Jason Bartanen has spent decades working to get technicians the information and tools they need to perform safe and proper repairs. He’s identified an information gap for many technicians and launched his new company, Collision ProAssist, to fill the void.
Collision ProAssist uses the Discord platform to host BackBay, a social hub for technicians to share their experiences, get up-to-date information on tools and repair techniques, and, most importantly, ask questions and get answers directly from the OEMs and tool manufacturers.
Bartanen’s collision repair journey started in his grandfather’s body shop. Growing up in a family of educators and repairers, his passion for cars and learning fueled his career. He joined I-CAR as a technical writer in 1996 and helped launch the Repairability Technical Support Portal and many other learning initiatives over 23 years. He also spent six years working at Collision Hub. He left in May to pursue his latest venture.
Bartanen spoke with FenderBender about how BackBay supports technicians with the information and resources they need.
Editor's Note: This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
How did you identify the need for Collision ProAssist and decide this is the answer?
I’ve long been a technician advocate. I’ve always tried to think about the technicians, first and foremost, going back to my I-CAR curriculum development days. I was always trying to focus on what is going to resonate with technicians. What is going to be most impactful for them? I go to events like SEMA, CIC, and regional and state association meetings, and I’ve always noticed the people who aren’t there are the technicians. There are lots of owners, managers, and industry leaders at those events and the quality content that is there rarely, if ever, makes its way back to the technicians working on the cars daily. I think about my 22-year-old nephew who is a collision repair technician, and he is not at those events. If he wants to connect with people I know, he has a lot of work to do. Recognizing most technicians are busy people and they’ve got lives outside of work, I was looking for a way to help support them and develop a tool they can use inside and outside the shop. I was looking for a way to connect those industry leaders and subject matter experts directly to the technicians.
Does BackBay appeal to repairers with all levels of experience? Can someone who’s been doing this for 20 years find the same value as someone who is new to the industry?
It’s for everybody. Every technician out there should have questions, and I’m looking for technicians that have the humility to recognize "I need help." I’d say BackBay is more geared toward the 18–30-year-old technician. I wouldn’t discourage the others from being involved, but I’ve seen how a lot of technicians react; I’ve talked to many of them throughtout my career and, of those that have been doing it a long time, too often they think they know everything and the old you can’t teach anything they don't already know – I disagree with that approach – and I’ve always had a thirst for knowledge and to learn about things. I’m looking for similar minded people that want to ask questions and do things the right way. I think back to my friend Mark Allen from Audi, who once said that technicians need to have the courage and humility to recognize that maybe they shouldn't be doing this operation, or recognizing "I don't know how to do this operation," or need training on a procedure or tool. Figuring it out on your own is good sometimes, but when we’ve got a customer’s care we’re putting the lives of others in our hands, I don’t think winging it is the right approach.
What experts have you talked to and have on board? Are they compensated in any way for participating?
No one is being compensated and they’re not paying to be there. Their dues for being involved is helping the technicians. I’ve talked to 20 to 25 different companies so far. I’ve talked to Honda, Toyota, 3M, Parker Lord Fusor, Pro Spot, Revv ADAS, CamAuto, KECO, Stickyicky [cold glue,] and others; all these people I’ve worked with throughout my career and people that I know, trust, and recognize as subject matter and technical experts. I’m not dealing with management teams; I’m dealing with the people that write procedures, that build the tools, that train on the equipment, and the biggest thing for me is connecting the technicians directly with them.
How does the pricing structure work?
I’ve got three different levels. My BackBay Pass level is $15 per month. It gives you access to the bulk of the BackBay channels, but it won’t allow you to interact. I liken it to a newsletter because you’ll be able to see the questions that are being asked and see the conversations taking place, but if they’ve got a question, they won’t be able to interact. BackBay Pro is $40 per month. You can start asking questions and getting involved in the tech-to-tech conversations. The majority of BackBay is going to be answered by myself and these tool, equipment, and product manufacturers, but I’ve got an area for techs to interact. I want to build a community and have those techs interacting and building relationships in a friendly environment. BackBay Premier is my $50 per month service. I’m going to throw in a BackBay T-Shirt for that, and I want to do monthly presentations, webinars, town halls, and get everybody together to talk about what we are struggling with.
Any message or final thoughts you’d like to convey to collision repairers?
One final thing I want to emphasize is that although I’m facilitating this, I want this to be built by the technicians. I want them to say this is the type of content we need here, I need information on this and training on that. I want the technicians to shape BackBay. I want them to tell me and the Collision ProAssist team what they want in BackBay. I’ve got an area for them to help us improve. One of our technicians already chimed and said we need more PPE resources, so I added a PPE channel. I want this to be curated by the technicians and I’m just building it on the back end of the BackBay. It’s a tool for them, so I want them to dictate what goes on here.
For more information, go to collisionproassist.com.
