Your Source for Up-To-Date News and Research on the Collision Repair Industry
click here to subscribe to the FREE INSIGHT Editor's Desk News Alert Email
SUBSCRIBERS-ONLY
Today's News
Industry Stocks
INSIGHT This Month
INSIGHT Archives
Survey Center
Letter to the Editor
Business Tools
Subscription Information
CSI Reporting
Financial Analysis
IRS Audit Guide
Management/
Technical Info
Market Watch Rates
INSIGHT Inside this month's issue...
Feedback
Letter to the Editor
This article originally appeared in the March 2008 Issue of INSIGHT
©2008 Collision Repair Industry INSIGHT All Rights Reserved
Enterprise Rent-A-Car Reaffirms Commitment to Keep Collision Repair Data Confidential
U.S. Supreme Court Denies Allstate Petition
Progressive Receives U.S. Patent for Concierge Claims Service Method
CCAR Named Preferred Online Training Supplier for AAA Repair Network
911 Collision Centers Apprentice Training System Approved by Department of Labor
House Judiciary Subcommittee Holds Design Law Hearing
Copart to Acquire Simpson Bros. Salvage in UK
Scene Genesis Sponsors Eversman Podcast for Body Shops on Rising Costs and Low Reimbursements
Mitchell to Present to Society of Insurance Research on Leveraging Claims Data
Audatex Receives ASE, I-CAR, and AMI Training Designations
Driving Traffic - Helping customers locate your website will help them locate your shop
INDUSTRY UPDATE
Enterprise Rent-A-Car has reaffirmed its commitment to safeguard the privacy of collision repair data. Consistent with guidelines established by the Society of Collision Repair Specialists (SCRS), Enterprise has developed a written privacy policy that prohibits the sharing or selling of data provided by collision repairers.
In a recent news release, SCRS urged collision repairers to request copies of the privacy policies of companies to which they electronically transmit data, along with written explanations of the specific data elements used by those companies, how the elements are used, and whether data elements are shared or sold. Enterprise’s privacy policy addresses each of those issues.
In September of 2007, Enterprise announced a technology solution it had developed jointly with software company CynCast. The software package, ARMS(R) Automotive Exchange, works with a repair center’s estimating and/or shop management system to automatically upload repair information to Enterprise via an EMS (estimate management software) file. This makes the replacement rental process more efficient by eliminating the need for phone calls to the shop to check the status of repairs.
In addition to reducing the rental management workload, the ARMS Automotive Exchange protects the security of repair centers’ data and computer systems. The technology collects only the data contained in the EMS file directory, which is the industry standard designed for sharing estimate files between different computer systems and trading partners. Neither Enterprise nor CynCast, in which Enterprise has a minority investment, views or retrieves any other information from the shops’ internal systems, or edits or discloses any account information, without prior written consent.
“Replacement rental has been a vital part of our business for nearly 50 years,” said Lee Kaplan, Senior Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer at Enterprise. “Safeguarding the privacy of repair data is essential to the integrity of our brand, and we are happy to support the efforts of SCRS to keep that information confidential.”
Enterprise Rent-A-Car’s privacy policy states that information captured by the ARMS Automotive Exchange “will be kept confidential and used for the limited purpose of rental management.” Enterprise “also agrees not to sell or share, nor permits its third party vendors to sell or share, information obtained by our ARMS Automotive Exchange.”
Founded in 1957, Enterprise Rent-A-Car is headquartered in St. Louis and serves customers in the United States, Canada, the U.K., Ireland, and Germany. Enterprise is North America’s largest car rental company in fleet size, number of locations, and annual revenue, ranking No. 21 on the Forbes Top 500 Private Companies in America.
o
The U.S. Supreme Court has denied Allstate Insurance Company’s petition for writ of certiorari. Most recently, Allstate Insurance Company filed a reply brief to the U.S. Supreme Court regarding the Texas statute prohibiting insurance companies from owning collision repair shops.
This reply brief followed the Automotive Service Associa-tion’s (ASA’s) response and Allstate’s appeal after the U.S. Court of Appeals, 5th Circuit, New Orleans, affirmed the District Court ruling in the case of Allstate Insurance Co., et al., Appellants-Appellees v. Greg Abbott, Etc., et al., v. Automotive Service Association, et al. Aug. 1, 2007.
The denial by the U.S. Supreme Court can be viewed at the ASA legislative website: www.TakingTheHill.com at “Press Center” and then “References and Bills.”
Auto insurer Progressive has received U.S. Patent No. 7,324,951 for its concierge level of claims service.
Conceived in 2000 and rolled out beginning in 2003, the concierge level of claims service is designed, according to Progressive, to save drivers time. The auto insurance claims process typically delivers a check to the customer for the amount of the repairs, leaving the customer to find a repair shop, get a rental car, etc.
Progressive’s concierge level of claims service is now available through 54 specially designed centers in metropolitan markets in the U.S. In most states, the driver needs only to report the claim, drop off the car, and drive away in a rental car. Progressive then writes an estimate for the damage and contacts a repair facility to pick up the car and fix the damages.
Once the car is repaired, it is returned to the center, the repairs are inspected and the customer is notified. When the customer returns, he or she picks up the car and drives away, knowing that the repairs are guaranteed by Progressive and the shop.
According to the J.D. Power and Associates 2007 Insurance Claims Study(SM), Progressive’s concierge service cuts the average time from first notice of the claim to completion of vehicle repairs by an average of 4.8 days relative to the industry average.
“We continuously evaluate all of the services we offer to make sure they’re as customer friendly as possible,” said Progressive CEO Glenn Renwick. “Our customers tell us that our claims service, including our concierge service, is the most valued experience we offer. Being able to deliver our customers’ cars back to them with guaranteed repairs more than four days faster than the rest of the industry is something we’re very proud of. It’s also gratifying that the U.S. Patent Office recognizes the uniqueness of the method and, as a result, has granted a patent to protect the methodology.”
Progressive holds several other patents, including three for its usage-based insurance programs and one for its online policy servicing capabilities.
The Coordinating Committee For Automotive Repair (CCAR) has been named as a Preferred Supplier of online training programs by AAA, North America’s foremost motoring and leisure travel organization, including AAA clubs and Approved Auto Repair facilities throughout the U.S. and Canada.
CCAR’s online training programs include “S/P2,” addressing environmental and safety issues for automotive mechanical service and collision repair facilities, and “HazmatU,” which trains automobile dealers and parts distribution facilities on the transportation of hazardous materials, as required by the U.S. Depart-ment of Transportation (DOT).
“This agreement will not only benefit AAA’s nearly 51 million members, but all motorists who look for the AAA Approved Auto Repair sign when selecting a repair facility,” said Marshall L. Doney, AAA Vice President, Automotive. “The programs offered by CCAR complement the high professional standards maintained by AAA Approved Auto Repair facilities.”
The AAA Approved Auto Repair program was created in 1975 to address consumer complaints about unsatisfactory automobile repairs. The program does this by identifying auto repair facilities that maintain high professional standards, and have the proper equipment and training to provide motorists with quality automotive maintenance and repair services. As of January 1, 2008, there are more than 7,800 AAA-approved repair facilities in the U.S. and Canada.
“All of us at CCAR are immensely pleased to have this opportunity to work with AAA and its Approved Auto Repair network,” said Robert G. Stewart, CCAR President. “We welcome them as partners in CCAR’s ongoing efforts to help the automotive industry reach a greater understanding of its compliance responsibilities in environmental and safety-related matters.”
S/P2 (www.sp2.org) is an e-learning program developed by CCAR to address key safety and pollution prevention issues for automotive repair professionals. The training is based on U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) standards, which require that personnel be trained on safety and environmental regulations at the beginning of their employment, and at least annually thereafter.
HazmatU, located online at www.hazmatu.org, was created by CCAR in cooperation with the North American Automotive HazMat Action Committee (NAAHAC), a group of regulatory compliance specialists representing the major automotive manufacturers in North America, and ShipMate, Inc., a HazMat specialty training company with an extensive background of serving automotive companies.
DOT regulations require any employee who works in the shipping or receiving of hazardous materials to receive training within 90 days and recurring training at least every three years.
CCAR, a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization, also operates “CCAR-GreenLink(R),” the National Environmental Compliance Assistance Center for Automotive Repair, in cooperation with the U.S. EPA.
Tucson, Arizona-based 911 Collision Centers & AutoGlass has honored Christopher Beach, the first graduate of its Mentors At Work apprenticeship system and has also announced that the U.S. Department of Labor (D.O.L.) Bureau of Apprenticeship & Training has approved its training system. The system is also registered with the Arizona Department of Commerce.
The apprenticeship system was officially launched in March, 2006 and, after continual improvement, gained acceptance by the D.O.L. in January 2008.
Beach has worked closely under the watchful eye of Ron Ratzlaff, a Master Technician with over 32 years of experience. Ratzlaff was carefully selected to serve as one of the company’s mentors, based not only on his technical skills but also on his ability to make strong teacher/student connections. Ratzlaff previously was named national “Mentor of the Year” for his exemplary training and coaching in 2006.
“We need bright, talented people to join our ranks,” said Jeff Hutchison, 911 Collision Centers shop manager. “Today’s cars are complex, highly technical and require our technicians to work within tolerances of one or two millimeters. The work we do is important to society, making sure that vehicles are repaired to exact manufacturer specifications so that the vehicle occupants are protected in the manner the original engineers intended. In reality, lives are at stake. Not just anyone can work in this field.”
“We have great career opportunities available for people who have an interest in cars and want to learn a profession,” added Vikki Woods, Workforce Development manager at 911 Collision Centers. “With our Mentors At Work apprenticeship system we can get a new hire, with no experience, up to speed in two to three years. From there, technicians in this field can earn anywhere from $40,000-70,000 or more if they are skilled and work hard.”
“Our earn-while-you-learn apprenticeship system helps ensure we will have the very best quality workforce as we continue to serve our customers and grow our business,” said Patrick O’Neill, Co-Founder and Chief Operations Officer for 911 Collision Centers. “There are predicted shortages of skilled technicians over the next ten years. We are committed to get out in front of that with our apprenticeship system and build our own workforce.”
Founded in 1998, 911 Collision Centers & AutoGlass operates five locations in Tucson and two locations in Las Vegas, Nevada.
A hearing was held in mid-February by the U.S. House Judiciary’s Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet, and Intellectual Property titled “Design Law: Are Special Provisions Needed to Protect Unique Industries?” The hearing focused on the fashion and automotive industries.
Representing the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers was Carl Olsen, president of Ark Design.
During his testimony, Olsen said, “Designing a new vehicle is not cheap. It requires a team of well-trained, talented designers working in competition, proposing a large number of creative solutions. Each part – from headlamps to door handles – receives tender, loving care. This methodology assists management to make rational decisions on the final appearance of a new vehicle. It costs hundreds of millions of dollars to create unique, distinctive exterior designs for vehicles. Industrial design protection for the auto industry projects numerous high-paying design and manufacturing jobs and also the automobile industry’s huge investment in the United States is consistent with the underlying policy goals of U.S. intellectual property law. Those seeking to weaken American Intellectual Property protection do not create their own designs. They exist only to make exact copies of parts designs they did not create.”
Jack Gillis, director of public affairs for the Consumer Federation of America, said, “The lack of competition for repair parts will result in several problems for consumers. For example, high repair costs will lead to more vehicles being ‘totaled’ because the price of repairing the damage exceeds the value of the vehicle. High repair costs will lead to higher insurance premiums.
“Furthermore,” Gillis continued, “when faced with expensive repairs and a limited budget, consumers may forego important car repairs such as replacing a headlight or a broken side mirror – items essential for safe driving. Unless Congress addresses the auto-makers’ use of design patents on their crash parts, the American public will be faced with mounting repair bills, more ‘totaled’ vehicles, increasing insurance costs, and deferring necessary repairs affecting safety.”
Gillis claimed that a solution to this “increasingly unfair, unacceptable, and unnecessary mess is for Congress to adopt a ‘repair clause’ in the design patent law that would preserve the consumer’s access to a competitive marketplace for quality alternative crash parts.”
The Automotive Service Association (ASA) is the largest not-for-profit trade association of its kind dedicated to and governed by independent automotive service and repair professionals. ASA serves an international membership base that includes numerous affiliate, state and chapter groups from both the mechanical and collision repair segments of the automotive service industry. ASA’s headquarters is in Bedford, Texas.
o
Copart, Inc., through its subsidiary in the United Kingdom (UK), has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Simpson Bros. Salvage in the UK.
This latest addition to Copart’s growing UK footprint will mark the company's eleventh facility in the United Kingdom and its 139th worldwide.
Simpson Bros. Salvage operates on a 42-acre site located at Full Sutton Industrial Estate, Stamford Bridge, York. Copart expects the acquisition to be completed by early April.
“We expect this facility, when acquired, to greatly expand our operational capacity and enhance our coverage of the UK,” stated Willis J. Johnson, Chairman and CEO of Copart. “It will also expand our footprint so we can better serve our customers by being closer to their vehicles.”
Copart, founded in 1982, provides a full range of vehicle remarketing services to process and sell salvage vehicles through a completely virtual auction-style trading platform, principally to licensed dismantlers, rebuilders and used vehicle dealers and exporters.
Autobody shops are not being paid enough by insurers to cover their soaring costs, industry expert Erica L. Eversman said in a hard-hitting new podcast sponsored by Scene Genesis.
State regulators are becoming more concerned that low payments under direct repair programs practically force some shops to make unsafe repairs, observed Eversman, general counsel of the consulting firm Vehicle Information Services, Inc., in Bath, Ohio.
“Something will have to give way,” she said. High energy prices have hiked repair shops’ costs, but reimbursements are not budging, and shop owners find it hard to invest in new equipment or staff training, Eversman added. In the long run, squeezing bodyshops is not good for the insurance industry either, she noted.
In the podcast, online at www.sceneexchange.com, Eversman predicted that more bodyshops will go out of business. Survivors will be those that become more business-oriented.
This is the second in “Topics in Ten,” a monthly podcast that brings opinions and ideas to the collision repair industry.
Scene Genesis offers SceneExchange, a novel web-based marketplace that lets participating insurance companies’ customers choose among more than 3,000 participating auto repair shops for prompt, high-quality repairs.
The company claims that SceneExchange puts control over workflow into shop owners’ hands. During the product’s pilot in the Carolinas, shops said that customers were better informed about the repair process, leading to higher satisfaction rates.
Mitchell International will present to the Society of Insurance Research (SIR) during the SIR’s Product/Claim Summit on March 11th, in San Antonio, Texas. Senior Director, Information Services, Jamison Day, and Executive Vice President and Founder of Mitchell Medical, Thomas McCarthy, will share insight with insurers on leveraging claims data and turning it into Business Intelligence to gain insight into overcoming current economic and industry-wide trends affecting the Claims organization.
One recent study conducted by Mitchell reinforced the idea that the current trend of a flattening to slightly declining portion of total losses has been occurring in the industry over the last few years. Changes in vehicle mix, moving towards vehicles with lower underlying total loss rates, have driven the drop.
Day noted, “Business Intelligence is a hot buzzword these days and, at Mitchell, we'd like to think we're playing a part in understanding how we can leverage those new technologies and approaches in our industry. We have been helping executives in the Claims organization make sense of data and trends for years now. At this conference, we're trying to highlight some examples where we can use claims data for generating insights and trends that may also be interesting and helpful for the underwriting side of the house.”
Mitchell has also studied the effects of several other trends that will likely continue into the future, such as the use of aluminum body parts and the dramatic growth of hybrid vehicle sales. In both cases, the company saw increases in average repair costs.
“If the overarching market trends continue into the future, we expect the underlying trends in claims to continue - something the underwriting organizations may want to weigh as they think about future pricing," said Day.
Mitchell International is a provider of information, workflow, and performance management solutions to the automotive insurance claims industry, serving more than 16,000 business partners, including carriers, collision repair facilities, and other commercial participants in the physical damage and auto-related medical claims markets.
The Society of Insurance Research was founded in 1970 to provide a forum for the free exchange of ideas in all areas of insurance research. It has expanded to marketing and planning, as well as research.
Solera Holdings, Inc. has been designated an approved member of the I-CAR Industry Training Alliance(SM) program. The program, along with Solera's other industry training accreditations, will be administered by its North American subsidiary, Audatex - making Audatex the first claims solutions provider to receive this designation.
Students who complete the Audatex Estimating(TM) Instructor-led training class can now earn I-CAR points valid towards I-CAR Gold Class Professionals(R) and Platinum Individual(TM) requirements - benchmarks for technical training within the automotive industry. The two-day Audatex Estimating course is worth 3.75 points and the one-day course is worth 2.0 points.
"I-CAR is proud of the training relationship forged with Audatex now that it is a member of the I-CAR Training Alliance," said Joyce Kasmer, I-CAR Director of Marketing. "I-CAR strives to bring the industry together to achieve complete and safe repairs for the ultimate benefit of the consumer. Training relationships like this help to meet this goal."
In addition, Audatex was approved by the National Institute for Automotive Service Excellence (ASE) for its in-service automotive training curriculum. Audatex is now the first claims solutions provider to offer Continuing Education Units (CEUs) for virtual classes. Audatex can now administer CEUs for specified courses that are accepted by many colleges and, in some states, can be used to meet collision repair certification and licensing requirements.
"We are pleased to be a member of the I-CAR Industry Training Alliance program," said Rick Tuuri, Vice President of Industry Relations for Audatex and past chairman of the I-CAR International Board of Directors. "We also look forward to providing students with CEUs for all types of approved Audatex curriculum. We believe that these training offerings will significantly benefit our customers by improving their knowledge-base while reducing the cost, and increasing the value, of training."
Audatex also received approval from the Automotive Management Institute (AMI) to offer students credits toward AMI's Accredited Automotive Manager (AAM) designation, a continuing education program.
Collision repair shops generally do not conduct e-commerce through their websites, but it is also probably foolish for a shop to not have a website or not invest in making it easy and worthwhile for vehicle-owners to find.
After all, according to Pew Internet, about three of every four Americans – 146 million people – are regularly online, and almost 60 percent say they start online when looking for local listings. That is almost twice the percentage that say the printed “Yellow Page” phone directory is their first source for local listings (see sidebar article).
“On average, there are about 6 billion online searches per month in the United States,” said Scott Orth, an internet marketing strategist with GTS, a software and internet marketing firm that has focused on the retail and wholesale glass markets. “Of those, about 2.2 billion are locally-based, by people who in their search process have shown they are specifically looking for something in their city or in their neighborhood.”
While INSIGHT has its own suggestions for shops looking to create or update their websites (see page 17), Orth and others say there are also key ways to make sure consumers find your site when they go looking.
The “free” route
As you probably know, when you type “collision repair” and the name of your community into a search engine, two types of listings appear. On Google, for example, by far the most popular search engine, any paid or “sponsored links” appear in a column running down the right side of the results page, or in a shaded box at the top of the page. But before understanding how to be listed there, it is important to look just below any shaded box at the top of the search results page to see the “organic” site listings, where your shop’s website can appear without you spending a dime.
The only problem with this free section is that it is generally long. Searching for “autobody repair Cleveland” on Google brings up 93,600 sites, and Orth said users rarely will look past the first page or two of listings. If you are not in the Top 20 results, therefore, your site is not likely to be found by those not specifically looking for your company by name.
The content and construction of your site has a lot to do with how high up in the organic rankings the search engines will list your site. It is part art, part science, Orth said. Here are his tips:
- Make sure your site’s content includes text, not just graphics. The search engines pay no attention to graphics, only words. And some website designers prefer to convert even the text on your site into a graphic file. That is a bad idea. Some graphics (photos, for example) help make the page attractive. But in terms of the search engines, your text is what is really important. It needs to include the search terms people will mostly likely use to find a shop: collision repair, autobody (or auto body) repair, automotive painting, etc.
- When you do use graphics (photos or the “buttons” a user clicks to switch pages), make sure those files also are named using the key search terms. The file of the photo on the site showing your shop, for example, should not be called “MainImage.jpg,” when “auto_body_shop.jpg” is equally appropriate and will be another use of a key search phrase the search engines look for as they rank websites.
- Focus each page of your site on a theme, generally one (or at most two) of the key search terms people are likely to use. That will help you naturally include that term multiple times on the page, increasing its ranking.
- Include a site map, a page that shows links to all of the pages of your site. Orth said the top search engines (Google, Yahoo, MSN, Ask) also allow you to submit an “XML site map.” (Search online for “XML site map” for free tools to help you create this.) That site map is not visible to users of your site, but it helps the search engines index your site.
- Get others to add links on their website to yours. This is especially helpful in raising your “organic” ranking when the links to your site come from established sites with lots of traffic. Shops, for example, should make sure there are links to their site from the trade associations to which they belong or from I-CAR’s Gold Class website (if they qualify) or their paint company’s shop search engine.
Paying-per-click
But some users tend to gravitate more toward the sponsored or paid links in the search engines, so you may want to spend some money to get your site at or near the top of those lists. That is generally done using a bidding process. You tell Google, for example, that when a user types in certain search terms (say, “auto body Cleveland”), you will pay $1 to Google if that user clicks on your paid or “sponsored” link that comes up on their screen alongside the free search results.
You can designate your willingness to pay more or less based on the day or time a user enters such search terms. You can also indicate that you only want it to come up for those in a particular market. The search engines (to various degrees of accuracy) can determine where a searcher is located based on his or her “internet address.”
Once you are set up with Google or another search engine, if you search “auto body Cleveland” and find other paid links are higher up on the list than yours, you know those companies have offered Google more per-click. You can decide whether it is worth it to “outbid” them for a higher spot.
But Orth cautioned that it is not always a matter of money. The search engines want to make sure they are offering users “quality” links, so the advice about making sure your site looks and operates well in terms of the “organic” search engine listings will help you with your pay-per-click rankings as well.
What search terms are most frequently used by those in need of “collision repair”? Orth cited stats that show “auto body repair” gets almost 40,000 searches per month compared with about 3,000 per month for “collision repair.” “Body shop” was in between with 15,000 a month. “Auto repair” tops them all with 86,000 searches per month but, Orth cautioned, that likely includes customers in need of mechanical rather than autobody repairs, and you are likely to pay much more per-click the more popular a search term is.
Getting consumers to click on your sponsored link in the search engines requires in part choosing the right wording, Orth said. Google sponsored links allow you only a few words on three short lines. You can run different ads for different search terms. Orth suggested including the search terms in your ad. If you are paying for the term “collision repair,” for example, include that specific term (rather than “autobody”) in your ad.
“You know it s the same thing, but it’s possible the user does not,” Orth said.
Notice that Google ads include a website name (URL) at the bottom. This does not have to be the exact name of the page the link connects to. So if you want the link to take someone to a certain page of your website (say, other than the homepage) and the name of that page is long or complicated, you can just change what shows in your ad to a shorter website name.
No longer an option
Even if your website does not include such features as vehicle progress reports for customers or playable versions of your television or radio commercials, it serves as a “calling card” for your business, online proof of your shop’s existence and interest in meeting the needs of local vehicle-owners. Making sure it is clear, professional and helpful – and most importantly, that it can be found by those searching online – should be a key part of every shop’s marketing plan.
Feedback
Have a comment about this article? Send Email to Editor, INSIGHT's Editor
©2008 Collision Repair Industry INSIGHT
All Rights Reserved
FEATURED
LINKS:
INSIGHT Supports the NABC!
Do You?