I'm not talking about SEMA and all the innovative ideas, products and services you may find to supplement your business and attract new customers. Nor am I talking about the significant decision to add another industry event in Las Vegas within a four-week period of each other. The International Autobody Congress and Exposition (NACE), now part of the Automotive Service & Repair Week (ASRW), has been the primary annual industry event since the early 1980s. It concluded Oct. 13. Beginning this year, the Society of Collision Repair Specialists (SCRS) took advantage of a great opportunity to partner with SEMA in lieu of participating in the ASRW. It has brought a complete array of valuable education to the industry as well.
The meeting I'm referring to took place Nov. 2 during SEMA week in Las Vegas. It was an open-session meeting held by the Collision Industry Conference (CIC) to discuss the next steps to create the Standards Committee. Why is this so significant? Just like when I-CAR was formed, it didn't seem to be such a critical event for our industry at the time. There were leaders who could see the importance of the organization, but few, if any, imagined the scope of what I-CAR would, and has, become.
If you've ever had the opportunity to travel abroad and spend time with others in our industry, you realize one of the most significant differences between their world and ours: the ability for the insurance industry and collision repairers to enter the same room and discuss issues professionally and having a training organization support learning how new technology must benefit a complete and safe repair for vehicle owners.
The CIC Standards Committee has been working on the development of collision repair standards for several years. There have been discussions through the committee efforts throughout the years to get to this point. Now it's time that the organization establish true industry repair standards.
Currently, you're held to the standards of the lowest educated, equipped and quality repair facility in your market. Prevailing practices end up being what a group of repair facilities within an area thinks the proper procedures should be. This only deflects from the importance of repairing a vehicle back to its pre-accident condition as it's related to form, function and appearance, using any special requirements by the manufacturers.
In the mid- to late 1980s, the need for standards arose, and a select few took on the task and made considerable headway. The industry thought I-CAR could move this forward better than any other organization. As a result, I-CAR purchased legal rights to what was known then as the Exact Foundation. This proved to be a bad mistake for the industry and a significant cost to I-CAR in what was released as the Uniform Procedures on Collision Repair.
There are many reasons why this occurred, but the bottom line is that we can learn from it. The industry needs to begin the development, implementation and adoption of repair standards; but the only way that can work is that it becomes an independent organization uninfluenced by specific industry segments when it pertains to the correct repair standards.
The challenge is all segments must support the standards and work together when required to assist financially on committees and demand the adoption of the approved standards within their industry segment. As one well-noted industry leader said about the first organizational meeting of IICACR, "I wasn't about to miss this meeting when the insurers and shop owners were going to get in the same room together. I wanted to sell the bullets." I hope you didn't miss this critical meeting either.
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