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Letter to the Editor

On the Lookout

Our feature this month visits the movers and shakers in the Collision Repair Industry - those dedicated individuals who keep plugging away at association meetings to improve the industry, to see what they see as priorities for collision repairers this year. Trying to see which way the wind blows is always a bit tricky, but even more so in this difficult economic climate.

Our TrendLine results this month seem to indicate an overall drop-off in repair orders across the nation, compared to last year at this time. Shop respondents to our survey reported an increasing willingness to offer other services to customers, and were unanimous in considering other service offerings as essential components to their businesses. In these tough times, collision repair facility shop owners and managers should always be on the lookout for ways to bring more business - and more dollars - into their operations.

See page 11 for some good news (finally) from an estimating system provider. Mitchell International has pledged to provide market-based updates to its Refinishing Materials Calculator, beginning this month. A change to estimating system software that benefits collision repair shops has been long overdue.

In contrast to that news, check out a Crash Network report on page 19, to see how CCC Information Services continues to insult collision repairers with the company’s reinstatement of the hated bumper refinish overlap removal prompt from its Pathways estimating software. All Pathways shop subscribers should echo CIC Database Committee chairman Lou DiLisio’s statement: “Enough is enough.”

We all need to look out for each other in these unsteady economic times. We all owe our industry associations a big thank you for watching out for all of us.

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