ODESSA, Mo. - AASP of Missouri, ASA MOKAN and SCRS MOKAN completed the 4th Collision Industry Forum for the Midwest on June 17, 2009 in Columbia, Mo.
Craig Brace of Pure Marketing in Columbia, Mo. opened the forum by presenting marketing observations of an outsider and consumer on the industry, along with some new ways to brand businesses. He explained there were a variety of low or no cost ways to “brand” a particular facility using a commonly underutilized resource, the Internet.
Karen Fierst of KarenOr Consultants, explained ongoing efforts in Washington D.C. to enact repair clause legislation to allow for alternative crash parts to be exempt from patent infringement, similar to legislation already in existence in Europe and Australia. Fierst also conducted a survey concerning alternative parts usage in the industry and then presented results to the attendees in the afternoon sessions to show trends in alternative parts usage.
Nationally known industry participant and instructor Toby Chess presented an interactive session geared at helping shop owners improve their bottom line. Chess actively involved his audience in the presentation with interactive examples and situations. He showed that omitting minor items can affect the bottom line of a repair shop considerably and pointed out that shops must continue to bill for items and services they perform regardless of whether they think an insurer might attempt to deny the charge.
In addition, attendees had the opportunity to listen to and interact with Representative Steve Hobbs and Senator Wes Shoemyer who delivered a message of the need for unity on issues and active participation in the legislative process.
Following lunch, Chess and David McCrieght of Collision Resources answered questions about lean and ways to begin the lean conversion. McCrieght spoke about production processes used by Toyota to maximize production using a minimum of resources.
Chris Andreoli with Progressive addressed the group about the institution of Progressive’s new claims imitative and concerns relating to Progressive. He then took questions. There appeared to be consensus among attendees that although not all issues have been resolved between Progressive and shops, there has been improvement in the working relationship of the insurer and repairers over the past year. One shop stated this was a milestone because, until the meeting last year, it seemed no one had been willing to listen to its side. Interactions at the Missouri Collision Forum have helped move these changes along. Following was an open forum session where several issues were flushed out for consideration.
These included:
• Blend within panel
• Capping of materials
• Lack of unity among repairers
• Steering
• Rate suppression
