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WHY YOU SHOULD CARE ABOUT MENTAL HEALTH
Depression likely affects someone in your workplace. Can you help support them?
MENTAL HEALTH is a topic often not discussed enough. It’s traditionally been seen as a sign of weakness, particularly of men, if one is going through a tough time (or even when things are going great!) and having difficulty coping. Meanwhile, physical ailments or injuries are seen as unavoidable and worthy of sympathy.
But even if it’s not often talked about, depression likely affects someone in your workplace. In a report released in April, The Centers for Disease Control shows depression among U.S. adolescents and adults increased by 60% in the last decade. And 1 in 10 in the United States last year took prescription medication for depression. One key finding: 87.9% of adolescents and adults reported difficulty with work, home, or social activities due to their depression symptoms, and 31.2% reported extreme difficulty in performing these activities. Slighlty more female depression sufferers (43%) than males (33.2%) reported receiving therapy or counseling from a mental health professional in the past year, notes the CDC report.
Of course, those numbers don’t include those suffering without medication or counseling helping them get better. The National Alliance on Mental Health Illness notes that 1 in 5 adults lives with a mental health condition.
May is Mental Health Awareness Month, formed in 1949 by what is now known as Mental Health America. This year, its campaign theme is “Turn Awareness into Action,” which celebrates “the progress we’ve made in recognizing the
importance of mental health — and challenging us to turn understanding into meaningful steps toward change.” It’s almost incredible to me that this campaign was formed 76 years ago and we still have much room for improvement. Thankfully, the tide may be turning. In this month’s feature, Andy Tylka shares his own personal mental health challenges. I applaud him not only for that but for providing mental health coverage to his employees... at no cost. I know not all will be in a position to replicate that healthcare package. But we can start by encouraging an open dialogue about it and offering assistance, beginning with a shoulder to lean on.
JAY SICHT EDITOR-IN-CHIEF jsicht@endeavorb2b.com
CURRENT OEM DATA
Collision & mechanical repairs
SIMPLIFIED BLUEPRINTING Faster, more precise estimates
ONE-STOP ADAS RESOURCE Accurate and safe repairs
DETAILED PROCEDURES Materials, body, frame, etc. #1 WIRING DIAGRAMS
electrical diagnosis
MORE SHOPS PAID FOR USING COLOR-MATCH SPECTROPHOTOMETER
MORE THAN ONE IN FIVE SHOPS have billed insurers for the labor time required to set up and use a spectrophotometer, or color match camera, according to the quarterly “Who Pays for What?” survey completed earlier this year.
A higher percentage of shops report they are paid regularly for it by eight large national insurance companies. Collision Advice and CRASH Network conduct the quarterly surveys.
“We only started asking this question two years ago,” said Mike Anderson,
president of independent shop training and consulting firm Collision Advice. “In that time, the percentage of shops who believe that insurers ‘never’ pay for this procedure has dropped from 71% to 65%, while the number of shops saying they are paid for it ‘always’ or ‘most of the time,’ has grown.”
In response to inquiries submitted through the Database Enhancement Gateway, all three major estimating system providers confirmed that using the camera to determine a color code formulation is not included in the published refinish labor times.
“As automakers come out with more variations of colors, the use of a camera can become even more critical,” Anderson said. “It can be a not-inconsiderable amount of time in that you may have to buff or clean the panel prior to using the camera, and ensure you have the vehicle or panel placed in certain lighting conditions.”
Visit FenderBender.com/news for daily updates from around the collision repair industry.
CERTIFIED COLLISION GROUP RETURNS TO NASHVILLE
A record number of affiliates and vendor partners returned to Music City.
By JAY SICHT
THE CERTIFIED COLLISION GROUP returned to Nashville, Tennessee, for its annual conference, Mar. 30 - Apr. 1, and its fourth annual event broke records in the Music City. “Our annual conference saw a record number of affiliates, vendor and strategic partners in attendance at
JAY SICHT
400+,” said Michelle Sullivan, CEO of Certified Collision Group.As she noted in her welcoming address, CCG began 10 years ago “to level the playing field and provide a competitive advantage” built on three pillars: improved shop performance, enhanced insurance carrier relationships, and amplified purchasing power.The energetic conference brought together high-performing CCG affiliates sharing their strategies for success in panel discussions, engaging keynote speakers, and breakout sessions on topics including using AI, how to drill down an examination of financial numbers, how to market OEM certifications, and how adding a CFO to your staff can reap benefits.A vendor fair
with over 40 exhibitors was open during meals and breaks, offering everything from paint to management software from CCG vendor partners.
“It is exciting to see the evolution and growth from our inaugural conference in 2022,” Sullivan said. “Value-driven partnerships and trust are the foundation in all that we do. Bringing together the brightest minds across North America and creating the opportunity to collaborate, learn, share ideas and network is powerful, and that is what our conference provides. We introduced a few new programs and will continue to enhance value for our affiliates, vendor and strategic partners in 2025 and beyond.”
Value-Driven Partnerships
CEO Michelle Sullivan noted CCG’s evolution since its formation 10 years ago to “level the playing field and provide a competitive advantage.
Over 40 Vendor Partners exhibited at the vendor fair.
JAY SICHT
Talking Shop Carolyne Vasconcellos (left) and Jessica Wanek greet CCG affiliates at the vendor fair.
Shop CFO
In a breakout session, Rachel James, Adam Asby, and Ron Reichen talk about how a shop CFO has a unique perspective on daily operations to maintain profitability.
Songwriting On The Spot Nashville-based songwriter Jimmy Yeary ended the event as the closing keynote speaker with a delightful and often humorous method of writing a song, “That’s Who We Are,” based on attendees’ life experiences.
On The Rooftop Tuesday evening’s trek
to Jason Aldean’s Kitchen + Rooftop Bar for hors d’oeuvres, drinks, and dancing closed out the event.
BREAKDOWN
HANDS-ON TRAINING FOR THE FRONT OFFICE
The goal of the new 3M course is for repair planners/estimators and other staff to better understand the repair process. That improves repair plan accuracy and communication.
By JAY SICHT
MOST COLLISION REPAIR technical training is geared toward the technician. “OK,” you might say to yourself. “And water’s wet.”
But 3M’s new Front Office Training Course, which launched May 1 at the 3M Skills Development Center in St. Paul, Minnesota after eight months of piloting, has a different goal. The three-day hands-on learning course seeks to bridge the communication gap between estimators, insurance
companies, technicians, and shop owners by giving front office professionals a tactile understanding of repair operations. The course immerses participants in practical repair tasks (like sectioning panels and welding) to understand the labor involved in repairs — particularly operations often overlooked in repair plans or estimates.
“You don’t need to be the world’s greatest body tech or the world’s greatest painter,”
says Digital Performance Manager John Ascheman, who developed the course with Application Engineer Specialist Ryan Marrinan. Instead, front office professionals learn core body and paint processes using OEM repair procedures so they can better understand how they’re performed. This translates into a better rapport with production staff and being able to negotiate with the insurance company to “help sell more dollars for your shop.”
The new course is an outgrowth of existing body and paint courses at the SDC, Ascheman says. Attendees had asked how to get some of the same information to front office staff but not as in-depth.
“This course really ties together the understanding behind, ‘Well, I need to cut this panel off, and I’m going to need these types of abrasives to do it,’” Marrinan says. “We give you the chance to go through those different processes and get a good hands-on
3M Application Engineer Specialist Ryan Marrinan observes a student applying a seam sealer bead at 3M’s Skills Development Center. The Front Office Collision Repair Training Course opened May 1.
understanding of what is being explained, and then how you can use that to support a better repair plan or estimate, or even just a better discussion within the shop.”
The two joined the April 9 CollisionCast to talk about the new course.
“Ask the adjuster”
There are many quality courses already available teaching how to write an estimate/ repair plan at a desk using information providers’ systems, Ascheman notes.
“That is not what this class is,” he says. “We wanted to be something different in the industry.”
Instead, on day one the new course begins with an estimate already written for a vehicle. “And we build a repair plan for that vehicle and go through the actual repair process of this vehicle from beginning to end. On reviewing the estimate, we look up OEM repair procedures. And then we
start looking into how to have meaningful conversations with insurance companies to work with them, understand where they’re coming from, what type of documentation they need and why they need those types of documentation.”
The first day includes sectioning a frame rail and what is required to install a quarter panel, learning about squeeze-type resistance spot welding and what a proper weld should look like, including performing destructive testing and mistakes commonly made by technicians, such as grinding a weld too deeply and damaging the internal structure. Proper surface preparation, including abrasives and adhesives selection, are also covered.
“Day one really sets the stage and is probably the most intense hands-on day there is,” Marrinan says.
At the beginning of each module, Ascheman says, is an “ask the adjuster” section
to discuss the typical pushback the insurer would provide. On the second day, Marrinan says, attendees learn how to repair a small dent on a fender, followed by how technicians could make a mistake, such as increasing the size of the repair larger than it needs to be.
“As an example, when the insurance company [adjuster] says, ‘Well, that dent is small enough you shouldn’t have to blend into that next panel.’ As much as that drives me nuts, I have to admit that sometimes the insurance company may be right.”
“We walk them through the process of what typically happens in a shop that causes them to have to blend the next panel, and if you’re not getting paid for that, what is the effect that it has on the shop” for lost labor, lost materials, and so on. OEM position statements and bulletins about how and where body filler should be applied, along with ensuring proper cor -
rosion protection are also covered. And for that last point, the two trainers note that “corrosion protection” is simply a line item originally intended to absolve an insurer of liability and doesn’t reflect the entire process, which may include etch wipes for “box rash,” epoxy primer, and seam sealer, in addition to cavity wax.
Primed for success
Texture coatings, such as rocker guard, are taught on the second day, including notincluded operations such as masking and test spray-outs, are taught on the second day. On the third day, attendees also learn spray gun use by prepping, masking, and priming their repaired fenders and learn about what is and what is not included in estimating systems for these operations. By the time they get to Day 3, they’re all taking bets with each other on who’s going to have a better paint job, even though no
one’s ever pulled the trigger before,” Ascheman says.
Attendees are coached on how to use the proper gun angle and adjustments needed for proper application, and later how to denib and polish their painted fender.
This isn’t a product-pitch course, the course developers note — it’s about process integrity, repair standards, and giving shop professionals the confidence and knowledge to improve communication, write better estimates, and ultimately deliver higher-quality repairs.
“At the end of the day, when you’re trying to get everything added to an estimate, the pushback from an insurance company [adjuster] is they have to run it to their managers, or they have to run it through their AI systems,” Marrinan says. “And so if they can’t themselves be able to support what it is you’re asking for, they’re just going to decline it upfront. With the
Front Office course, it’s both the “science of why” as well as the “science of how” to write a better repair plan/estimate and how to capture all of those missing operations that we’re doing and should be doing on a daily basis.”
For more information, go to 3MCollision. com/Learn, or scan the QR code to listen to the CollisionCast.
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KYLE THOMPSON NAMED I-CAR CEO/PRESIDENT
Kyle G. Thompson has been named to succeed John Van Alstyne — who announced his impending retirement April 2024 — to lead I-CAR as CEO and president effective May 5, announced Board Chair Jennifer Goforth in a news release.
“It has been an incredible privilege to lead I-CAR over the past 15 years, and I’m deeply proud of the work we’ve accomplished as a team on behalf of the industry,” said John Van Alstyne. “As an industry, we are more broadly performing complete, safe and quality repairs and more connected because of the dedication of our team and the support of our partners. I have full confidence in Kyle’s leadership and the future of I-CAR under his guidance.”
During Van Alstyne’s tenure, I-CAR reinvested over $57.9 million into initiatives to better serve the industry. He also led significant growth in I-CAR Gold Class shops, nearly quadrupling the number of credentialed shops to over 10,000 by the end of 2024.
Thompson, who holds an MBA from University of the Incarnate Word, served on ICAR’s board of directors for nine years and assumed the chairmanship in 2020. According to his LinkedIn profile, he was vice president of client services at Gerber Collision & Glass since August 2023 and previously worked in claims departments for Progressive Insurance and USAA for over 29 years.
“John’s leadership has been transformative for I-CAR, and we are incredibly grateful for his tireless efforts in shaping the organization into what it is today,” Goforth said. “As we transition to a new era with Kyle as CEO, we are confident in his ability to continue building on the solid foundation John has laid. Kyle’s deep industry experience and commitment to I-CAR’s vision and mission make him the ideal person to lead the organization forward.”
Thompson’s longstanding commitment to I-CAR was recognized when he was awarded the organization’s prestigious Founder’s Award in 2023 for his unwavering commitment to upholding and advancing I-CAR’s vision and mission.
“I am both honored and excited to step into the CEO role at I-CAR,” Thompson said. “John has left an extraordinary legacy, and I’m committed to continuing the important work he leaves behind. I look forward to collaborating with our dedicated team, industry partners, and stakeholders to ensure that I-CAR remains a trusted leader in advancing consumer safety, technical education and related services, and serving our industry with excellence.”
CCC CRASH REPORT ANALYZES EVOLVING U.S. CAR PARC
CCC’s latest Crash Report examines how more complex repairs are driven by the increasing complexity of vehicles, particularly EVs and hybrids. Advanced driver assistance systems are becoming more common, adding additional calibration and diagnostic work. Repair shops need a wider variety of parts on hand to finish complex jobs in a timely manner. The uncertainty surrounding U.S. tariffs on automobile parts adds additional financial pressures shops might have to absorb.
“We’re seeing the convergence of several structural shifts including longer vehicle life, increasingly complex and tech-driven repairs, cost inflation, changing ownership models and rising consumer expectations,” said Kyle Krumlauf, director of industry analytics at CCC and co-author of Crash Course, which can be downloaded at https:// www.cccis.com/news-and-insights/crashcourse. Some highlights of the report:
• The average age of vehicles on the road in 2024 grew to 12.7 years, up from 11.4 in 2014.
• Although EV sales continue to set records — at 1.3 M in 2024, up from 258,000 in 2020 — they are at a lower growth rate year over year.
• SUVs now make up more than 50% of the car parc for model years 2020 and newer, up from about 35% in 2014.
• Data compiled thus far for the average total cost of repair for 2024 is expected to result in a 3-4% increase, which would be the lowest increase since 2017.
JOE HUDSON’S GROWS IN ALABAMA, LOUISIANA, AND TEXAS
Joe Hudson’s Collision Center announced in a news release the acquisition of three new locations: Hallmark Collision in Birmingham, Alabama; Hadaway Collision in Texarkana, Texas; and Keith’s Paint & Body in Lake Charles, Louisiana.
The three additions brings JHCC’s total number of locations to 254 nationwide, according to the release. JHCC CEO Brant Wilson emphasized the strategic importance of the acquisitions. He sees opportunities in Alabama, Texas, and Louisiana to expand JHCC’s quality of services and deliver value to its communitites.
“Growth through acquisitions is a key pillar of our long-term vision,” Wilson said. “As demand continues to rise in our core markets, expanding our footprint enables us to better serve our customers while reinforcing our commitment to excellence.”
NEW WIN BOARD MEMBERS FOR 2025-2026
The Women’s Industry Network announced its 2025 – 2026 returning officers and new Board of Directors members at the International Body Shop Industry Sumposium in Chicago on Wednesday, April 2.
The board exists to further WIN’s mission to attract, develop and promote women into collision industry professions. The new board members will be formally presented to the WIN membership during its annual conference at the Hilton Orlando Lake Buena Vista in Lake Buena Vista, Florida from May 5-7.
New members joining the WIN 2025–2026 Board of Directors include:
• Brandi Bridges, ACX (Auto Canada), Canadian integration chair
• Leila Hobart, OEC, virtual conference chair
• Nada Jokic, AkzoNobel, WINConnect chair
• Arianna Sherlock, I-CAR, professional development chair
HOW BEVS AND HYBRIDS ARE INCREASING TOTAL COST OF REPAIR AND CYCLE TIMES
BATTERY ELECTRIC VEHICLES AND HYBRIDS are generally more expensive to repair, CCC notes in its Crash Course Report (www.ccis.com) for Q1. That’s partly because they’re more complex and need more specialized parts and expertise.
Over the past five years, the report finds, labor rates for BEV repairs have been consistently higher (approximately 30%) than for internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles and $830 more per repair than hybrids.
BEV total parts costs were $290 higher than for ICE vehicles but actually $175 lower than for hybrids.
Hybrids had labor costs of $200+ more than for ICE vehicles and $470 more in parts costs.
Average TCOR Vehicles 3 Years Old or Newer, Non-Comprehensive (2020-2024)
Source: CCC Intelligent Solutions Inc.
On average, CCC found that BEV repairs took nearly three more labor hours than hybrid repairs and four more hours than ICE repairs, likely because of the additional complexity of BEV components and safety systems. Hybrids also required slightly more time (an average of 1.1 hours) for repairs than ICE vehicles.
BEV vs. Non-EV Models Cycle Time Comparison (2024)
EXPLORING THE LATEST IN ADAS TECHNOLOGIES
By JAY SICHT EXECUTIVE Q&A
IN THIS MONTH’S EXECUTIVE Q&A SERIES, a new feature exclusive to FenderBender, we talk on the state of ADAS technologies and how to calibrate them with Pete Liebetreu, Hunter Engineering Co.’s vice president of marketing
1. As ADAS features are increasingly commonplace and numerous on everyday vehicles, has Hunter Engineering Company found the collision repair industry has a greater understanding of the need for ADAS calibration and at least a basic knowledge of what is required for calibration?
This is such a complicated question. The collision industry understands more than it did a few years ago, but there is still so much misinformation and confusion that more doesn’t always seem better.
Forward-thinking repair facilities are getting involved and getting informed. Unfortunately, the insurance industry has not universally been as informed about the need for these services. The more knowledgeable repair facilities are better equipped to get paid by proving need than those less knowledgeable.
Hunter is committed to expanding the information and training available in the marketplace through local ADAS training sessions, a huge library of ADAS training on the Hunter Learning YouTube channel, on Hunter. com/adas, and on https://www.hunter.com/ adas-learning-tool.
2. Have evolving technologies changed what is required to calibrate ADAS, either for the equipment or procedures? Have OEMs standardized any of these procedures so that how I calibrate a Honda this morning is similar to how I calibrate a Ford this afternoon? Or are there still unique requirements and procedures? Perhaps Hunter has been able to simplify this through standardization?
There is little or no standardization among automakers. They even name the individual ADAS features differently!
Hunter equipment does add a layer of standardization for the technician, though, by automating many of the model-specific layout steps that need to occur on static ADAS procedures in particular. Static procedures are the ones with targets, which are all different. So, a Honda and a Ford might not be the same procedure, but they will feel similar using Hunter equipment. Guided procedures in the software also provide that sense of standardization that isn’t present if you just compared two different OEMs’ service documentation. We also do similar
streamlining of guided procedures for dynamic procedures using a scan tool.
3. The technology exists for an OEM to allow its vehicles to self-calibrate or dynamically calibrate, which may suggest the need to calibrate using static targets could be only a stopgap one. Yet, we’ve heard of a myriad of reasons why this is not likely or feasible in the near future, and those who are adding calibration centers show no signs of slowing. Can you explain why that is?
Self-calibration, dynamic calibration and static calibration each have their advantages, and there may be a future where a vehicle can use multiple systems. Static solves the problem of long or impossible test drives in urban environments or poor weather conditions. It also solves a risk for the repair facility. Dynamic or self-calibration sounds like the solution until you run into the exceptions just noted. All cars are capable of static calibrations, because that’s how they’re originally calibrated at the factory.
This is primarily an automaker-by-automaker decision, trying to balance the tradeoffs. Hunter’s role is to reduce the tradeoffs on the static side and add flexibility. Hunter also provides the most comprehensive documentation that the procedure was performed correctly. This is something that other procedures are lacking.
It will be very interesting to see how the automakers respond to the new crop of aftermarket tools to simplify static calibrations.
4. Besides equipment, what should I ensure my shop has for a calibration environment? What does Hunter recommend as a minimum size, and is it essential to
Pete Liebetreu , VP of Marketing, Hunter Engineering Company
have a perfectly level floor, or are there workarounds for this?
This depends a little on what you’re trying to accomplish. As a collision center, you’re likely to want to be able to service all sensors all around the vehicle. That will be more demanding than a glass repair or alignment shop that focuses on dynamic procedures and forward-facing static procedures.
For a do-it-all approach, 24’ x 34’ can handle virtually any procedure. You can always position the car flexibly in that space to maximize the room. You also want to pay attention to the environment. Diffuse lighting without patterns of black and white in the background is required for camera procedures. Keeping large metal objects (like poles or workbenches) out of the calibration area is important for radar procedures.
You should also invest in alignment technology, as it’s often paired with ADAS work
and vice versa. A flush-mounted alignment rack will increase your flexibility in vehicle positioning and improve your ability to maximize the ROI of your space investment. Of course, Hunter’s Ultimate ADAS is a wheel aligner in addition to being a sophisticated ADAS placement tool.
Regarding floor level, Ultimate ADAS takes care of that, too. Because we measure the ADAS fixture placement via timeof-flight lasers and compare that with the vehicle position in space, we can remove all but the most extreme level demands. No other procedure or equipment on the market can do this.
5. ADAS calibration is an important task, but with modern equipment, is it now something a low-level technician can perform? Or is this best tackled by an “A” tech?
Perhaps not a first-line tech, but it is designed to be familiar for any technician skilled enough to perform wheel alignments. It’s certainly a major step away from the “A tech” OEM procedure approach.
6. What kind of ROI can a shop expect from a typical Hunter ADAS calibration equipment investment?
Hunter’s goal is always to provide fast, efficient ROI for our customers. ROI can vary by area, expertise, car count and other factors. A shop can research their own ROI using Hunter’s ADAS page at Hunter.com/adasequipment/ultimate-adas/?#roi. For a busy shop also performing wheel alignments, the ROI can be as little as four months. A local Hunter business consultant can also help you refine the ROI for your business. Just enter your ZIP code on Hunter.com to find your local rep.
COURTESY OF HUNTER ENGINEERING
Financial Planning for the Long-Term
Goal setting, discipline, and the focus on delaying gratification can provide for a more valuable reward.
The collision industry does a pretty good job of offering information on ways to increase profitability and wages. Even though this is wonderful, little has been published on ways to use that money to invest for retirement.
The sad truth is most people working in shops have never been taught financial literacy. Their parents and grandparents often worked until they were nearly worn out, then lived a life of scarcity on Social Security until passing.
For the average couple who retires at age 62, their monthly Social Security benefit is $2,750, or about $33,000 annually. Benefit amounts vary based on income levels during their working years and when they decide to start receiving benefits. Here’s the deal: Social Security was never designed to fully support people during retirement. It was designed to only supplement one’s retirement plan. Unfortunately, the harsh reality is that the median retirement savings in a 401(k) is only $211,000. Any money withdrawn from a tax-deferred retirement account after the penaltyfree age of 59.5 will now be taxed as regular income.
The latest statistics show that the average American man lives to around age 75 and women live to about 80. The good news is for those who make it to 65, average life expectancy is 82 for men and 85 for women. Of course, lifestyle and heredity play primary roles in one’s longevity.
So, how can one avoid a scenario of working 35-45 years with little to show for it? It starts with delayed gratification, which is defined as the ability to resist immediate rewards in favor of a more valuable long-term reward. We must create daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly financial goals. The key to this requires discipline and focus.
When should one start planning for retirement? Well, ideally their first paycheck after finishing school should have a minimum of 15% going toward retirement. Some of you are thinking, “Greg, you don’t understand, I have a house payment, groceries, diapers to buy, and kids’ college to save for.” You know what? You’re right. It’s not easy! But as Dave Ramsey says, “If you will live like no one else, later you can live and give like no one else.” If you get a chance, look up the story of multimillionaire Ronald Read from Vermont. After death at age 92 in 2014, it was revealed that Ronald had amassed a fortune of over $8 million. No one in his community, nor even his own children, knew Ronald was a multimillionaire because he certainly didn’t fit the part.
How did Ronald accumulate this wealth by working at a gas station and later as a part-time janitor? He simply used the age-old system of “pay yourself first,” and then he paid his bills. Every week, he went to his local library to read the free Wall Street Journal, bought blue chip stocks like Procter & Gamble that paid dividends, and reinvested those dividends without spending them. Nothing flashy, nothing glamorous - just compounding multiplied by time. By starting early with the right mindset and self-discipline, almost anyone working a W-2 job today can retire in their early fifties. No matter what your age, you must start saving and investing now, as the prime retirement “go-go” years are between ages 55-70. After 70, health and energy levels begin to deteriorate. In the end, no one really cares where you live, what you drive or what you wear. Cherish these words of Albert Einstein. “Compound interest is the eighth great wonder of the world. He who understands it, earns it… he who doesn’t… pays it.” A simple rule of thumb: never borrow money on something that has wheels under it - cars, motorcycles, SXS’s, fancy Snap-on toolboxes, etc. These are, 99% of the time, quickly depreciating assets (AKA liabilities).
A few must read/listen to books: The Millionaire Next Door by Thomas J. Stanley, Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki, The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel, The Richest Man in Babylon by George S. Clason, and The Simple Path to Wealth by J.L. Collins. Investments don’t necessarily need to be in equities (stocks and bonds); they could be rental properties, body shops, etc.
For retirement planning, I encourage you to consider meeting with a fee-only CFP (certified financial planner). For you who prefer DIY, investigate robust retirement planning software like Boldin or Projection Lab. CFPs and retirement software can build different Monte Carlo scenarios for when you want or can retire, desired spending levels, inflation, investment returns, Social Security timing, Roth Conversions, IRMAA effect on Medicare premiums, RMDs (Required Minimum Distributions) and tax-saving strategies and more.
As the owner of my shop, I am personally responsible for teaching my employees these basic personal finance principles and leading them by example. Why? Because we should care about our employees and their futures!
GREG LOBSIGER
Greg Lobsiger has owned Loren’s Body Shop in Bluffton, Indiana, for over 23 years. He has been a member of Mike Anderson’s groups for ten years and had extensive lean manufacturing training.
EMAIL: greg@lorensbodyshop.com
ARCHIVE: fenderbender.com/lobsiger
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WHEN MENTAL CHALLENGES WITH THE WORKPLACE
MENTAL HEALTH
CHALLENGES COLLIDE WORKPLACE
ONE COLLISION REPAIR INDUSTRY
EXECUTIVE IS MAKING SURE STRUGGLING EMPLOYEES GET A CHANCE TO RECOVER.
By CAROL BADARACCO PADGETT
PEOPLE DON’T JUST WALK INTO their job one day and open up about their mental health struggles. Not in any work setting, and certainly not in a body shop.
That means there are a lot of people suffering in silence, experts indicate.
According to reports from the National Alliance on Mental Health (NAMI) based in Arlington, Virginia, and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMSHA), one in five adults in the U.S. experiences some type of mental illness each year – anxiety, substance use, or depression, for instance. In addition, each year one in 20 adults experiences what’s considered a serious mental health condition, such as anxiety disorder, bipolar disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), or schizophrenia.
Andy Tylka, owner of TAG Auto Group in Indiana, understands these challenges firsthand. And he’s working hard to ensure that his employees have the mental health resources they need, with no shame attached.
NAVIGATING THE FOG
Before joining and purchasing Tom & Ed’s Autobody and growing it into TAG Auto Group, Tylka faced personal challenges,
Turning Point
help and getting a diagnosis
Andy Tylka to take control of his life and eventually grow into the leader he is today.
Mental Health Strategies for Businesses
According to Brake the Stigma's website, a healthy workplace equals a more productive, engaged workforce, and it offers these suggestions.
When Employees Feel Supported
• Productivity increases: Less burnout, better focus.
• Team morale strengthens: Positive culture equals better customer service.
How To Reduce Stress In The Workplace
• Allow flexible break times when possible.
• Recognize employees’ efforts and contributions.
• Create a designated quiet space for short breaks.
• Offer mental health training for managers.
Encourage Open Conversations
• Use non-judgmental language when discussing stress & burnout.
• Lead by example—share your own struggles & coping strategies.
• Check in on employees regularly. A simple "How are you?" can go a long way.
struggling with undiagnosed ADHD, depression, and bipolar disorder. Like many, he turned to drugs and alcohol as a way to self-medicate, not realizing at the time that he was battling underlying mental health conditions. Seeking help and getting a diagnosis became his turning point, allowing him to take control of his life and eventually grow into the leader he is today.
TAG Auto Group has grown from three locations originally to 14 collision centers under his ownership, in addition to calibration, towing, and mechanical businesses that fall under its umbrella.
“I’ve been through so many depressive episodes,” Tylka says. “Identifying [a mental illness] is way better than just saying, ‘I’m messed up.’ It gives you a reason for why you are the way you are, and that is so important.”
In an effort to give his employees the gift of recovery and stability that he has experienced, Tylka got creative with TAG Auto Group’s healthcare program – adding free mental health counseling for every employee and their family members.
Normalizing the subject of mental health is crucial to overcoming people’s challenges, Tylka believes. “Today, I have 200 employees and I enjoy going to each shop during our health insurance renewal and telling employees about our program. [And] I’m very transparent about my personal struggles.”
He adds, “I own my mental health. I talk about it. I’ve gotten past the whole thing of people judging me. If an employee is struggling, it’s so much better [to talk about it] than bottling up and thinking nobody should know.”
Upping the ante in his quest to strengthen mental health, at TAG Auto Group’s 40th anniversary gala in 2023, Tylka and team used the celebration as a platform to announce the creation of a new industry-wide nonprofit called Brake the Stigma.
WHAT IS BRAKE THE STIGMA?
Brake the Stigma’s mission is literally to put the brakes on the stigma surrounding mental health – specifically in the automotive industry. Accordingly, the program works to raise awareness and educate employers on how important it is to prioritize their employees’ mental well-being.
At brakethestigma.com, shop owners can find resources such as training programs, workshops, and other tools—for themselves and their employees.
What kind of fit is Brake the Stigma with the collision repair industry, which is historically male-dominated and perhaps a bit macho?
It’s a tight fit, actually.
First off, according to a 2024 National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) report entitled “Supporting Mental
‘Braking’ the Stigma Tylka’s organization held a fundraiser last year for Brake the Stigma, which he says helps initiate conversations in the workplace about mental health.
Health in the Workplace,” work in any industry plays a significant role in people’s mental health. And managers at work can have an especially substantial impact.
The report notes, “The U.S. Surgeon General … emphasizes the role of workplaces in shaping our mental and physical well-being, noting that the average full-time U.S. worker spends about half of their waking life at work. Employment arrangements, wages, and working conditions are powerful social determinants of health, including our mental health.”
The bottom line: workers’ mental health worsens under chronic exposure to occupational stress. And according to Brake the Stigma’s website, the automotive industry is rife with this occupational stress – so much so that it’s ranked near the top of industries with high suicide rates.
Resources available through Brake the Stigma help shop managers initiate productive conversations that can help stressed-out, unwell employees move through their challenges.
As Tylka puts it, “[Shop] managers might tend to see someone struggling and think, ‘That person is angry,’ or ‘That person is lazy,’ instead of thinking, ‘What can I do to help?’”
He continues, “People don’t open up until someone opens up to them. How many people that struggle have a person come up to them and say, ‘How’s your life going? Let’s sit down and talk’?”
These are exactly the kinds of conversations that Tylka hopes Brake the Stigma can initiate.
A LIFESAVING, TRICKLE-DOWN EFFECT
For this article for Mental Health Awareness Month in May, FenderBender asked Tylka to reach out to body shops and dealerships that are using the education, training, and tools that Brake the Stigma provides, and to report back on the results. Tylka did so, and notes, “This was the first time I’d personally reached out and asked, and I got four success stories. Two were about techs who were about to quit because of the pressure of the job and other home-related things. One was a 15year veteran.”
The manager of the 15-year-tenure employee had HR reach out and give the employee a phone number for counseling, which the employee used. “This person then wrote an employee review [about how much the counseling helped], and they posted it online,” Tylka says.
Any time body shop employees like this one are helped, he notes, it serves to normalize conversations around mental health, one family at a time.
Tylka believes so deeply in the importance of the mental health mission, that TAG Auto Group offers its free mental healthcare to not only employees on the
company health plan, but to every single employee across the board and to every person within their household. “I feel like I have 200 families we’re responsible for, not just 200 employees,” Tylka explains.
“We’re working to take away the reasons why people can’t seek mental health therapy,” he adds. “So we give them the resources for in-person, online, and group therapy. The hardest thing is getting people to use those resources for the very first time.”
Through TAG Auto Group’s free mental healthcare, Tylka reports that 150 people— including employees, adult family members, and children—are now taking advantage of counseling.
“It normalizes therapy for kids,” Tylka adds – kids who then grow up unafraid to seek therapy for themselves or their families if it’s needed.
Tylka’s own 15-year-old son, Max, recently announced that he wants to go into the mental health field when he grows up. The kicker for his dad is this: he wants to specialize in helping kids.
“It’s because he struggled, as well, and he has such a story to tell,” Tylka says. “My wife and I are so proud of him – he’ll be a perfect fit for it.”
Then he circles back, big-picture: “Brake the Stigma has a long road ahead of it. Those who are interested can donate at brakethestigma.com.”
DON’T GET COMFORTABLE
Jesse Parks opens up about risking failure, pushing boundaries, and never settling.
By LINDSEY GAINER
Photography MARIO FIMBREZ/VALLEY OAK DESIGN
Aperson’s office décor can tell you a lot about them…look around, and you’ll quickly learn how they operate, and the wisdom they value most.
In the office of Jesse Parks — collision director at Freeman Collision Center in Santa Rosa, California — one of the first things you’ll see is an encouraging sign that reads: “Failure is a temporary state where the most valuable lessons are learned.” It’s a truth he’s seen play out time and time again over the course of his career, he says.
Parks has come a long way and made plenty of mistakes — but more importantly, learned a ton of those valuable lessons — since first entering the industry without any experience in 2001. Now, he’s running a shop bringing in close to $1 million a month.
“Failure isn’t something to fear. Just the opposite, in fact,” he says. “It’s an indication that you’re willing to push the boundaries of your comfort zone, take chances, think outside the box, and try new processes…all imperatives for running a successful collision business.”
A Culture of Merit
At Freeman Collision Center, employees are rewarded for the value they bring to the team.
A Focus on Training
Each technician at Freeman Collision Center is ASE Master Certified and is crosstrained to perform calibrations, alignments, and mechanical repairs, which are kept in-house.
A Chance Encounter
Parks is living proof that one “yes” can change your life.
While working as a waiter back in 2001, he was approached by the owner of a large collision disruptor who asked him to join his team. Intrigued, he agreed.
“I didn’t know anything about cars,” he recalled, “and I wasn’t really tech-savvy. I was thrown into a sink-or-swim environment that really challenged me to figure it out.”
And figure it out he did. Within two years, Parks was managing his first shop. Soon after that, he moved on to running larger locations, then a “mega facility” where he perfected the ins and outs of large volume production and working with contractual insurance partners.
“After about 18 years of that, I went on to an elite luxury and exotic environment in San Francisco, repairing a lot of higher-end cars. That’s where I really started focusing on correct and safe OEM repairs, learning a lot about the equipment, and managing many high-end certifications.”
When the opportunity to switch over to the dealer world came about, Parks saw it as the perfect way to marry his large production experience with his interest in certified driven repairs.
“To have had the production and DRP experience, then the luxury-exotic experience, and now the dealership…it gives me the ability, I think, to bring in concepts that aren’t generally found in dealership collision centers, and it really encourages me to think outside the box.”
Traditional dealerships, says Parks, often focus on just one or two manufacturers, and are often highly regimented in their processes.
“Not us,” he says of Freeman Collision Center. “We’re constantly adjusting. I bring on additional certifications, additional partners, new processes, new equipment. I don’t look at it like, ‘I only fix this type of car.’ I look at it like, ‘What cars are in our market? Where are our opportunities? What do I need to do to be the best at fixing the cars we’re going to repair?’”
Rebuilding More than Cars
When Parks first took over as collision director at Freeman Collision Center four years ago — a 45,000 sq. ft. facility on the 14-acre campus of Freeman Lexus and Freeman Toyota — the culture was severely damaged, and the shop had been without a manager for several months.
“The car count was down. The lean processes were nonexistent. The employee morale was bruised, and we were doing about $350,000 a month,” he recalled.
It took a lot of effort — and a lot of patience — says Parks, to fix everything that was wrong at the shop and build trust with the team. But his efforts have paid off in a big way. Each year since taking over, the shop’s revenue has steadily climbed to nearly $900,000 a month.
“We focused VERY heavily on training. I realized that I could not expect a consistent repair if everybody didn’t have the same training,” he says “I spent hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars getting everybody up to speed, and I paid everyone properly for the guilds they were in.”
Every technician at Freeman Collision Center is now ASE Master Certified — an impressive feat, given that the shop has a total of 13 production staff in these guilds. And every technician is cross-trained to perform
calibrations, alignments, and mechanical repairs, which are all kept in-house.
Parks also took the shop’s OEM certification count from two to 16 — including some of the “heavy hitters” and boutique EV certifications — added staff, secured outside partnerships, restructured pay plans, and overhauled processes…all while building rapport with the team.
“Consistency over time equals trust. If I do the same thing for long enough, people eventually are going to say, ‘That’s who this person is,’ and they’re going to trust that that’s my vision. I had to be very patient, which isn’t easy for me,” admits Parks, “and I had to be very collaborative. I had to involve the team in the process. I overcommunicated. Sheryl Driggers (of Collision Advice and also a FenderBender Advisory Board member) frequently says, ‘Where there’s no communication, negativity fills the void.’ I’m constantly letting them know my vision, but I don’t create the map to get there. I just show them the finish line, and I ask them to help me build the map together.”
Parks travels at least twice a month for industry-related events, and says the shop runs relatively the same regardless whether he’s there or not, “because people know their job, they’re invested in the process. The whole team has a lot of buy-in. We make decisions together. And that’s really important to me, that they have a say and a voice in building the clubhouse that we’re all going to hang out in.”
Parks also employs a culture of merit over a culture of entitlement, rewarding employees for the value they bring to the team — not solely how long they’ve been with the company.
“In a culture of merit, everybody has an opportunity to participate, and they’ll never
Constant Adjustment Freeman Collision Center, on the campus of the dealership’s Toyota and Lexus franchises, now has 16 OEM certifications.
be over promoted by somebody that is less deserving or less knowledgeable than they are, or that adds less value than they do.”
Be Proactive, Not Reactive
Parks is one of the most proactive people you’ll ever meet.
Whether strategizing for the future, testing and adopting new tech like artificial intelligence (AI), or attending an industry event or training, Parks is always working toward staying one step ahead.
“2023 was the end of what I call the heyday,” he says. “All the shops were drinking through the fire hose, if you will. Everybody had more work than they needed.”
Many shops, he said, thought this was the new norm. But Parks anticipated the downturn in 2024 and prepared ahead for it.
“I brought on partners when we didn’t need it, and it gave me the ability to set my terms with a few handpicked, like-minded insurance companies that were aligned with our business model and aligned with our view on how a vehicle should be repaired — those who would allow us to write an estimate the way that the vehicle should be repaired rather than a severity-driven model.”
Certified Collision Group, who the dealership became affiliated with in 2022, has been instrumental in facilitating some of these outside partnerships as well, he says, and empowering the shop to have more freedom in their repairs.
“The heavily certified model is harder than the DRP model, no doubt,” admits Parks, but he believes the high-quality repairs that it results in are more than worth it — both from the standpoint of the shop’s profitability and the best interest of the customer.
And the proof is in the numbers.
From 2023 to 2024 Freeman Collision Center grew 26%, thanks to Parks’ preemptive approach, and he’s on pace for 18% growth this year, too. He’d also like to add a couple more certifications to the shop’s ever-growing catalog.
“I’m really focusing on certifications that either already have or are moving to connected services or restricted parts. Every move that I’m making now is with the intention of disrupting first notice of loss (FNOL) — so the sources that we get our work from are other than an insurance referral — and really working hard to build those up so that we continue growing and can continue to perform in a consolidator-dominated industry.”
The Payoff
There’s no denying that the overhaul on Freeman’s culture and operations has been an outstanding success — under Parks’ leadership, Freeman Collision won the 2024 Lexus Certified Collison Center of the Year for a second time, and was awarded the 2024 Toyota Certified Collison Center of the Year for a third time, alongside other national OEM
awards honoring them as a top shop. And for the last two years, two different Freeman technicians won ASE Technician of the Year.
“What does it take to get there?” reflected Parks. “It takes having a staff that’s really vetted…and maintaining zero turnover. You cannot measure the cost of turnover.”
That’s why investing in training and staff is Parks’ #1 priority.
“Culture, quality, and retention are at the top of my ethos. Many shops put profitability at the top of their ethos, and they get it. They get it, but it shows their employees that profitability is the most important thing, so then that’s all that they care about, too. But if you flip that around and you focus on things that are critical to the business, to the development of the staff, to the shop’s reputation, you’re going to get that, and you’re going to set that standard, and profitability will follow.”
Ditch Your Comfort Zone
You’d be hard-pressed to find someone keeping closer tabs on the industry’s pulse than Parks — look to your right or left at an OEM roundtable or council, trade show, or leadership training and you’re likely to see him there.
“I consider myself a lifelong learner,” he says, adding that he’s always looking for ways to take his own advice and make himself “uncomfortable” by surrounding himself with people who will challenge and hold him accountable. At the very top of the list? Mike Anderson and Parks’ cohorts in his Spartan 300 group, where he collaborates with some of the top-performing shops in the country.
“The Spartan 300 group has been one of the most impactful partners I’ve ever had, in terms of my continued success in the industry,” he says. “We focus heavily on innovation and hold each other accountable to correct and safe OEM repairs and use only OEM scanning and calibration equipment. It’s given me the data and insights to successfully navigate a challenging time in our industry.”
In addition to their strict adherence to the highest quality OEM repairs, every member of the group shares Parks’ willingness to be pushed outside their comfort zone as well.
“Any successful shop owner or manager, we were all the new person in the room at some point,” encourages Parks. Everything Parks is involved in now, he says, came from taking that first uncomfortable step, and he’s always encouraging others to follow suit.
“We have to think outside the box. We cannot keep doing what we’ve always done and expect different results. And we’re going to make some mistakes. We’re going to bump our head. But like my sign says, that’s where the real learning happens.”
You’ll find that most everyone you meet wants to help, Parks adds reassuringly. Some of the best training he’s ever received, he says, came from other operators. And he consistently learns something new that improves operations at every industry event he attends.
“Most of the time, somebody has already built a wheel. It doesn’t mean that we can go take their entire model…but if we’re listening with the intent to be influenced, and we’re working hard to find the innovation and find the nuggets, there’s something that we can bring home from everything and implement in our stores.”
“At the end of the day, we all like talking about cars. We like meeting new people. We like sharing our experience. We like working with somebody that is working to grow their knowledge and move closer to correct and safe OEM repairs. And we understand that it’s not easy. It wasn’t easy for us, either, when we started.”
So go ahead, get out there — Jesse Parks will be the first one to shake your hand when you do.
GAIN MORE CONTROL BY BEING MORE HANDS-OFF
Here’s how one AI-based tool helps shop owners take the power back over their profits.
IT IS SAID THAT A TOOL is only as good as the hands using it — but it could also be said that it is only as good as its suitability to the task it’s needed for. The world’s finest hammer won’t help you change a lightbulb. When it comes to software tools in the body shop, you’ll find a myriad of tools designed to improve a myriad
of processes within a shop, but what if there was one tool that could take some of those tasks over completely, or at least make them a much lighter lift for your staff?
Tom Zoebelein, principal of the automotive repair marketing agency Stratosphere Studio, sought to create a tool in the same vein as BodyShop Booster, something that could automate or lessen the workload in a shop with a laser focus on improving one thing: profit. That product is called Vaultoniq, and it uses a very modern solution to eliminate wasted time, gaps in scheduling, and, ultimately, profit loss: the power of AI.
“It’s looking at the whole shop and organizing everything in a shop, like it’s back and forth, communicating with everything. So, it’s kind of like running production and front office tasks,” says Zoebelein. “…It’ll learn over time. It’ll get better over time. But it’ll work day-one right out of the box.”
as told to TODD KORTEMEIER
This started through my marketing agency. Over the years, I just kept showing it to shops and asking, what does it need? And it sort of turned into a management system, but that’s not how we’re positioning it. You could maybe replace management software to a degree with this, but that’s not what we’re focusing on; what we’re focusing on is generating more profit for shops.
It’ll help shops win more lines on an estimate by using AI to craft responses to the insurance companies. It has an AI production scheduler that will study the efficiency of all the technicians, and it’ll generate a dynamic schedule that can change as things change in the shop, and it’ll predict when every car is going to leave the system. It’ll auto-update customers, auto-communicate with insurance adjusters, and save hours in the front office.
Improving communication
I did a quick study one day. I grabbed one of my marketing agency clients, and I just timed myself how long it took to just recreate all the texting back and forth between a customer and insurance company and the shop, and it averaged 45 minutes per customer. So, if you’re doing 50 cars a month, that saves five days of just typing, let alone the time to go find the answers and everything — literally just the typing of it.
You can communicate with the customers and the insurance adjusters all in one platform. It uses a single inbox concept where the estimator’s not talking with the insurance company from his email or on his cell phone, and the front office isn’t emailing out of their email address. It’s all coming out of the system, and this has all the process steps. You can text and email the customer or the insurance adjuster, and we have AI tools to help do that. If we want to write a message to a customer, we can use AI assist and put a prompt in here like, “Inform the customer the car is ready,” and hit “generate” and it’ll write the message to the customer. You can tell it to be sympathetic and apologize if communicating a delay.
The AI knows everything about this customer record. Anything a customer records, it can search. It’ll go through the text messages and emails. Say the customer needs the car back by Friday to attend his daughter’s wedding. It can read all this and be searchable and answer questions.
Filling scheduling gaps
With each customer record, you can attach any supporting documents — your photos, your estimates, your videos, your OEM procedures, authorizations, measurements, anything related to this customer. When you move this record into production, it automatically schedules it, knowing whether it’s a drive, non-drive, severity, if there are
parts waiting, etc. It schedules it to a tech and blocks out that tech’s schedule for the appropriate number of hours for that job. You can see how much capacity is in the shop.
The technicians have the software in an app on their phone. They can clock in each day, check their schedule, etc. And once they start working on a car, they start the clock. As they’re working, they can add photos, documents, go through checklists, and then when they stop the clock, that completes the phase. It’ll autogenerate a message to the customer, move the car to the next phase, and update the production board.
The next frontier
We have a tool in development called Defender which can take an estimate and the insurance company’s rejection to you, like, “We’re not going to pay for this or that.” And then it’ll crawl through the necessary materials, whether that’s the OEM procedures or like any kind of documentation backup that a human would normally go through and look at. It’ll crawl through that because it’s agentic. So, it’s an agent that knows how to log in and knows how to read through stuff. It can read images, it can read text and craft a response that you then copy and send back to the insurance company. We hope to have a prototype of that tool soon.
There are a few AI tools that are out there right now, but ours is the only one that is using AI as a whole-shop solution. First customer interaction, fighting with the insurance companies, predicting your revenues, and scheduling all the vehicles, to me, the heart of it is the schedule, because we have an AI schedule that knows all these things and can change on a whim. And changes happen in the shop. It can pull all the other levers automatically using AI. So ours is like a whole shop AI solution to eliminate time everywhere.
LIMIT SUPPLEMENTS WHILE REMAINING PROFITABLE
Refinements to processes, including using AI, can reduce supplements to improve repair cycle time, overall customer satisfaction, and sales volume.
By STEVE TRAPP
INSURERS AND ALL PAYERS want repairers to limit the number of supplements. But how do we do so and remain profitable? It’s all about our processes, of course.
Opportunity –Reducing Supplements
Given the highly variable nature of collision repair damage and the complexity of repairs, it is nearly impossible to write a 100% complete estimate for repairs in your first attempt. This article will offer some tips which repairers around the world have successfully used to minimize the number of supplements after the original repair plan is created.
The basic premise of this article is that the more you can do up front, the fewer delays you will experience due to supplements written AFTER the initial repair plan. However, to get the most of this article’s content, you will have to open your mind to some refined processes which have been applied in our industry. There are quite a few steps prior to the enhanced repair plan which need to be refined to set you up to prevent supplements later.
Assignment Follow-up Call
Whether you are calling the customer after receiving an assignment or they call you, the first step in reducing supplements -after getting accurate contact and vehicle information -- is to act as an advisor to the customer. Take control of the transaction and guide them on a path to the fastest and most hassle-free process. Don’t say, “Stop by any time and we will take a look at it.”
We need to engage the customer by asking about the damage. This helps usunderstand where the vehicle was damaged. Ask secondary follow-up questions to better understand if the vehicle is safe to drive. If the vehicle is not safe to drive, either warn them of the safety risk or help them have the vehicle towed to the repair center. If it is safely drivable, ask them to provide digital images of the vehicles damage so you can use your AI estimating tool to get a preliminary estimate created prior to their arrival. Then, schedule them in for an inspection (not estimate appointment). That no-cost advanced inspection allows them to get the vehicle in the shop to ask the technicians to look for hidden or missed damage. This advanced inspection could include minor disassembly to see if behind-the-scenes parts are damaged and
to inspect vehicles systems by performing a pre-scan on crucial accident-avoidance systems to ensure they are working as designed. The end goal is to get the parts preordered so critical parts can be onsite when they drop the vehicle off for repairs.
Advanced Inspection
As we have accurate vehicle information and have scheduled advanced inspection appointments, we can greet the customer by name, build rapport, understand their marketing source, and learn of their personal repair choices and vehicle repair needs. We pass this information to the service advisor, who asks for the keys and moves the vehicle to the repair planning area. The technician and service advisor can then compare the AI estimate assumptions to the actual damage, use a paint spectrophotometer to verify the paint code and paint system (for pre-painting), they use a borescope to see behind things or to perform minor disassembly (and reassembly, if possible).
Often, repairers take photos of dash lights and even pre-scan ADAS systems to ensure they are performing as designed. Any prior unrelated damage is assessed and added-value upsells are documented as an opportunity in the estimating system.
You can review the various packages with the customer and get them scheduled in on a specific date. To expedite the repairs, you would then ask them to sign the work authorization and ask for a credit card deposit (e.g. $200) for the parts to be ordered (often more than $2,000 on a $5,000 repair). Those parts are then ordered and their receipt is monitored. If the parts critical to repair planning and body don’t arrive prior to the vehicle’s drop-off date, the date is moved back.
Expedited Check-in
Again, we review incoming vehicles and attempt to greet them by name upon arrival. We thank them for their business and tell them of our goal of 100% CSI or to earn a 10. Then, the detailers retrieve the vehicles, move into the receiving station, prewash, and attach the pre-scan tool (if not done during RP). The painter (knowing the incoming schedule) asks the repair planner to help mirror match parts and then send
them to the painter for edging both sides (in England, they often prepaint them) along with a form listing all parts to be painted off the vehicle in advance.
NOTE: The first supplement begins NOW!
Enhanced Repair PlanningPaint as the First Part
At some point during the enhanced repair planning process, we want the painter to review the vehicles painting needs and to offer their justification for which panels to paint and which panels to blend, this agreement informs the body technician which emblems or moldings would need R & I and the sublet is noted on the vehicle and scheduled proactively. Most importantly, they will discuss with the body technician which parts will need welding and assure there is time allowed for refinishing those areas, and where additional masking or refinishing are necessary for panels with matte or different color refinishes, they will also share their insights on the type of paint: tri-stage, quad-stage, pearl, limited-use toners needed. This prevents paint supplements later.
Enhanced Repair Planning: Body
As we begin this enhanced repair planning process, we start by pulling the vehicle into the repair planning or body tech’s stall and find a clean parts cart or tote (fully kitted with parts needed to repair plan or to complete body repairs) to dedicate to each vehicle. We position two tables nearby (R & I and replace) and the estimating cart with dual monitors. Finally, we place the prepainted complex assembly parts on a padded stand and position the part it is replacing next to it. The estimating cart is placed between those stands and the parts cart, and nothing is placed on the parts cart until the line is added to the estimate to replace it or time to R & I the part. Parts are then transferred to the replacement part (no need for bagging and tagging). During this transfer, we take the new replacement parts on the cart and install them along with the undamaged parts from the complex assembly. If possible, we pre-test lights, window function, and so forth to verify these assemblies are complete, performing properly and
cosmetically correct (headlight hue for example). This reassembly during repair planning uncovers and prevents parts and labor supplements which are necessary during, body or reassembly.
Making the repair versus replace decision on sheet metal is quite easy when you have all the information. To do that, we suggest you use PDR, glue or tab pull or the air suction pulling posts to rough pull parts to determine if you can safely repair them. Then, ask the technician to write on the vehicle to justify the repair time, or if the repair cost exceeds 75% of the parts value, to ask for a replacement to be added to the supplement.
As you reassemble these assemblies, go to your procurement tool (such as 3M Repair Stack) and input and pull all “kits” necessary to complete the repair for that make and model. Test any lights to ensure you get paid for broken or missing fasteners, bulbs, fluids, etc.
Many vehicles have plastic bumpers, and insurers will pay to attempt to safely repair them when repair costs are 75% or less of the replacement bumper cost. The odds of success are improved if historically, you have cut tabs of past disposed OE bumpers to enable a safe and cosmetically appealing repair (or customer agrees to an appearance allowance to save them $).
Once you have identified all parts necessary for replacement, order those parts from the suppliers, while requiring them to communicate with you electronically within two hours of order placement of any list price part price increases to avoid PPT supplements.
Enhanced Repair Planning: Frame and Mechanical
The assumption is that during advanced inspection or the repair planning process, vehicles going off the road or having dash lights on will be put on a lift and diagnosed for suspension or other mechanical repair needs. Some repairers prefer to have these repairs completed prior to finalizing the repair plan, as mechanics tend to replace parts to find the part which fixes the system, and those costs need to be considered in the repair planning supplement.
If the vehicle has the potential for frame or structural repairs needed, it is important
to pre-pull the frame or structure to assure it pulls out. Also consider conjunctive pulls and glass breakage. Any fabrication labor should be estimated at this time. Now, and only now, do we have a chance to prevent the bulk of supplements, but we have one final step.
Auditing
Meet with the estimator/repair planner, body/frame technician, and painter to review the supplement to assure it is complete and they have solid line notes to justify each line. The assumption is that you invested the time with each carrier to update the estimate line operation codes setup to reflect agreed-upon rates or times for various operations to avoid having to double check every line. If this is a DRP claim, run the estimate through the CCC Advisor to ensure your audit score is as low as you would liketo achieve the highest possible “Estimate Quality” score.
If there are any questions by the customer or insurer about the repair approach, discuss this repair plan to agree upon the approach and assure the final repair plan meets their expectations.
Only AFTER all the above things are complete should we upload supplement 1 to the payer/insurer and call the customer with an expected delivery date.
Build-up in Body
To minimize any second supplements, the body phase will need to be redefined. The body department will not ONLY be asked to weld panels on, straighten dents and reinstall parts. Once these functions are complete on vehicles requiring interior removal, we would ask the painting to be completed on the A, B, and C pillars or core support and that the interior and underhood or trunk components be reinstalled. Leave the door handles or other parts which need to remain uninstalled if the panel’s exterior still needs to be painted.
This process of building up the repair to where it can be final reassembled within two hours not only supports getting vehicles out of the shop faster after painting, but it also minimizes the parts supplements uncovered after body repairs are completed.
Paint
As we discussed earlier, paint decisions were
generally made during advanced inspection or enhanced repair planning. However, we still suggest you still have the painter take photos of what paint processes are completed to justify the times planned for should anyone question the initial repair plan.
Reassembly and ADAS Calibration
As we have established, reassembly should be pretty much done, so very few supplements should pop up here following these processes. But they do periodically pop up during post scan, calibration and test drives. So, affected pre-scanning and mechanical diagnostics can prevent or minimize supplements, but things may pop up and need to be caught before the vehicle leaves.
Quality Assurance
Interestingly, 10% of repairs priced at $10,000 or more must return for “adjustments” or “comebacks.” This could be “weowe” parts, or it could be wind leaks or other deficiencies. Effective department-to-department quality assurance and detailed quality control checks of systems before delivery can be quite effective in minimizing these instances and the inconvenience and supplements they cause.
Conclusion
We all know it is a foregone conclusion that we will have at least one supplement on most repairs, but we hope that you consider refinements to processes such as advanced inspection, paint as the first part, enhanced repair plan with transfer of parts, the buildup in body, and enhanced quality assurance as ways to significantly reduce supplemental delays. How do you know if you’re being successful? On a periodic basis, review the estimating systems and CCC scorecard, which tracks supplement frequency and size. If you aren’t KPI-savvy, count the number of OEM and other parts invoices. They are often tied to a specific supplement and can be a visual indicator you need to “improve your processes.”
Reducing supplements will often improve repair cycle time, overall customer satisfaction, and additional volume from your insurance and other accounts!
BUILD A STRONG WORKPLACE CULTURE
Building a strong workplace culture isn’t necessarily easy, but it can be simple. Learn how one shop in Chicago makes their employees feel valued.
By NOAH BROWN
IT’S HARD TO DEFINE what makes a good culture in a workplace, but most of the time it’s very easy to tell if a shop has one or not.
For Dominic Martino, co-owner of Gold Coast Auto Body in Chicago, a good culture starts with strong communication and a clear vision from leadership is essential.
COURTESY OF DOMINIC MARTINO
“Culture should be rooted in what gets you out of bed every day,” Martino says. “You need to have a strong idea why are you doing what you’re doing.”
Though it isn’t easy to start and maintain a strong culture, getting buy-in from your employees by giving them a reason to feel happy and excited to be at work on a daily basis is essential to making sure your shop runs at its best.
The Problem
There’s no one defined path to go about establishing a good culture, but Martino says that process always has to start at the top with the owner of the shop.
“First and foremost, you have to have passion for what you do,” he says. “We’ve done a very good job of putting together a cohesive team that can work together, and that starts with a clear vision from leadership.”
Oftentimes, Martino says, shops will confuse rewards with culture. He says he’s seen shops think that if they publicly recognize employees for doing a good job or bring in lunch for employees once a month, that counts as strong culture. It isn’t – good culture starts with understanding what services your shop provides in your market. You need a mission or some other specific stated purpose that can be the foundation of every decision you make as a shop owner. Without that, it’ll be very difficult to get employees to buy in.
“You have to know who you are and why you’re in the industry,” he says. “If ownership and management don’t have that key element in their sight, then how are you going to promote any type of meaningful culture?”
The Solution
Culture isn’t something that can be established or changed overnight. It’s a commitment to your people – both employees and customers. Martino says a good culture is critical to a successful shop, and that starts with who you have on your team.
“There’s no silver bullet to instantly fix your culture. You have to give people a reason to be excited to come to work every day,” he says. “If you want to attract people to your shop, you have to start caring about what you do.”
Gold Coast is very selective with the team members they hire. Martino says their hiring, onboarding and training processes are designed to find the “impostors” whose work ethic and attitude don’t match what they tell you during a job interview.
The skills needed to be a paint technician or a CSR are important, but Martino says equally important are the soft skills – how do they handle interacting with customers and their other teammates? How is their workstation organized? And, most importantly, how dedicated are they to serving your customers?“It’s one thing to say that you have a great culture because you celebrate team members’ birthdays and give them the day off, or you bring in food to share. You should be doing that, anyway; that by itself isn’t a good culture,” he says. “For me, culture starts with how our team interacts with each other and how they work with our customers.”
The Aftermath
A commitment to your people – both your employees and your customers – isn’t always easy to uphold. Things aren’t always going to go perfectly, and not everyone will always want to buy into your system. But remaining dedicated to making sure your employees feel valued and respected will pay off in the long run.
Martino says, in his experience, managers who are only recognizing employees with big gestures such as an award or a picture on the wall don’t really understand the needs or wants of their employees.
“In many instances, our team members don’t want that special recognition,” he says. “They just want to know that they’re appreciated. My team knows we care about them because we talk to them the way we talk to our family. The gratitude comes from the collaboration we have.”
Martino says it’s crucial that you practice what you preach. Showing your team that you are dedicated to the mission you create for your shop and that you are open to their feedback and genuinely care about their well-being consistently is the best way to make sure your employees stay engaged.
“People want to see their leaders come to work with a clear objective, but they
also want to see leaders who are flexible and can respond to change well,” he says. “Our processes are always being tweaked. If we’re getting input from multiple team members on a process or something else that needs to change, we’re going to change it.”
Martino shared an example that happened a while back where his shop had a couple unforeseen issues arise while repairing a vehicle. They had told a customer to expect it to be complete by a certain date, but they did not hit that target.
By the time that Martino heard about it and went to gather people to talk to them, one of his blueprinters was already leading a constructive conversation about how they were going to fix the problem. By demonstrating the type of open communication and accountability he wants with his employees, Martino says many of his employees have been empowered to model that behavior and become leaders themselves.
“This is the guy I want to be the voice of my shop. The way he approaches people, how he talks to them, that’s what it’s all about,” Martino says. “I don’t have all the answers, but I’ve surrounded myself with the type of people where I don’t have to have all the answers.”
The Takeaway
A strong workplace culture isn’t an elusive white whale; every shop should be able to attain a healthy, productive, enjoyable work environment. It’s not always easy, but Martino stresses it can be very simple.
“It starts with how you talk to your people,” he says. “Sure, the lunches and training are important, but it’s more about caring about what you do and caring about who you’re doing it for.”
Once you let your employees know you care about them and their well-being – and prove it daily – they’ll be excited to come to work. Even better, Martino says, is they’ll step up and become leaders, strengthening that culture even further.
“Employees need to know what you expect of them and what you expect from the shop,” he says. “If you have a strong culture, the power lies in your team.”
The Wake-up Call
The storm on the horizon is impossible to ignore. Here’s how I’m preparing to weather it.
As the owner of a smaller shop, I’ve always tackled problems head-on. From technical challenges to customer concerns, I’ve handled it all with determination. However, for far too long I ignored the inevitable. I convinced myself that if I kept working hard, the economic pressures and industry changes wouldn’t affect me. Like an ostrich with its head in the sand, I hoped that things would eventually improve. But now, the reality is clear: I’ve been avoiding the writing on the wall.
The Small Changes I Thought Would Work
In hindsight, the changes I made were more like Band-Aids than real solutions. I updated paint and material invoicing, improved efficiency with technicians, and tweaked marketing strategies. While these were important, they didn’t address the industry shifts that could determine my business’ future. I took the easy route, hoping things would get better on their own. But the warning signs were there: the insurance industry is pushing for lower repair costs, competitors are undercutting prices on fleet work, and whispers of an impending recession are growing louder. Yet, I kept hoping that if I ran my shop the same way with small tweaks, things would work out. That’s not how the market works.
The Wake-Up Call
Now, it’s impossible to ignore the storm on the horizon. The insurance industry continues to undermine shops to lower costs, and the industry is facing rising material costs, fewer skilled laborers, and growing competition. Additionally, consumers are looking for cheaper, faster options, making it clear that old strategies won’t cut it anymore. I stuck my head in the sand, hoping the economy would improve or insurance companies would start paying for what’s truly needed. Instead, I find myself further behind than if I had acted sooner.
The Steps I Should Have Taken
Looking back, there are key steps I should have taken earlier to better prepare for today’s challenges:
1. Fighting the Insurance Industry: I spent countless hours negotiating with insurance companies, but we still
struggle with what they pay for labor, paint, and supply costs. I could have better utilized my team if I weren’t so focused on insurance jobs that don’t pay what we deserve.
2. Diversifying Revenue Streams: I relied too heavily on traditional collision repair. Adding services like detailing, paint protection, or mobile repairs could have helped offset slow periods and provided a buffer against tough times.
3. Investing in Technology and Training: I’ve been slow to adopt new technology in repair methods and customer service management. Investing in tools like CRM systems and AI could have improved operations and customer experience, especially during tough economic times.
4. Building Financial Reserves: While I’ve always been good at saving, I could have focused more on building a larger emergency fund to withstand slowdowns. A strong financial cushion would allow me to ride out lean periods without drastic cuts or stress.
5. Focusing on Employee Development: My team’s success directly impacts my shop’s success. I should have focused more on team-building and providing ongoing education to improve efficiency and work quality.
The Road Ahead: Weathering the Storm
Although I can’t change the past, I can take steps now to turn things around. The challenges of a recession and evolving industry dynamics aren’t going away, so here’s how I plan to face the storm:
1. Strengthening Relationships with Field Adjusters: I’ll work to build stronger relationships with the few adjusters still out in the field. They are often the ones trying to help us, and fostering these connections will help in the long run.
2. Strengthening Relationships with Customers: Working with my team and me on building those personal relationships with new customers so they feel welcomed and comfortable and want to use us and recommend us, even if they only come in one time to the shop.
3. Expanding Services: I’m diversifying to include more mechanical services, paint protection, and paintless dent repair, all in-house. These will act as a buffer when traditional collision repair slows down.
4. Building Financial Reserves: I’m focused on financial planning, ensuring I have enough reserves to handle potential downturns, and cutting unnecessary spending.
5. Investing in My Workforce: I will continue to invest in my team’s development in technical skills and customer service to ensure they are ready for new repair methods and can offer superior service.
Conclusion: No More Hiding
The storm is coming, whether in the form of a recession or ongoing industry changes. For too long, I’ve kept my head in the sand, hoping things would improve. But now, I understand my business will survive only if I make real changes. By confronting these challenges head-on and adapting to the evolving landscape, I am determined to weather the storm and come out stronger on the other side.
TIFFANY MENEFEE has more than 20 years experience in the insurance business and now runs a collision repair shop in El Paso, Texas.
EMAIL: tiffanykaymenefee@gmail.com
ARCHIVE: fenderbender.com/menefee
Staying Ahead of Industry Changes Is No Longer Optional
The future of our industry is shaped by the actions we take today.
As our industry evolves and adapts to the new norm, we have to watch out for key changes that if not forecasted can create devastating outcomes. From fluctuating insurance policies to proposed legislation, the dynamics shaping our field are evolving quickly. Many shop owners in my state believe, “It can’t get much worse than this.” But that mindset is a dangerous trap. If we sit back and complain, major decisions are being made behind closed doors that could severely negatively impact our businesses and our customers.
The good news? We’re not powerless. By staying informed and proactive, we can adapt and even influence changes to protect and grow our businesses.
Why Staying Updated on Legislative and Market Changes Matters
Did you know that a proposed bill, Florida SB 92, could introduce significant administrative and legal challenges for collision shops?
Brought forth with the honorable intent to address hit-and-run incidents, the bill would require repair shops to obtain and file crash reports for jobs exceeding $2,500. Here’s the catch: a routine bumper repair often surpasses that amount. This legislation places unnecessary liability on shop owners, turning repair facilities into quasi-investigators. It introduces delays, additional costs, and potential customer privacy violations. Even worse, it establishes a dangerous precedent that could expand to other states.
If passed, this bill could drastically increase your administrative duties and erode customer trust. For instance, shops may face several weeks of long delays waiting for crash reports, disrupting workflows, and increasing storage costs. Databases created for repair estimates could expose customer data to third parties like insurance companies, violating privacy rights. Many small shops without robust administrative teams could struggle to meet new requirements, risking fines or even license revocation.
Right now, however, there’s still time to act.
What Can You Do? Actionable Steps for Shop Owners
To truly future-proof our businesses, we need
to proactively monitor and respond to industry changes. Here’s how you can stay ahead of the curve and protect our operations:
1. Network with Peers
Collaborate with fellow shop owners, industry associations, and repair coalitions. By sharing experiences and strategies, you’ll build stronger defenses against legislative and market challenges. Organizations like the Florida Auto Body Association (FABA) offer valuable resources and platforms for unified advocacy.
2. Stay Updated on Policies
Sign up for newsletters, attend industry workshops, and follow key legislative developments. Bills like SB 92 often have a direct impact on your shop’s operations, and knowing about them early allows time to prepare.
3. Engage in Advocacy
Don’t wait until laws are passed to voice your opinion. Connect with your local representatives and educate them on the unintended consequences of proposed legislation. A quick conversation with a legislative aide or a written submission can make all the difference.
4. Scenario Planning for Change
Evaluate your current business systems and ask, “How would this new rule affect my shop?” Create contingency plans for potential changes to reduce operational disruptions.
5. Invest in Operational Flexibility
Streamline your processes so you can adapt to new requirements with minimal friction. Whether it’s investing in software platforms or training staff, agile businesses will always have the upper hand.
The Risks
The unfortunate reality is that regulatory changes rarely prioritize the needs of small businesses like ours. If we don’t take the initiative to shape the outcomes of these decisions, we’ll be the ones left dealing with the fallout. It’s far easier to educate decision-makers before a bill passes than to reverse its effects later.
For example, if every shop owner called Florida Senator Gruters’ office today to oppose the inclusion of repair facilities in SB 92,
we could create a wave of opposition strong enough for legislators to reconsider. While it might seem like a small act, collective efforts build momentum.
This isn’t the first challenge our industry has faced, and it won’t be the last. However, the difference between thriving and struggling lies in our willingness to evolve with the times. By coming together to engage with decision-makers, staying informed about industry trends, and building adaptable operations, we can transform challenges into opportunities.
There’s no sitting this one out. The future of our industry is shaped by the actions we take today.
Need help navigating these changes? Connect with your local industry associations or join FABA’s advocacy efforts. Together, we can ensure our businesses remain resilient for years to come.
Editor’s note: Drew is president of the Florida Auto Body Association. For more information, go to floridaautobodyassociation.com. Reach Senator Gruters by calling his legislative aide, Spencer White, at (850) 487-5022.
DREW BRYANT has been the owner of DB Orlando Collision since August 2011. A 20 group leader, indemand conference speaker, and award-winning shop owner, Bryant takes a nontraditional approach to process implementation, lean process development, and overall operational experience while remaining dedicated to his staff’s personal and professional development.
