The Alliance of Automotive Service Providers of New Jersey (AASP/NJ) hosted a fun and informative night at Topgolf in Edison, N.J. on Jan. 10 that brought out over 50 automotive repair professionals for the association’s first membership event of the year.

The evening kicked off with a discussion led by AASP/NJ President Ken Miller and Collision Chairman Jerry McNee who set out to continue with their series of presentations designed to provide collision repair professionals with valuable resources and information to help them succeed in this challenging industry. This third installment focused on paint and materials reimbursement, picking up where previous discussions on laws, regulations and repair planning left off. 

“One of the biggest pain points we have as an industry is with paint and materials,” said Miller. “I talk to a bunch of different jobbers and shops, and everyone is always complaining about the cost of paint and materials.”

He and McNee illustrated how shops may be unintentionally throwing money out the window and, in some cases, losing as much as 50% of what a shop should collect in reimbursement per job. Much needs to be considered such as unforeseen consequences that may require the need to redo a job. One must also take note of inventory because, according to Miller, “If you don’t consider that inventory number, you don’t know what you spent.” Considerable time was also spent discussing the Society of Collision Repair Specialists’ recent blend study analysis.

The night concluded with loads of fun as repairers enjoyed all that Topgolf has to offer by taking part in high-tech golf games, enjoying food, drinks and social time with peers. 

AASP/NJ is grateful to event sponsor Matthew’s Auto Supplies for helping to make the event a huge success.

For more information on AASP/NJ, visit aaspnj.org.