Those Who Show Up Run the Industry by John Loftus

June 13th, 2007

Dear Gene Hamilton,

You gave of your time and talent to bring the industry together. Working together changed our industry. We changed its name, the attitude of the owners, technicians, vendors, and insurers. We retrained our employees and ourselves. The professionalism that followed affected everyone who came in contact with us. We earned the title Collision Repair Centers and Collision Repair Technicians. We learned to speak for our industry and stopped others from speaking for us. We sat down with our adversaries to discuss our differences and from that we both learned how to resolve issues and move forward. We learned those who show up run the industry and we always showed up, even when the meetings was not going to be friendly place we stood up and spoke out. We learned that silence is consent and would leave us with the way things were not the way we wanted them to be. We learned how to speak and when to speak. We changed old perceptions into a new professional reality. We did so well that when we sent our children to college they still came back to the family business. Along the way, we gained the respect of our customers, friends and even our critics. We built an organization that was and continues to be a vehicle to keep all the industry segments talking and working together. It was my mission to help you get there.

WORKING TOGETHER IS STILL THE MOST IMPORTANT WORK WE DO

Sincerely,

John Loftus

 

Highway Robbery: Collision Repair Shops Are The Victims

Finally, collision repairers across the nation are starting to make some noise and are getting the attention of government officials. For way too long, insurers have been beating us silly between steering, capping and suppressing labor rates. A great example of the uprising is happening in New York.  The New York State Auto Collision Technicians Association (NYSACTA) is mad as hell and they ain’t going to take it any longer. More collision repair organizations need to do the same.

According to a recent NYSACTA’s study, originally released last year, auto insurance rates have increased more than 145 percent in the past 19 years, while autobody repair labor rates have risen only 45 percent, or $12 per hour.  “We think insurers are unfairly profiting, it appears, at both ends of the spectrum: high premiums and lower pay out on claims,” says executive director Ed Kizenberger.  The NYSACTA study (conducted by Frederick Jennings of EconoLogistics) concluded that autobody labor rates in New York should be in the neighborhood of $80 to $95 per hour.  To learn more about the study, contact Fred Jennings at 978-356-2188 at EconoLogistics. I spoke to Fred today about his work and he is sending me lots of information so the GCIA can study what the NYSACTA has done so far.

ABRN did an article on this subject titled New York collision repair group calls for labor rate increases back in January of this year.  Do yourself a favor and take a few minutes to read this important article – click the linked title. Then, make your comments here on this blog. If you want to post an opinion, write it up and send it to me, Howard Batchelor at howard@gcia.org and I’ll get it posted here right away.

What’s your opinion? What say you?

Let’s get the ball rolling in Georgia and across the nation. Let’s do something now about steering and labor rates. Our survival demands we do something now.

Thanks,

Howard Batchelor – GCIA

 

Welcome to Collision Solutions

Welcome to the Collision Solutions Web log (blog).  The purpose of this blog is to educate, inform, and allow like minded individuals in the Collision Industry to post message about issues affecting their businesses.  Please send all articles that you would like posted to gcia@gcia.org.  Feel free to make comments regarding each article and let’s get the word out about this site.  We look forward to hearing from you soon.

Howard Batchelor
Director of Operations
GCIA