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Letter to the Editor

Prompt War

Our feature this month reports on a heated dispute with estimating system provider CCC Information Services that collision repairers thought had been settled months ago, but which returned with a fury to take top billing at the recent Collision Industry Conference (CIC) meeting. The “Prompt Battle,” fought and won (we thought) by collision repairers back in December, apparently has become a prompt war.

The CIC Database Committee, chaired by Lou DiLisio, is once again pulling an information and data battle plan together to hopefully convince CCC that the database provider should immediately retreat and surrender.

Read the article to get up to speed on this problem. Collision repairers should all remind CCC that we are the company’s customers, too. Sometimes when an insurer requests something, the answer needs to be a polite but firm “No.”

Speaking of insurers, read about the Connecticut Attorney General’s firm stand in favor of anti-steering legislation on page 17. Richard Blumenthal suggests that collision repairers write to their state attorneys general, listing concerns about insurer anti-competitive practices.

The Society of Collision Repair Specialists (SCRS) has decided to go right to the top, to the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Attorney General, to request an investigation into possible violations of federal antitrust laws in the marketplace. Read the letter from SCRS to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder on page 11.

The economic climate is still tense. Today, GM is still teetering on the brink of bankruptcy, and Chrysler is already there. Many car dealers across the country will be forced to close, drivers are too broke to repair their cars, and gas prices are on the rise. Many Americans will be vacationing much closer to home this summer - in our backyards!

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