As the New Year begins it seems that the weather has been very favorable for areas of our country that our industry relies on to "generate" business. Just the other day, my wife, who migrated to Indiana from Phoenix, was complaining about the small ice storm we received. She ranted about how bad it was to drive in and about the poor drivers of the nine vehicles we saw off the road against the guardrails during the four-mile drive to our home. I just looked at her and smiled. She realized that my eyes saw a completely different picture – nobody was hurt and the industry was set to make lots of repair dollars. Some may say we have a warped sense when it comes to weather, but it does pay the bills.
This blissful period of the year does mask the critical issues we are facing. We still have to deal with labor rate suppression, database abuse, steering, as well as increased business costs, shortage of qualified technicians and new technology changing how we repair cars. When times are good, it's easy to feel like a "fat cat" and stop thinking about the future. We can never do that if we're going to make our industry better. That won't happen until we begin picking the right allies and the right battles.
We can remedy that first issue by no longer viewing our competitors, other shop owners, as our enemies. Twenty years ago, shop owners would meet and have lunch or dinner and even travel together. Today, no one takes the time – and what a shame. If owners did, the distrust and misconceptions between us would disappear. I challenge you in 2009, to take the time to meet with your competitors. Then we can focus on the bigger issues, the battles we must fight, that are damaging our businesses. Let's look at CCC Information Services' recent decision on bumper overlap deductions.
Many of us have fought the past few years to ensure the estimating database is used as it was intended, not selectively as insurers might want. Some states have passed legislation to require this. A recent trend has been to place information providers in a position to mediate what is correct and justifiable, acting as an independent resource the entire industry can count on.
For more than two years, associations, paint companies, vehicle manufacturers and individual shop owners worked through the Collision Industry Conference and sent letters and e-mails to CCC about its Paint Bumper on Vehicle button in Pathways. We believed it to be an invalid depiction of the proper repair necessary on today's vehicles and asked for it to be removed.
After numerous meetings and forum discussions, where we provided documented procedure statements, CCC agreed to change this process within their estimating program. It was a long road to change but worth it. We believed our efforts showed that "right is right." It also showed the industry could work together on common issues. The industry applauded CCC for the change.
Unfortunately, CCC has since reversed its decision. We're back to the previous system, which repairers say costs them $75 to $200 when replacing a bumper cover. Not only that, for many of us, this reversal places doubt on whether an information provider can be considered an independent provider of valid estimating products.
I encourage all of you to let CCC know that we feel this is unacceptable. We're their customers, and they worked with us before. We have the power to make change. We did it once. We can do it again. We can't give up on this battle now.
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