Assured Performance Network (APN), the OEM Roundtable and the Society of Collision Repair Specialists (SCRS) sponsored the second in a series of repairer-only meetings on Nov. 1 at the 2012 SEMA.
Like this article? Sign up to receive our weekly news blasts here.The event, reserved only for representatives of collision repair businesses, was designed to provide a place where collision repairers could engage in candid conversation about the challenges facing their industry, without any undue influence from opposing agendas. A third "repairer only" forum will be held in conjunction with other industry events on a quarterly basis starting with the CIC meeting in Palm Springs, Calif., in January.
Several entities and nearly 300 repairers attended the two repairer-only events including sponsorship from the OEM Collision Repair Round Table; a group of automaker crash parts and collision repair representatives, aimed at improving the quality of collision repair available to vehicle owners.
According to Scott Biggs, CEO of APN, "Repairers have overwhelmingly expressed their interest to make the repairers only forum-assembly an on-going organized event to ensure there is always a place for repairers to express their opinions openly and without filters and interference."
"There was a lot of emotion and passion as repairers articulated their concerns and discussed solutions." said Jordan Hendler, executive director of the Washington Metropolitan Auto Body Association. "This was a great start to bring repairers and repairer groups together to talk specifically about repairer issues and how to collectively resolve some long- standing problems."
The forum is not a replacement or competition for participation in other inter-industry events, the sponsoring organizations said. Instead, it provides repairers with their own forum. While the Las Vegas forum had no set agenda, the open discussion agenda covered a wide range of topics. Insurer-mandated parts procurement programs dominated the conversation, but a variety of other issues surfaced during the course of the two-hour event highlighting the mounting frustration felt by repairers.
"We attended the first two repairer meetings and were overwhelmed by the experience of the repairers that attended," added Eddie Okahara, president of Oka's Auto Body, Hawaii. "We made new friends that have the same challenges as us, and we were hopeful that there would be future events like this scheduled. This type of meeting, where repairers attend to share common challenges from the perspective of one repairer to another, is refreshing. This industry changes so quickly, and it is a great benefit to talk with others that are involved in the day to day business of repairing and refinishing vehicles safely based on the manufacturers specifications; rather than former employees of repairers, retired owners, or people that have moved on to teaching or consulting and are no longer directly involved as we are."
"I was impressed with the turnout at this event and the level of participation from all that were in attendance," said SCRS Chairman Aaron Clark. "Every major organization, including SCRS, has a forum to discuss their issues. This style of repairer-only meeting that is not organization specific seems to provide a great opportunity to allow repairers the time and place to talk openly and without filters or other interests muting the opinions. The repair industry has identified a hunger for ongoing repairer-only meetings and the industry responded. I was certainly proud to be a part of this and look forward to future meetings."
A volunteer leadership group has stepped forward to organize future meetings, including setting the agenda for the January meeting. Submit questions or suggestions for discussion points to SCRS Executive Director Aaron Schulenburg ([email protected]) or APN Executive Director Liz Stein ([email protected]).
