EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’S MESSAGE

The Time Is Now

by CHARLES BRYANT

For some time now, many in the collision industry have said we will be working on automated vehicles that can basically drive themselves before we know it. Well, hello, that time is now! Those vehicles ARE here, and they are being worked on by many shops that believe they are still waiting for those vehicles to get here. The first problem is that it happened much faster than anyone expected. With that said, the collision industry is faced with more problems than one might even imagine. These ultra-modern vehicles are nothing like the vehicles that the collision industry is accustomed to repairing. Collision workers now have to look up repair procedures required to perform the repairs and check for position statements from the vehicle manufacturer. I can tell you that, most of the time, it is no easy task and certainly not something technicians had to do in the past. A good technician could simply rely on his or her years of experience to perform their job. Now, that experience (which took years to gain) is basically useless because the vehicles coming into shops these days are completely different and therefore require the technician to start all over by learning one vehicle or even one procedure at a time, often learning the same procedure on different vehicles all over again and again. Looking up repair procedures and checking for position statements is commonly referred to as “creating a blueprint for the repair,” and similar to a builder creating a blueprint to build a house – it can be quite time-consuming. For this reason, more and more shop owners are investing the money required to get their technicians certified for the vehicles they intend to repair or specialize in, as well as the required equipment, which can be a major investment. At the same time, many of the older shop owners that have been in the industry for most of their adult life are simply not willing to make the investment and start all over; as a result, they are ready to retire early and sell their shops. The bottom line is: If the shops are not willing to make the investment in the equipment and training required to repair these new vehicles, the best move would be to sell their shops because that is the only way that these modern vehicles will get repaired safely and properly as the liability is just not worth it. Now, with that explained, the next question is: Where will the finances that are required to purchase the equipment and training come from? People are going to have to rely on their insurance to cover the cost to repair these ultra-modern vehicles. The main problem shops are already experiencing is that insurers are not willing to acknowledge the changes that are upon us. Collision shops simply cannot repair these vehicles for Labor Rates less than bicycle shops are paid to repair bicycles, period. In the past, collision shops have been able to work out the Labor Rate issue by playing Let’s Make a Deal, working around the issue by cost shifting. Now, the difference is so great between what is required to repair the vehicle and what insurers are currently paying that even those improper methods of reaching an agreed price will not work. The time is now to address the Labor Rate issue once and for all. The traditional $1 or $2 per hour will not fix this problem!

Another problem that has to be addressed is when an insurer walks into a collision shop and starts the conversation by saying something to the effect of, “We don’t pay for that”, or suggests that if you don’t buy the parts from this or that vendor, they will limit the amount they pay to the amount that the part would have cost from their suggested vendor.

Well, fellow members of the collision industry, those are only two major issues that should have been addressed and resolved long ago, but they were not, so guess what? Now, we have no choice because the old method will no longer work. As a result, both of these issues are top priority and are now on the table to be addressed. All I can say about this presently is to stay tuned because the time IS now, like it or not! NJA