninth time in 12 years that BCAA has achieved Best Employer status and the first time BCAA has achieved the platinum designation.

“It’s hard to describe how thrilled we

are to be a Best Employer, but to achieve Platinum status is the ultimate,” says BCAA CEO Shom Sen. “Each and every one of us at BCAA come to work with passion and purpose and we deeply believe in creating a culture that allows us to give our Members the best service imaginable. We’ll celebrate, and continue to find new ways to make BCAA the best job ever for every employee.”

The designation is based on a comprehensive study involving BCAA’s 1,300 employees across British Columbia, measuring their

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level of engagement with the organization and comparing these scores against nearly 700 companies across Canada.

BCAA was able to achieve the platinum status by being rated in the top quartile for engagement; employer brand and leadership; and in the top third for performance culture.

Earlier this year BCAA was awarded the YMCA Vancouver Outstanding Workplace award, along with the company Sen, being recognized as one of the Top CEO’s in Canada

by Glass Door.

ALBERTA | REGIONAL NEWS

TIGHTER REGULATIONS FOR REPAIRS IN ALBERTA In order to protect consumers, Alberta has issued tighter regulations for repairers and dealerships in their province, which started in November “Buying or repairing a car shouldn’t be intimidating. These new rules can give Albertans confidence that they won’t be hit with unexpected costs because they will know exactly what they’re paying for. More transparency is good for consumers and it’s good for Alberta’s many trustworthy auto businesses, too,” said Minister of Service Alberta, Brian Malkinson.

Sellers will have to give buyers the complete history of a vehicle, including major damage from accidents and whether the vehicle was used for a commercial purpose.

Repairers will also be expected to have written estimates performed upon request as well as the vehicle owners consent before starting any work on the automobile.

All outstanding liens on a vehicle also have to be removed within seven days of the sale.

These changes came from the growing concern of Albertans and the need for better protections when purchasing vehicles

(Left to right) business owner Ted Zylstra, Minister Malkinson and AMVIC board chair Bill Burnett discussing new consumer protection laws.

and having repairs done. During the 2017 consultation on consumer protection laws this issue was identified by many.

The new rules also support the government’s work to build stronger public oversight of the Alberta Motor Vehicle Industry Council (AMVIC), by transitioning AMVIC to a public agency. This will ensure Alberta has a strong and trusted regulator that is well-positioned to protect consumers and build integrity in the industry.

“Increased transparency in automotive

transactions means consumers can feel even more confident in their decisions on how to spend their hard-earned money.

AMVIC’s mandate is consumer protection through education and industry regulation, and AMVIC has been working closely with industry to ensure they are ready to comply with the new legislation. These new laws benefit all Albertans by creating a fair marketplace for consumers and businesses alike,” said Bill Burnett, board chair of Alberta Motor Vehicle Industry Council.

BODYSHOP SHOOTING Tragedy has hit Edmonton’s automotive repair industry.

An autopsy has confirmed that Ahmed Azmi Ahmed, owner of Aftermath Autohaus, was killed as a result of gunshots wounds he suffered outside of his repair facility in downtown Edmonon. He was shot while working inside his shop on the morning of Oct. 23.

Emergency medical staff responded to the scene just after 9:20 a.m., rushing Ahmed to hospital where he was later pronounced dead.

Known to the collision repair community as an affable entrepreneur committed to the industry, police continue to investigate Ahmed’s untimely death. Currently no arrests have been made in connection to the shooting.

Owner of Aftermath Autohaus was shot and killed outside his shop near the end of October.

SLIPPERY ROADS RESULTS IN 108 COLLISIONS FOR EDMONTON IN ONE DAY A staggering 108 collisions occurred in Edmonton on a weekend near the end of September due to poor weather conditions.

There was a total of 18 collisions between 12 a.m. and 9 a.m. on the Saturday alone.

Edmonton police reported three hit and run collisions, three

collisions that involved injuries and 12 collisions that caused property damages.

There were three separate collisions in the same area, two of which involved fire rescue trucks.

Police issued a statement warning driver to slow down prior to the accidents that occurred.

▲ A record number of 108 collisions

happened in Edmonton during one weekend in September.

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REGIONAL NEWS | SASKATCHEWAN

PROVINCE RECONSIDERS DISTRACTED DRIVING FINES The strict new distracted driving fines in Manitoba have Saskatchewan thinking of turning down that route as well.

The fines have gone up from $203 to $672, which means Manitoba went from having one of the lowest distracted driving fines in Canada to now one of the harshest.

This prompted the minister responsible for Saskatchewan Government Insurance, Joe Hargave to state he’s not afraid to follow the same regulations.

A distracted driving fine in Saskatchewan right now, is among the lowest in the country.

The fine for driving while using your smartphone in the province is $280.

But this isn’t the first province in Canada turning towards stricter fines. Prince Edward Island’s fine is $575, while B.C follows suit by fining first offenders $543 and repeat offenders up to $888. For Ontario the fine is $490 but if you try to fight it and lose, it goes up to $1,000.

The reason these fines have increased is because insurance agencies are pushing for stronger punishments.

Saskatchewan is looking to bring laws into place that would crack down on cell phone use while driving.

In 2012, there were 4,780 distracted driving-related crashes in Manitoba; that number only increased atomically in 2017.

In Saskatchewan last year there were 6,399

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distracted driving related crashes.

Data from SGI shows that distracted driving collisions have been up and down in the past few years.

MANITOBA | REGIONAL NEWS

DEER DO THEIR BIT Manitoba Public Insurance is asking humanity to declare a truce with the natural world.

The public insurer has issued warnings to the provinces drivers reminding them to avoid collisions with deer, particularly in the southeastern corner of the province.

With more than 1,700 collisions with deer last year, the Eastman Region, which borders both Ontario and Minnesota,

The Fort Rouge Auto Centre team. Even in the densely populated Greater Winnipeg Area, deer cause thousands of collisions each year.

is ground zero. There, a driver’s odds of crashing into one of the even-toed ungulates are better than anywhere else in Canada—better, at least, for collision repair industry.

While the sacrifices made by Eastman deer on behalf of the industry deserve special notice, populations in other regions of Manitoba are—by any measure—doing their bit. Last year, Manitobans reported

more than 11,000 wildlife collisions—the majority of which were with deer. It is estimated that they cost the insurer more than $40 million per annum.

Even in urbanized Winnipeg, more than 7,000 of the repair industry’s furry comrades have laid down their lives for the cause. In fact, MPI has gone so far as to identify more than a dozen high-risk areas within the city, and placed hard-to-miss warnings in them.

Bambi looks toward a Manitoba highway, planning a vainglorious charge against the passing vehicles. Last year, collisions with large fauna cost MPI about $40 million.

DECEMBER 2018 COLLISION REPAIR 89

REGIONAL NEWS | ONTARIO

OMVIC SLAMS DEALERSHIP FOR UNSAFE AND UNLICENSED REPAIRS A North York dealership that allegedly hired an unlicensed auto repairer to work on a vehicle it later sold have been charged by the Ontario Motor Vehicle Industry Council (OMVIC). Accused of making false, misleading or deceptive representations of the car, Signature Motor Car now faces a $45,000 fine and ordered to pay an additional $17,313 in restitution to the customer.

In 2015, Tian Cheng Kuang had bought a 2013 Mercedes Benz C350 from Signature Motor Car, located in North York. The following year, Kuang was driving his vehicle on roads covered with freezing rain and slid into a stopped vehicle. After the collision, Kuang was surprised by the extent of the damage to his car. “The front end almost fell off.”

When Kuang purchased the vehicle, he was told it had been in a previous accident, but the repairs were made and had passed the safety inspection. What he didn’t know was that the vehicle was nearly totaled and suffered an estimated $31,144 in damage in a collision that happened in 2014. The vehicle, which was salvaged, was then repaired and rebranded as rebuilt.

Evidence presented at trial demonstrated

Signature Auto Motors in North York dealership faces steep fines after OMVIC says it hired an unlicensed repairer to work on a vehicle it later sold.

the vehicle was outright missing components, while some other components that should have been replaced were instead repaired.

The court also heard there were open welds, a portion of the bumper was held on with a zip-tie and a frame rail and a sub-frame component had been welded even though that type of repair is not allowed.

The Ministry of Transportation Branding Officer who had taken part in the trial, compared the repairs to “a dog’s breakfast.”

The Structural Inspection Certificate stated that the vehicle could be driven again, which was not true and should

not have been issued by the inspection station. “The consumer did not receive clear, comprehensible, and prominent disclosure of the vehicle’s past as required by the Motor Vehicle Dealers Act,” explained Don Cousens, manager of investigations for OMVIC. “Nor did he know that the Mercedes had been repaired so poorly after the 2014 collision, or by means completely outside of industry norms, as to be largely hazardous.”

Kuang told OMVIC that when he approached the dealer after his collision, explaining that the car was irrepairable; not because of the $8,185 damage he’d caused rear-ending the Hyundai, but because of the improper repairs done by signature’s repairer, he got nowhere.

“Once OMVIC became involved, we investigated the entire transaction,” stated John Carmichael, OMVIC CEO and registrar.

“This led to additional concerns about possible false representations made by the dealer in regards to financing and the fact the sales contract did not accurately reflect the true nature of the transaction. Negative equity from Kuang’s trade-in had been disguised on the bill-of-sale.”

CULLING THE COLLEGE OF TRADES Ontario’s provincial government announced in October that the Ontario College of Trades will cease operations in early 2019 after a winding down period.

The Making Ontario Open for Business Act, which also scuttled plans for a raise the minimum wage, lays out plans for the creation of a new government organization to handle some of the OCOT’s duties, with any others reverting to the Ministry of Training, Colleges, and Universities.

While Doug Ford’s government has said the College is a “source of unnecessary and burdensome complexity for skilled trades employment in the province,” not everyone agrees. Speaking to Collision Repair on the condition of anonymity, one member of the provincial organization described the closure as ‘unfortunate.’

“The move will not benefit technicians or the general public,” the source said. “The College of Trades’ duties will still need to be performed.”

Founded in 2009, the College’s compliance and enforcement officers are mandated to ensure restricted trades like autobody and collision repair are either trades licensed or registered apprentices.

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ONTARIO | REGIONAL NEWS

TORNADO TAKES DOWN TESLA A brand new Tesla was one of the many vehicles devastated from the reported six tornados that touched down in the Ottawa and Quebec area near the end of September.

Shawn Jamieson, operations general manager of CARSTAR Collision in Ottawa, shared with Collision Repair that they had 20 towed vehicles come in on just the one day alone. “But that doesn’t include the countless insurance assignments,” he said.

▲A damaged Tesla with repairs estimated at $50,000 from the multiple tornados that touched down in Ottawa.

Approximately half of the damaged vehicles that had come into CARSTAR had to be written-off. “There were plenty of total losses,” Jamieson said. The damages involved a vast majority of the vehicle from pelted debris, which resulted in severe dents and glass damage.

The costs of these repairs are above average. When he started to do the estimates on the damaged Tesla, Jamieson got to $50,000 and stopped. “The Tesla was devastated and so was the owner.”

Jamieson made a point to state that the insurance companies have been really helpful during this time. “They have been communicating well in a timely fashion, and they are letting us do our thing—there are no push backs,” Jamieson said.

As reported earlier this week, Desjardins Insurance Group donated $50,000 for relief from those affected by the tornado. “We work with Desjardins a ton and they have been at the top of our list.”

TOP AUTO INSURERS FACING MASSIVE LAWSUITS A series of proposed lawsuits have been issued against six major auto insurance companies in Ontario for allegedly engaging in unfair and illegal practices with HST calculations against accident victims.

The statements claimed that Aviva, Intact, Belair, Allstate, Unifund and Certas didn’t pay HST on benefits for certain cases but included HST calculations for benefit entitlements to others.

A lawyer representing one of the claimants said that the insurers shortchanged thousands of auto-accident victims, reducing care benefits to injured individuals to boost already record profitability, Global News reported.

According to the lawsuits, Jill Nicholson was one of the accident victims being treated ‘unfairly.’ Nicholson was hit by a truck and claimed that her benefits had run out six years after her accident. Traumatized from her incident, she no longer has coverage for psychologist visits and only receives the minimal benefits for massage therapy.

The suit also included action against Ontario’s insurance regulator, the Financial Services Commission of Ontario, for knowing about the HST issue for years and not doing anything about it.

In total the lawsuits are seeking $600 million in compensation and an injunction to prevent further alleged breaking of the rules around payments of the HST, Global News reported.

One of the lawyers also told Global News that 60,000 injuries occur every year in Ontario as a result of vehicle accidents, and that the alleged issue could be more widespread.

DECEMBER 2018 COLLISION REPAIR 91

REGIONAL NEWS | QUEBEC

QUEBEC VETERANS TO BE HONOURED WITH NEW LICENSE PLATES Quebec veterans will now be honoured on Canadian roads with specially designed licensed plates after Francois Bonnardel, minister of transport, gave the mandate to Quebec’s automobile insurance board SAAQ. The new authorization made by Bonnardel, which will affect the roughly 60,000 veterans in Quebec, will consist of a unique design on license plates to honour the contributions of these veterans.

Since 2005 veterans in Quebec have been recognized with a small poppy design placed on their license plates.

The new announcement comes to the delight of many veterans in the province including Pierre Dugal, a spokesperson for the committee of veterans that has been advocating for changes to the plates for over a decade.

What the design will look like is still unclear, but the government is asking for recommendations from veterans and members of the community. Dugal’s committee has already prepared a list of suggestions, including a request for the words “veterans” and “former combatants” to be included.

The Coalition Avenir Quebec is following through on their campaign promise to fast-track the creation of these new plates, something that has been a pleasant surprise for Dugal.

"We have no words to describe the speed of execution."

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Quebec veterans remember those from the past.

ATLANTIC | REGIONAL NEWS

Special guests launch the 2018 National Skilled Trades and Technology Week in Halifax with a virtual car painting challenge

TRYING OUT THE TRADES Skills Canada’s (SCC) 14th National Skilled Trades and Technology Week (NSTTW) was aimed at raising awareness among students and educators about the incredible skilled trade and technology career opportunities available across Canada.

SCC hosted the week-long event on November 6 at the Halifax Convention Centre, where it kicked off with a virtual car painting challenge. One of the judges and the commentator for the challenge was Leanne Jeffries, director of the Skills Canada Collision Repair program.

Following the official launch, approximately 500 students from local high schools and post-secondary institutions participated in over 30 Try-A-Trade and technology activities held by educators and industry experts. These activities included autobody repair, mechanical engineering, aesthetics, electronics, virtual welding, precision machining, CAD and many more. Throughout the day, students got a first-hand-look at educational pathways and interesting career opportunities in several different trade and technology sectors.

“With the significant evolution of technology and digital skills, tradespeople need to be proficient with the digital tools of trade. National Skilled Trades and Technology Week was created to raise awareness and create discussion about the important careers that are available to youth in the skilled trades and technologies and the skills needed to succeed,” said Shaun Thorson, chief executive officer of Skills Canada.

Also highlighted at the event was the importance of Continuous Learning, one of the nine essential skills identified as fundamental to working in the skilled trade and technology industries. According to the Advisory Council on Economic Growth, by 2030 the growing adoption of automation is projected to displace nearly one quarter of the tasks performed

by Canadian workers. While some of those most affected will be able to find alternative opportunities in the same or related field, it is expected that 10 to 12 percent of the workforce will face job loss and struggle to find new positions unless they acquire new formal qualifications.

The upcoming Skills Canada National Competition will be hosted in Halifax on May 28 - 29, 2019, at the Halifax Exhibition Centre.

DECEMBER 2018 COLLISION REPAIR 93

BODYWORX THE VOICE OF COLLISION REPAIR TECHS & PAINTERS

PROFESSIONAL

DEBONDING WELDING MYTHS FROM THE FACTS KEEP YOUR TEAM INFORMED WITH BODYWORX PROFESSIONAL

By Jordan Arseneault

Filled with vital information about today’s auto repair procedures, Bodyworx Professional, a sister publication of Collision Repair, celebrates the pride, passion and skill of Canada’s collision trade professionals.

Support the future of the collision repair trade by letting your team know about the magazine and its digital edition!

Visit bodyworxmag.com to learn more!

I

n this month’s issue, Bodyworx Professional sat down with Sean Slaven, owner of Absolute Solutions and representative for Arslan Automotive Canada, to discuss some of the common misconceptions that exist within the industry. With a diverse background of work experience dealing with both welding and tools and equipment, Slaven was a perfect candidate to help shed light on some of the incorrect knowledge being spread throughout the repairer community. Having visited his fair share of repair shops over the course of his career, Slaven has just about seen it all. He is passionate about educating those involved in the trade, not only to help repair facilities become more efficient, but to also keep drivers on the road safe. In this interview Slaven shares his extensive knowledge of bonding and the changes he has seen from the use of oxy-acetylene to the introduction of the Uni-Body .

This is where Slaven saw the birth of the MIG/MAG welder within the collision repair industry. Due to the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards, the collision industry and technicians have seen the introduction of ultra high strength steels, aluminum, carbon fibre and other exotic materials.

The MIG/MAG welder and the TIG welder both have their uses but when it comes to bonding aluminum their is one clear choice!

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▲ S ean Slaven, Ontario sales manager for Arslan Automotive Canada

BODYWORX PROFESSIONAL: THE ULTIMATE REPAIRER RESOURCE

1) THE TRUTH ABOUT TIG WELDERS TIG welders should be used to bond aluminum on a vehicle. Slaven explains that this is not only a common misconception in repair shops, but also one that can cause unnecessary damage to a vehicle.

According to Slaven a MIG/MAG Pulse welder must be used, as the high frequency arc used by the TIG welder can disturb the sensors in a vehicle. Regardless of if the battery is connected or not, any part on a vehicle being repaired with a TIG welder will lead to problems with the automobile’s on-board computers. In the event of a TIG welder being improperly used, collision shops can expect to see a variety of lights appear on their dashboards, or as Slaven likes to put it “your dashboard will light up like a Christmas tree.”

2) MISUNDERSTANDING MIG WELDERS I can use a standard MIG welder to fix today’s vehicles. This is a myth many technicians believe today, but because of the introduction of new materials such as ultra high strength steels, aluminum and carbon fibre the technician may be required to use various methods of bonding. These methods include Squeeze Type resistance spot welders (STRSW), MIG/MAG Pulse Welders, rivet bonding and panel bonding. In some instances all four methods can be used in a repair.

This is why it is crucial for collision repair shops and technicians to adhere to and follow OEM repair procedures. The use of resistance spot welders has been adapted by OEM’s because of the introduction of ultra high strength steels. This allows the technician to bond ultra high strength steel with minimal damage to the molecular structure.

In cases where the STRSW cannot be used, the OEM repair procedure will indicate to the technician what method of bonding is required, such as MIG/MAG pulse Brazing.

3) IT ISN’T ALWAYS FACTORY OR FLOP ‘I’m repairing it correctly because that’s the way the factory made it.’ It is a common misconception in the industry that repairing something correctly is to use the same process the vehicle went through when it was first built. An example of this is an OEM using a STRSW to build the vehicle, but calling for rivet bonding and panel bonding in conjunction with each other as the proper repair procedure.

4) THE FUTURE MAY BE MIG/MAG The fourth myth is not actually a myth, but rather a prediction into the future. Slaven believes MIG/MAG pulse brazing will become more common place within the repair process when bonding UHSS. According to Slaven MIG/MAG pulse brazing is ideal due to its lower melting point. Utilizing a method that generates significantly less heat is extremely beneficial, as it lowers the margin of error that exists from the threat of the welder disturbing the molecular structure of the steel. In the end the technique is able to maintain the structural integrity of the vehicle, which will ultimately better protect the vehicle’s occupants.

KNOW YOUR WELDERS Metal Inert Gas (MIG) Welding

is an arc welding process in which a continuous solid wire electrode is fed through a welding gun and into the weld pool, joining the two base materials together. Shielding gases are sent through the welding gun, protecting the weld pool from contamination.

Tungsten Inert Gas (TIG) Welding

uses a non-consumable tungsten electrode to channel the welding arc. The welding pool is protected from impurities by a cooled with an inert gas, typically argon. While MIG welders with a continuous feeding wire, while TIG requires the use of welding rods that are slowly fed into the weld puddle.

Resistance Spot Welding (RSW)

is a process in which contacting metal surface points are joined by the heat obtained from resistance to electric current. It is a subset of electric resistance welding. The process uses two copper alloy electrodes to concentrate welding current into a small point, clamping together the bond, and sending a current through it to bond it. An immense amount of power can be delivered to the spot in as little as 1/100,000 of a second.

From the publisher of Collision Repair, Bodyworx Professional is the world’s only trade publication specifically aimed at young people in the collision repair trade, and those considering entering the profession.

With an active readership spanning coastto-coast, Bodyworx Professional is an unparalleled resource to help your team stay in-the-know about the latest repair procedures, products business strategies to help keep your business operating at peak-performance.

We invite you to consider leaving the included copy of Bodyworx Professional in your team’s break room.

Visit bodyworxmag.com to learn more!

DECEMBER 2018 COLLISION REPAIR 95

PRODUCTS

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VW SMART SPOT WELDER ARSLAN AUTOMOTIVE

Arslan Automotive’s VW Smart Spot Welder makes the VW squeeze type resistance Spot Welder available to all of its’ Canadian distributors. The Smart Plus technology spot welder automatically detects the type and thickness of metal, setting its parameters automatically. It features a large user-friendly touch screen display and is completely water-cooled to the welding tips, with excellent cycle times. The tool produces 14,000-amps with a transformer gun of a 32-amp fuse only.

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arslanauto.com

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Spanesi’s Q5.2 is a multi-function inverter welding machine built from with steel, silicon and bronze. The machine operates on a 208-220V power supply and includes three torches.

The welder is a multi-function power source based on advanced technology will complete digital control. The Q5.2 offers premium welding quality in both MIG/MAG and Pulsed/Dual-Pulsed MIG on all material. It is especially effective on aluminum and galvinized steel.

The product’s splatter-free welding feature minimizes additional work after the weld. The machine also features a portable trolley with storage for two gas cylinders and a support for three torches. Additional storage also exists for other materials including: tools, electrode wire and contact tips.

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Q5.2 INVERTER WELDER SPANESI & COLLISION 360

collision360.ca

03

ESISTANCE SPOT WELDER R TECNA & ARSLAN AUTOMOTIVE

The TECNA Resistance Spot Welder is enabled with smart technology, featuring a large friendly touch screen, which can automatically detect the metal type and thickness. The resistance spot welder is completely water cooled to the weld tips, with excellent cycle times. The product ends up producing 14,000-amps with a transformer gun that has 32-amp fuse only.

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PRODUCTS

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BLUEWELD I PLUS SMART AQUA SPOT WELDER ARSLAN AUTOMOTIVE

Arslan Automotive’s introduces the Blueweld Spot welders for the more price conscious shop owner. The units are with inverter technology and Smart Auto set type. It features a 14,000-amp output and transformer guns. The welder can also automatically detect the metal type and thickness, as well as can set all of the welding parameters. It is completely water cooled to the welding tips – a must for all new steel alloys.

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05

I 4S SMART SPOT WELDER PRO SPOT

Described by Pro Spot as the “welder’s welder,” the i4s Smart Welder features a special smart gun designed to save time with a secondary gun-mounted display that allows for automatic parameter changes to be made and security alerts to be cleared on-the-go. Liquid-cooled to the tips and with an arm capable of 360 degree rotation, the machine is designed for use by welding professionals of every skill-level. In fact, it features an adaptive auto weld mode that continuously makes adjustments midweld. The system even provides training videos directly onto its high-definition display. The wireless built-in computer also allows for direct access to OEM procedural reports and email access on a build-in high-resolution display.

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FUME EXTRACTOR DIVERSITECH & COLLISION 360

With toxic welding fumes being one of the most serious health and safety concerns facing the industry today, this high vacuum extractor is designed to keep the shop floor in light to medium-duty welding applications in confined spaces. The designers say the extractor helps keep facilities OSHA compliant.

The company feels the appeal comes from the way it avoids compromising performance while remaining compact.The motor powers a three stage filtration process. First, a metal mesh pre-filter stops sparks from entering the machine. Then a MERV 15 NanoFiber filter captures any particles 0.5 microns and larger. Finally, an activated carbon panel works to reduce odours in the air before they are returned to your environment. To simplify maintenance, a built-in lamp that automatically senses when the filter needs to be cleaned or changed. The unit also includes a MIG gun adapter and a magnetic base.

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collision360.ca

DECEMBER 2018 COLLISION REPAIR 97

IN MEMORIUM

REPAIRERS AT REST REMEMBERING THE COLLISION INDUSTRY PROFESSIONALS WHO PASSED AWAY THIS YEAR RAYMON DOUGLAS JAMES

GREGG STERLING

1952-2018 Gregg Sterling, owner of S&J Auto Repair in Penosbsquis, New Brunswick, died in November, aged 66.

Known for a love of automobiles that went far beyond his calling as a collision repairer, Sterling is survived by his wife, Cindy, and son, Jonathan.

1945-2018 Raymond Douglas James of St. Catharines, Ontario has died, aged 73. Raymond was the previous owner and mechanic at James Brothers Car Repair, and the current owner of Ray James Auto Repair. Raymond was a fixture in the Western Hill community.

DAVE SMITH 1961-2018

Dave Smith, a longstanding icon in the industry, long-time AkzoNobel country manager for Canada, has died. Smith was instrumental in growing the AkzoNobel brand across the country, and a supporter of the CCIF committed to building-up the image of the industry. Last year he was appointed as the new U.S. east market regional sales leader, in charge of the company’s U.S. vehicle refinish operations east of the Mississippi.

Dave joined the AkzoNobel organization in 1993. He held various positions in sales, operations and technical departments in the Toronto, Calgary and Vancouver areas. He was regional sales manager for the western Canadian market before his appointment as country manager for Canada in 2010.

JEFF SANFORD

1971-2018 Jeff Sanford, the staff writer who brought his wit and whimsy to Collision Repair magazine’s Tuesday Ticker and Friday Fun columns, has died. By far this magazine’s most widely read writer, Sanford will be remembered for providing detailed industry analysis in a clear and often comical manner. A business journalist who had started writing with Investment Executive magazine, Sanford would go on to serve as a staff writer for two major Canadian publications, the National Post and Canadian Business.

In 2012, Sanford decided to a reporting return to his first love - business. Becoming a freelance writer for an array of magazines and newspapers, Sanford also took up a part-time role with Media Matters.

RALPH EDWARD DOUTHWRIGHT

ELNA ILONA POLVINEN

1925-2018 Elna Ilona Polvinen, a Canadian Immigrant from Finland, died in September, aged 93. In Canada, Elna and her husband built a wonderful life, including operating a pumping and automotive repair business in Timmins, Ontario. In her retirement, Elna stayed active by spending lots of time outdoors, hunting, fishing, and gardening.

1944-2017

Ralph Douthwright, owner of Ralph’s Auto Repair in Sussex, New Brunswick has died, aged 73. A long-time Sussex resident, Douthwright opened his repair facility in 1983.

During his career, Ralph stayed in touch with many stranded motorists that he rescued throughout 34 years. In his spare time, Ralph acted as a Scout Leader, a founding member of the NB Towing and Recovery Association and proud member of the Apohaqui and Lower Millstream communities.

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RENÉ LAPOINTE

1947-2018 René Lapointe , a well-known collision repair industry icon, consultant, trainer and educator has died. Lapointe had a 50-year career as a manager and trainer.

After his formal retirement in 2012, he continued to offer independent, bilingual customized training programs on estimating, time management for collision centre managers, and fibreglass repair. Lapointe began his autobody career with a General Motors truck centre in St-Laurent, Quebec, in 1965. Later a co-owner of Le Carrossier A & L, he then became an instructor for autobody repair and painting for General Motors and then for NAPA. From 1997 to 2012 Lapointe taught at École des Métiers de l’Équipement Motorisé de Montréal and operated his independent consulting and training business, Communications Réne Lapointe.

JOHN ROSSI

1929-2017 John Rossi, an automot ive me chanic, died in October, aged 88. After immigrating to Canada in 1957, John was first employed at Lakehead Motors, and was then later employed at Kam Motors as a mechanic. In 1963 John opened his own business, Ogden Texaco, which later became Rossi’ Esso. John worked at his garage for 52 years.

STEPHEN RIPPLE

1946-2018 Stephen Ripple, owner and operator of Roy’s Auto Body in St. Catharines, ON. has died, aged 72. Stephen owned and operated his auto body shop for 35 years. Stephen was a proud grandfather to 12 grandchildren and 4 great-grandchildren.

RECYCLER EVENT

Steve Fletcher, David Gold, Olivier Gaudeau, Ed MacDonald, Ted Taya, Andy Latham.

AUTO RECYCLING GOES GLOBAL IN ORLANDO CANADIANS SHINE BRIGHT AT 75TH ANNUAL ARA CONFERENCE AND TRADESHOW

By Steve Fletcher

T

he 75th Automotive Recyclers Association Annual Convention and Tradeshow saw an invasion of Canadian auto recyclers helping to advance the global auto recycling industry.

From suppliers like Cliff Hope from PMR Catalyst, Philippe Clermont from Power-DB and Henk Huijgen from ELV Select/SEDA, to Board Members Dalbert Livingstone from Island Auto.

Supplier, Ed MacDonald at Maritime Auto Parts and ARA President David Gold of Standard Auto Wreckers, the Canadians seemed to have been everywhere.

While in the past, the ARA convention’s content may have tended to focus on the American market, this convention had a distinctly global flavor—an initiative largely spearheaded by Gold and the executive team, who have spent the last year attending events across four continents.

With presentations such as Working in a Global Industry, France’s Circular Economy for Auto Recyclers, and my own wrap-up panel—Automotive Recycling Concepts from Around the World. ARA even hosted an International Networking Reception with representatives

The 75th ARA convention had a global perspective this year, with various panels and presentations.

DECEMBER 2018 COLLISION REPAIR 99

RECYCLER EVENT

During the convention, Canada was acknowledged as a North American leader within the auto recycling field.

( Top) Car-Part’s Roger Schroder took home the 2018 recipient member of the year award during this years convention.

(Right) ARA president, David Gold and Paula Knapp from Commercial Forms Recycler Supply.

( Below) The team from Mulimetco Inc. in front of their booth that was showcased during the event.

from Brazil, Canada, England, Poland, Australia, Japan and of course the U.S. Ten years ago, Canadians would have been an interesting novelty to the majority of ARA delegates, but now, Canada is recognized as a North American leader in the auto recycling field, with many commenting on how progressive Canadians have been regarding the adoption of standards, training, government and OEM engagement and overall promotion of the industry. In fact, three of the five ARA Executive Members have signed up for the big Ontario association meeting in Toronto in March—a reflection of the influence that Canadian Members are having within ARA and the overall industry.

The ARA convention also saw the official launch of the Recyclers Mentoring Sessions - with recyclers hooking-up the event and pledging to be involved in each other’s businesses to help grow the industry and recruit the next round of industry leaders.

Attending conventions are a great way to keep up on the ever changing trends, problems and opportunities, but when your peers step up and deliberately try to aid their fellow recyclers—that takes learning to another level.

The overall event ended with dessert and fireworks that only Disney could pull off—a fitting end to a magical weekend that cemented Canada’s place as an innovator in the global auto recycling industry.

(Left to right) Auto recyclers Neil Nissenbaum, Becky Berube, Scott Robertson and Chad Counselman.

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Leah Lawrence of Sustainable Development Technology Canada, and Ajay Kochhar of Li-Cycle.

CANADA’S LONG TERM INVESTMENT IN CLEAN TECH The Sustainable Development Technology of Canada (SDTC) provided Li-Cycle with $2.7 million to establish a pilot plant for recycling all types of lithium-ion batteries. Li-Cycle, one of the clean technology companies that looks after the recycling of lithium-ion batteries like those found in electric vehicles, believes it can increase the percentage of battery materials that can be recycled from 30 percent to more than 80 percent.

The Ontario Tires Stewardship (OTS) program will be no more come December 31, 2018. In the new year, tire producers will also be directly responsible for ensuring that tires are collected from Ontario residents and businesses. According to another news outlet the RPRA had said they will function differently from the OTS program, which had managed millions of dollars in fees, spending the bulk on tire disposal costs.

TIRE TAKE BACK ON A ROLL IN ONTARIO Ontarians recycled a total of 9,617 used tires, raising $14,142 in support of the Sunshine foundation. Since the genesis of Tire Take Back in 2009, Ontarians have collected 519,902 used tires, resulting in a total of $1,131,117 in donations to Sunshine, and effectively providing hundreds of life-changing dream experiences for children living with severe physical disabilities or life-threatening illnesses. To celebrate this year’s success, members from OARA, tire haulers and Sunshine gathered at Erin Auto Recyclers in Erin, Ontario, the recycler with the highest number of tires collected across the province.

SWITCH OUT’S FINAL SWEEP Ontarians recycled a total of 9,617 used tires, raising $14,142 in support of the Sunshine foundation.

ONTARIO TIRE DEALERS GET THE LATEST ON NEW RECYCLING PROGRAM Ontario tire collectors are to register by the end of the month with a new regulatory group, the Resource Productivity and Recovery Authority.

The award-winning program began in 2001 designed to remove, collect and manage mercury-containing convenience lighting switches and anti-lock braking system sensor modules in end-of-life vehicles before they are recycled into new steel. Scout Environmental is asking people to return any pails, waybills or mercury switches they have on site by the end of October and that there will be late fees to companies that bring in returns past the end date.

Jeff and Roger Schroder of Car-Part.

IN SCHRODERS WE TRUST Car-Part’s Roger and Jeff Schroder were honoured by the Auto Recyclers Association during the group’s 75 anniversary convention in Orlando, Florida. Given to an individual each year who has distinguished his or herself among the ARA membership, the ARA Board were unanimous in their decision to select Roger Schroder as the 2018 recipient of the Member of the Year award. Roger’s brother, Car-Part president and CEO Jeff Schroder was awarded the ARA’s President’s Award, given to a member whose distinguish themself in their service to the ARA.

Owner Sheldon Blenkhorn, who founded Blenkhorn’s Auto Recyclers in 1965.

PRIDE OF NOVA SCOTIA Blenkhorn Auto Recyclers in Truro, Nova Scotia has received the Small Business Achievement award at this year’s Small Business Awards for the Truro & Colchester Chamber of Commerce. A family-run business, Blenkhorn’s Auto Recyclers was founded half-a-century ago by current-owner Sheldon Blenkhorn.The team processes approximately 600 locally sourced vehicles each year in the facility’s three dismantling bays. CAR

DECEMBER 2018 COLLISION REPAIR 102

RECYCLING

RECYCLERS ON THE RISE

By David Gold

Outgoing Auto Recyclers Association president David Gold’s adieu

...THIS OL JUNK MAN AIN’T HEADED FOR THE CRUSHER JUST YET, EVEN THOUGH MY DESK IS GETTING CLOSER TO THE LOADING DOCK.” - ARA PAST PRESIDENT HERB LIEBERMAN

David Gold of Standard Auto Wreckers is the president of the Automotive Recyclers Association. He can be reached at 416-286-8686.

A

lot has changed in these past few months within the ARA, and within the industry itself. We all acknowledge that the only constant will be the change going forward. Some of that will be within our control and some of it will not—so this has been our guiding principal.

Associations with strong volunteers can be so much more effective, so those of you that support it with your own personal time and especially the past presidents who have given us so much, with five full years on the executive committee, are acknowledged and appreciated for how they have helped pave the way for the association to get to this point.

Many of us have worked together for so long and developed strong friendships; we know we can count on each other.

We are one team, with united goals that makes our industry and the association flourish. Those of us that have been around and have gone through the ranks already know the dedication and time required to make ARA the best it can be, and we are all here for the right reasons. We have to as an industry look out for ourselves and push for what’s right as we know that others have and will continue to question our legitimacy.

I want to acknowledge Herb Lieberman who is going to be stepping back from his duties at LKQ Corporation at the end of this year, but he assures us—and I quote, “This ol’ junk man ain’t headed for the crusher just yet, even though my desk is getting closer to the loading dock.” A past president and lifetime member,

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Herb has offered us all at the ARA his support.

Now would be a good time to let Herb and other ARA legacy members know that we indeed desire to reach out to them and involve them—enabling us to build on their past experiences as we aim to promote strategic partnerships with key stakeholders that we know will benefit the auto recycling industry.

In addition to our desire to promote strategic partnerships, many have spoken up about an industry data study. This is a high priority.

Auto recyclers do so much good for the environment, economy and consumers alike. We need to boast about this in a concise and clear manner. No one else will spearhead this for us.

We have to turn our image into one that is seen in the most positive light.

With special outreach we as an association can tackle the tough issues as we strive to work on initiatives that can make a difference to the everyday lives of auto recyclers.

In 2017, we as a group acknowledged four key strategic pillars for ARA to focus on; data access, government relations, awareness and strategic partnerships. These have not changed the focus of the association’s resources, which are divided up based on where we believe they can make the biggest impact.

We are goal orientated and the strategy to divide and conquer is what we are all tasked to do—so we multi-task accordingly.

I trust that the auto recyclers out there feel energized about our great association and know that your leadership has made promises to protect all things auto recycling for all our collective interests and we will continue to do so.

THE LAST WORD

PUBLIC PROBLEM PRIVATE SOLUTION

By Gideon Scanlon

Repairers must push for B.C. auto insurance privatization ADVERTISER INDEX COMPANY

PAGE

3D Canada ................................... 12 3M Automotive ...................... 82-83 AkzoNobel ..................................... 4 ARSLAN ...................................... 56 Assured Automotive .................... 92 AsTech ......................................... 44 Audatex ....................................... 93 Auto Quip .................................. 100 Axalta .......................................... BC BETAG ..........................................60 Car-Part.com ............................. 103 Connected Automotive Systems.... 19 Carcone’s Auto Recycling .......... 27 Cardinal Couriers ........................ 48 CARSTAR Canada ........................ 7 CIIA .............................................. 13 Color Compass ........................... 86 CAS .............................................. 19 Devilbiss ....................................... 62 Finixa ......................................... 105 Fix Auto Canada .......................... 78 Flatline ......................................... 54 Formula Honda ........................... 11 Garmat ......................................... 91 Global Finishing Solutions .......... 89 IBIS .............................................. 68 Impact Auto Auctions ............... 101 Keystone ...................................... 70 KIA ............................................... 35 Martech ....................................... 10 Polyvance .................................... 25 PPG Canada ............................... 2,3 ProSpot ....................................... 31 RBL .............................................. 58 SATA Canada .............................. 51 Simplicity Car Care ..................... 15 Stark .......................................... 107 Steck ............................................ 90 Symach ........................................ 88 Thorold ........................................ 23 Tiger ............................................. 85 Transtar ....................................... 72 Valspar ......................................... 28 Wurth ............................................. 9

I

n 2018, Collision Repair spilled considerable ink covering the financial crisis facing the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia. As we have reported, the provincial government’s efforts to restore stability to the public insurer have resulted in the defamation of the collision community and increased premiums and reduced benefits for drivers. Despite this, it will lose $1 billion this year. For the collision community in particular, it isn’t just fiscal failures that are cause for alarm. For one thing, the existence of a publicly run makes the industry a political target. Last year, B.C. repairers saw the government stand behind baseless allegations that bodyshops had defrauded the ICBC by hundreds of millions of dollars.

While the province did back away from the claim, it hired 70 new estimators to make visits of northern repair facilities. This shows that, in the mind of elected officials, shops are the problem.

With 85 percent of the auto insurance market, the Crown corporation’s dominance has created a rift between B.C. facilities and those in the rest of Canada. Where others have had to convince multiple insurers of their ability to safely repair vehicles, they have an audience of one. While I-CAR courses have long been the most popular in most of the country, it is just picking up in B.C. as OEMs include I-CAR requirements for certifications.Privatization is—at least in the long-term—inevitable. The longer the public system drags on, the more difficulty the industry will have adjusting to its absence.

New Democrats consider the ICBC’s existence to be one of their crowning acheivements, making privatization unlikely under their watch. But no government lasts forever. While it may wait for three years, seven or 13, another government sits patiently in the wings.

It is also true that the NDP’s likely successors have never appeared predisposed to privatizing the industry. Where the province’s Liberal Party— which draws support from both Liberal and Conservative voters in federal elections—may have been willing to hold its nose while the insurance company’s profits could be used to offset budgetary shortfalls, however, that game is now up.

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The public system has never sat well with provincial Liberal voters, who viewed it as an affront to the open market. Moreover, the case has already been prepared.

While this magazine remains skeptical of the findings of partisan think-tank studies, the right-wing Fraser Institute has made a fulsome case against the ICBC, going far beyond philosophical concerns. According to the Fraser Institute, it isn’t just that B.C. drivers would spend less under a public system, but that the government’s pricing model is out of whack. Equality concerns have left elderly drivers subsidizing the premiums of the young, and the increased costs of drivers in some regions of relative roadway riskiness being offset by those on less hair-raising highways.

Less partisan sources appear to agree with the substance of this case. As a number of recent surveys have shown, the ICBC is outperformed by both Saskatchewan Government Insurance and Manitoba Public Insurance. In both provinces, the insurers consider a driver’s age and address in their premium pricing. Within the collision community, repairers from Saskatchewan and Manitoban—who do often grumble about their own public systems—generally acknowledge to Collision Repair that the prairie public systems operate similarly to private ones.

The ICBC, however, remains a beast unlike any other in Canada. While reformation might have seemed an obvious choice at the end of 2017, it no longer does.

As 2019 approaches, it is clear that efforts to restore the auto insurer’s finances have inspired more political theatre than—and the province has cast the collision repair community. Let us hope that the curtain drops on this farce before it takes on a tragic turn.

Gideon Scanlon is the editor of Collision Repair magazine He can be reached at 905-549-0454 or by email at gideon@ mediamatters.ca.