June 8, 2018—Jeff Oldenettel can't mask his passion for it: Despite the automotive industry having third parties involved in the repair process, shop owners should be focusing on putting the customer back into a safe car—above all else.
That attitude was the impetus for the newly established Kansas Auto Body Association, which will be pushing for more in-state educational events and following OEM repair procedures, said Oldenettel, president of the association and body shop manager for Eddy’s Body Shop in Wichita, Kans.
In terms of focusing on getting the consumer back into a car that is safe, he said repair facilities “absolutely should” be following OEM repair procedures.
“We should engineer time for the proper repair using the plan for how the car was built,” he said.
So to help shops realize this, Oldenettel said right now the group is focusing on bringing “live” education in-state to body shops in the form of seminars.
“The big MSOs and dealerships can travel to see these [educational events] but the local guys have a harder time getting there because it shuts their store down,” Oldenettel said.
In order to bring the education within state, the association organized an event on May 9 in which Todd Tracy, attorney in the 2017 John Eagle lawsuit, spoke. On July 28, Dave Luehr, founder of Elite Body Shop Solutions, will also present to shops at the association’s next event, he said.
In total, Oldenettel said the association is hoping to hold four larger regional events in the year and some smaller roundtable discussions.
