Survey Findings and More:Auto Repair Industry News
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
December 2020 Delta Automotive Report 1 VOL 27, NO 6 www.AutomotiveReport.net DECEMBER 2020 Monthly News for the Local Automotive Industry in Louisiana and Southern Mississippi, including Body Shops, Mechanical Shops and Dealers. Don’t miss next months issue as we go exclusively on-line at www.automotivereport.net Survey Findings and More: Auto repair industry news items you may have missed during this one-of-a-kind year By John Yoswick COVID-19 doesn’t kill demand for body Not surprisingly during the near-total eco- appear. Even in April, more than one third techs nomic shut-down in April, 61 percent of of shops said they would hire a qualified It’s been a year like no other, so it seems As slow as business was been in many shops said they had no current openings body technician if they had an opportunity likely that some industry-related news and markets in the early days of the pandemic, for any shop position. But some demand to do so. trends flew under the radar for many col- more than one in four shops (27 percent) for body technicians remains. The other positions that the most shops lision repairers. Here’s our annual look said they still had a current opening for a Throughout 2019, more than 60 percent were looking to fill in 2019 were body at some of the headlines you may have body technician, according to a CRASH of shops said they had a current opening for helpers and painter’s helpers, with more missed in recent months. Network survey of 416 shops last spring. a body tech, and even more — 80 percent than a quarter of shops saying they were — said they would hire one if a qualified in need of one or the other. But this last applicant walked in the door. Though those spring, fewer than 1 in 10 shops said they numbers dropped this year, they didn’t dis- Continued on page 6 Retired shop owner: Discounting doesn’t add up By David Bry decades of experience: Offer a quote, one that’s aligned with your business plan and When the phone rings and there is a reflects the value of your shop’s commit- potential repair customer on the line, you ment to the highest standards of automo- have a choice. You can offer a price quote tive repair and your years of experience and hope that it’s not too high and scares providing quality repairs. them away. Or you can take the approach Here’s Lynn Cardwell’s take on this sub- of a fellow mechanical shop owner with Continued on page 10 Auto Doctor of Franklin - 8 The Muntz Jet - 18 DEL1220 Presorted Standard U.S. POSTAGE PAID Franklin, TN Permit No. 357 Dated Material 2 Delta Automotive Report December 2020 Make Sure the Right Part is in Your Stocking! you don’t have At Price LeBlanc to worry about getting the quality Toyota, Scion, Lexus or Nissan parts”meet at a great price. In fact, we will with price matching the competition” on most aftermarket parts Toll Free 800-960-1157 Parts 225-408-1240 Fax 225-408-1249 Price LeBlanc Toyota Scion Price LeBlanc Nissan Price LeBlanc Lexus 13200 Airline Hwy Baton Rouge, LA 70817 14295 Airline Hwy, Gonzales, LA 70817 13200 Airline Hwy Baton Rouge, LA 70817 www.priceleblanctoyota.com www.priceleblancnissan.com www.priceleblanclexus.com Free Electronic Parts Catalog! Call for Details! December 2020 Delta Automotive Report 3 RECALLS 5 Starting in January 2021 SHOP PROFILE - Auto Doctor of Franklin 8 the Automotive Report RACING NOTES 16 will be exclusively online! REARVIEW - The Muntz Jet 18 December 2020 will mark the end of an era. For over 32 years we’ve been printing and mailing the Automotive Reports. We are moving into the digital age. VOL. 27, No. 6 • December 2020 For the last couple of years we have Editor Barry Forkum up-loaded the Automotive Report [email protected] online and we have established Publisher / Advertising Director Garnett Forkum a large following. So much so that it Art Director Allen Forkum has 10 times the readership of our Copy Editor print publications combined. Tom Williams Contributors John Yoswick, Steve McLinden Go to: Jay Hirsch, David Bry, Robert Bravender, Tom Williams www.automotivereport.net Advertising Sales Marj Pierce View the current issue and past articles, you can also Phone: (901) 466-0903 sign up for a free subscription notification that will Cell: (901) 497-0926 • Fax: (901) 466-9415 Email: [email protected] email you each time we post the new issue. Go today. www.AutomotiveReport.net Delta Automotive Report is published every month by AutoGraphic Publishing Company, Inc. Copyright 2020 All Rights Reserved. Reproduction of any contents, graphic or editorial, without permission is prohibited. Mem- ber of Associated Press. DAR accepts no responsibility for opinions of writers or for claims made by advertis- ers. Views expressed by writers are not necessarily those of the publication. DAR is mailed free of charge to independent repair shops in Southern Mississippi and all of Louisiana. AutoGraphic’s Automotive Report newspapers are also published for the regions in and around Nashville, Memphis, Knoxville, Birmingham, Atlanta, Dallas, Houston, Northern Kentucky and Indianapolis. Direct comments and suggestions to: 1121 Air- port Center Drive, Suite 101, Nashville, TN 37214. If you would like to be added to our email list, to be notified when our next issue is posted on-line please go to our web-site and sign up. www.automotivereport.net For accounting questions, contact Garnett Forkum via email at [email protected] or call. PHONE: (615) 391-3666 • FAX: (615) 391-3622 ADVERTISER INDEX All Star Chevrolet - 9 Gray Daniels Ford - 15 All Star Dodge - 5 Landers Dodge - 14 All Star Ford - 13 Mak Haik Ford - 4, 7 Brian Harris BMW - 4 Nissan Parts Dealers - 19 We appreciate your continued support. Check us out Chevyland - 20 Price LeBlanc Nissan - 2 on FaceBook and InstaGram. Crescent Ford - 19 Price LeBlanc Toyota-Lexus - 2 Autographic’s Automotive Report Ford Power Stroke - 10, 11 Superior Honda - 5 1121 Airport Center Drive, Suit 101 GM Parts Dealers - 12 Turan-Foley Chevrolet Buick - 17 Nashville Tn. 37214 4 Delta Automotive Report December 2020 automakers to sign a national memoran- row 35,000-vote difference in their previ- The election, telematics dum of understanding with the aftermarket ous contest. proponents to agree to comply with the Goodwin is the current chairman of Massachusetts law nationwide. the North Carolina Democratic Party and access, and insurance regs Now those proponents say they intend to the previous insurance commissioner. He take another run at a national bill next year. assumed office in 2009 and was defeated in By John Yoswick controlled. But the collision repair industry may want the 2016 election by Causey, who became To scan some 2018 and 2019 FCA vehi- to watch whether any such bill expands the state’s first Republican insurance com- Though the presidential and congres- cles — and nearly all 2020 models, Rozint beyond data access into other areas of missioner. sional election battles dominated the dis- said — shops must be registered with interest by coalition members, such as Causey issued a bulletin in 2019 remind- cussion in November, there were items on AutoAuth. There is a one-time registration LKQ Corporation (which had a representa- ing insurers they are prohibited from steer- the ballot in a number of states potentially fee of $50 per repair facility for up to six tive on a recent panel discussion) and the ing a consumer to a particular shop or impacting collision repairers. authorized users (additional users each are Consumer Access to Repair (CAR) Coali- “away from a particular repair shop either.” Despite millions of dollars from auto- $2 more). If not using FCA’s scan tool, a tion. That group, formed earlier this year, is “The Department understands that there makers spent this year to oppose an shop must supply the serial number of the funded by insurers and the non-OEM parts may be repair shops where interactions updated “Right to Repair” ballot initiative scan tool (or tools) they will be using from industry, and has a stated goal of “preserv- are more involved than with other shops; in Massachusetts, for example, voters there among those tools authorized by FCA. ing and protecting consumer choice, trans- however, a consumer has the statutory overwhelmingly supported the measure, “FCA has limited the registration to only parency and affordability in the post-colli- right to use any shop of his or her choice with three in four those tools that have sion repair market.” for repairs,” the bulletin stated. “Thus, by voters giving it a a diagnostic license During the post-election webinar, Lowe statute, a company or agent cannot discour- thumbs-up. The law Despite millions of dol- with FCA,” Rozint indicated that crash parts could be part of age in any way, (such as suggesting that the will require that all said. “So if you have the federal legislation. The bill, he said, repairs will be costlier, less timely, or of model year 2022 or lars from automakers a tool and it’s not on should address, “not just data access but a poor quality), a consumer from choosing a newer vehicles have spent this year to oppose the list, it’s probably lot of the other competitive issues that are specific shop for repairs.” a standardized open an updated “Right to because the scan going on in our industry…because of work Causey was in the news earlier this year data platform that Repair” ballot initia- tool manufacturer that’s being done by the manufacturers when he helped the FBI and prosecutors gives vehicle own- tive in Massachusetts, hasn’t registered [such as] requirements for OEM collision convict a billionaire owner of an insurance ers and independent yet, or they don’t parts in different states.” company who tried to use the promise of repairers access to for example, voters there license diagnostic In other election night news relative to campaign contributions to bribe Causey, telematics data.