Wichita has formed an ASA Wichita Collision Chapter. This will allow the shops to team-up and work together to produce superior results in the collision industry. I believe the business leaders that attended the meeting were concerned about improving their business and providing their customers with the best service possible.
I thought it would be a good opportunity for me to get to know the local collision shops better, learn about current trends and the situations that shops are facing. In exchange, this will help me better prepare students for the collision industry. This will also allow me to screen the shops to determine which shops will be a good fit for our students at Butler.
ASA Elects Officers
The first thing that we did was to elect officers for the chapter. The elected officers are as follows:
Chapter President – Brad Shelton, Shelton Collision Repair, Derby, KS
Chapter Vice President – Dennis Allison, Auto Works Collision Center, Wichita, KS
Chapter Secretary – Melissa Edwards, Norris Collision, Goddard, KS
Chapter Treasurer – Vernon Hammond, Autobody Connection, Rose Hill, KS
Kansas Insurance Department
Jim Welch with the Kansas Insurance Department attended the meeting to address some of the concerns of the members. Here are a few of the concerns addressed:
Blending within the panel – I thought this issue went away, but evidently shops are still fighting this one. This is where insurance companies cut the paint time on the estimate. They claim that if you are only painting part of the panel, (blending within the panel) then you should not get the full paint time. The problem with that is, you still have to prep the entire panel, mask the entire panel and clear the entire panel. It takes just as long if not longer to perform a blend within a panel. Full paint time should be given.
Paint Capping – Insurance companies have been putting a paint cap (cutting the dollar amount off at an undetermined rate) on estimates. I’m not clear how the insurance companies determine where to cap the materials. The only thing that I’m aware of is the clear coat. I know that Mitchell P-Pages used to state, not exceed 2.5 hours on clear coat. I don’t know if that is still correct or not. However, according to Kansas Insurance Department, paint capping violates insurance statutes dating back to 1974. Therefore, insurance adjusters should not be allowed to cap material costs.
Steering – Insurance companies continue to steer their customers to their DRP shops. That is illegal! I wrote a blog about this in the past. For my thoughts on steering read this POST.
This was just a few of the topics discussed. I encourage the collision business leaders to join the Wichita Chapter. Together, we can make a difference, and change some of the issues mentioned.
For more information about the ASA Wichita Collision Chapter contact:
Brad Shelton, Shelton Collision Repair
(316) 788-1528 / [email protected]
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