Repairers, insurers are behind in understanding the new reality of vehicle repair

June 1, 2020
Two recent incidents have highlighted for me a disturbing reality: Our industry – both repairers and insurers – is woefully lacking critical knowledge related to repairing vehicles with advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS). 

Two recent incidents have highlighted for me a disturbing reality: Our industry – both repairers and insurers – is woefully lacking critical knowledge related to repairing vehicles with advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS). 

I’ve had a couple conversations with Frank Terlep about the first such incident that shone a spotlight for me on this reality. Frank is a long-time technology guru in this industry, whose new company, Auto Techcelerators, LLC, has developed a system to help shops perform, document and get paid for necessary vehicle test drives and dynamic calibrations of ADAS. He and I are in agreement that without exception, anyone involved in the repair of late-model vehicle with ADAS needs a thorough understanding and consistent processes relative to scanning, wheel alignment, three-dimensional measuring, dynamic and static calibrations, test drives and post-test-drive scanning. 

I told Frank that early this year I was teaching a class in a Western state at which 32 shops were represented. I asked him: How many of those shops do you think were on top of all that? Frank guessed it was would have been just five, which would have been a sad enough statement on the state of the industry. But I had to tell him: There was only one. One shop equipped and trained and with processes in place first to do the research for the vital information needed before touching the vehicle, and then for handling all the other processes relative to returning that vehicle and its ADAS to factory specifications.

The second incident that drove home the deficiencies in our industry took place not long after that class. A neighbor of mine had been in an accident while driving her nearly-new Ford F-150. She called me with some questions, and I ended up writing a 2-page informational audit and having some interesting conversations with the insurer and independent appraiser involved. (Fortunately I hold an appraiser’s license in my state, so at least they paid attention to me.) It was clear to me that, just like the shops at that class, the insurance industry representatives involved with the claim were woefully uneducated what the vehicle and its advanced safety systems required as part of the repair. The gentleman from the insurance company who ended up calling me acknowledged they hadn’t known much of what my report explained.

Even my neighbor recognizes the frightening aspects of this situation. She’s asking, “Who can I trust with my second-biggest investment?” She moved her car from the Ford dealership shop – that clearly had no clue – to an independent shop that has long been aluminum-certified by other automakers and that I knew had what it takes to do things right.

Folks, we need to move away from the narrow focus many shops seem to have on just making sure they get paid for pre- and post-repair scans. That’s just a small portion of the steps needed to ensure the vehicle is repaired 100 percent correctly according to OEM requirements. You are taking on far too much liability if you’re not. That proper repair has to come first. Only then do you figure out how to get paid for it.

The good news for shops that are on top of understanding what ADAS requires in terms of wheel and structural alignment, calibrations and specific road testing requirements is that there’s opportunity to be paid appropriately for this work. I have clients developing stand-alone technology centers to do this work not only for their own customer’s vehicles, but for the 90 percent of shops and even dealerships that haven’t invested in the space, equipment, access to OEM information and trained personnel to do this critical work every time on every vehicle. Don’t think that subletting it out is any guarantee it will be done thoroughly or that relieves you of the liability of ensuring that it is.

The reality is we are getting close today to what I predicted a few years ago: 60 percent of repairs on vehicles will be tied to electronics: cameras, sensors, smart wiring, scanning, calibrations, road testing. Both repairers and insurers need to step up to meeting this new reality.

There’s just too much liability for not doing so.

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