June 24, 2013—I-CAR has expanded its Collision Repair Industry Segment Advisory Council (ISAC) program to include several additional councils that represent geographic regions across the country.
I-CAR’s ISAC program was originally created in 2008 as a single, multi-member national council meant to gain perspectives from collision repairers to improve the organization’s services and programs in order to better serve the industry.
“The original single national Collision Repair ISAC played an important role in repositioning I-CAR to better serve the industry, including inputs to the Professional Development Program,” said Jeff Peevy, senior director of field operations and segment development for I-CAR. “Looking back at the contributions that this program has made, it was evident that further engagement using this process would be valuable. ”
The ISAC program now includes six councils that represent each of the I-CAR regions throughout the U.S. The councils are made up of 10–12 collision repair professionals from each specific region who have varying views on training and represent shops of all sizes, including independent, dealer and multi-shop operations.
I-CAR also established a national level council comprised of representatives from all six regional councils.
I-CAR said the councils will meet two times annually and be facilitated by an independent third party.
“I-CAR stepping up and listening closely to its clients is the right thing to do, and adding more groups to increase overall feedback is the correct step. The value is clearly there,” said Barry Dorn, owner of Dorn’s Body and Paint and member of the ISAC program. “Planning sessions and high level meetings are beneficial, but listening to what is happening at the ground level allows I-CAR to stay flexible and clearly understand the needs of the entire repairer community.”