Kyle Al-Rifai has used his background in manufacturing to shape his unconventional approach to collision repair, including implementing round-the-clock shifts for unusual producitivity in the massive 140,000-square-foot facility in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma.

At the same time, he stresses that the collision repair industry needs a culture shift to compete with other trades vying for some of the same personnel.

“Blue-collar work today should mean work/life balance, respect, smart tooling, and a real career path,” he says. “We have to show the next generation that this is a skilled, technical profession they can be proud to choose.”

He sees culture as a quality issue, as employees who feel respected and have clear direction deliver quality repairs.

It is for these reasons and more our judging panel selected Al-Rifai as our FenderBender Award winner from a number of highly qualified nominees, and we look forward to sharing more of his story as he is prepared to talk about the latest developments in his operation.

Our Best Repair Planner/Estimator for 2026 is Mike Mead, of Dacus Auto Body & Collision Repair in McPherson, Kansas, who in his nomination was praised for consistently delivering accuracy, efficiency, and safety at a high level, which are qualities we wished to promote when we introduced the award in 2024.

Mead's completed estimate exercise from Collision Advice for a 2025 Ford F-150 that needed a frame replacement included over 500 line items and was over $37,000, including many one-time-use fasteners and other parts.

I want to thank supporters of both our awards, and especially for sponsors our Best Repair Planner/Estimator Award: Ford Certified Collision Network and RepairLogic from OEC. I also want to give a special thanks to Mike Anderson, Danny Gredinberg, and other staff at Collision Advice, without whom we would not be able to include the critical estimate exercise component.

Competition for both awards, as always, was extremely close this year. Read about both of these winners in this issue, and also look for the roundtable video with Mike Mead, Mike Anderson, Ford's Chris Wallace, and OEC's Tanya Sweetland on our combined Vehicle Service & Repair Group YouTube channel.

If you will be at the SEMA Show, join us for the Red Carpet Industry Awards on Tuesday evening following the Collision Industry Conference, where we will present both awards.

As always, I encourage you to nominate your choice (or another) next year. I appreciate your interest and support, and I hope to see another flood of entries next spring.