The Society of Collision Repair Specialists (SCRS) has announced the addition of the Alliance of Automotive Service Providers of Illinois (AASPI) as the first association to join SCRS in 2020 as an affiliate association.
AASPI was originally formed in the early 1960s as a Chicago-area repair association for both mechanical and collision. While the name and structure of the organization has taken different forms over the decades, the association has maintained its independent status as the Alliance of Automotive Service Providers of Illinois since 1997. Today, AASPI continues to represent both mechanical and collision shops throughout Illinois, and with the recent start to the state legislative session, the association will be renewing its efforts to provide statutory codification of best practices regarding OEM procedures.
SCRS has long recognized that if a vehicle manufacturer documents a repair procedure as required, recommended or otherwise necessary as a result of damage or repair, those published procedures would be the standard of repair. The association has routinely positioned itself as supporting the notion that disregarding a documented procedure that is made available to the industry creates undue and avoidable exposure to the consumer’s safety and liability to the repair facility performing the repair. This type of positioning, in part, led AASPI to become interested in affiliating with SCRS.
“AASPI is proud to join the ranks of the SCRS affiliate association network,” said Bob Gottfred of Erie LaSalle Body Shop and president of AASPI. “In part, our willingness to partner with SCRS centers on their principle statement that through working together, collision repair facilities could inspire positive advancement in our industry. AASPI is a strong advocate for the collision industry in Illinois, and we believe this cooperative spirit between AASPI and SCRS will further enable our association to advance the work we have started in this state and the work SCRS does nationally.”
That information exchange and collaboration is a key part of SCRS’ views on the affiliate network.
“It’s always very rewarding to us all to welcome in new states associations, especially those as tenured as AASPI,” said Bruce Halcro, vice chairman of SCRS. “We want to work in tandem with trade associations or societies whose objectives are parallel with those of SCRS, and this was an easy decision for approval by the SCRS Board of Directors. AASPI has been a champion of repairers in Illinois for many years and has an impressive list of resources and support that they extend to their membership.”
Added AASPI Executive Director Brian Wojcicki, “Over the past year, we have actually used SCRS’ news service a lot for reference and postings on our OEM resource section. We built the member resource in 2019 and intend to continue to rely on information from SCRS and the other affiliates as we keep it updated.”
“We look forward to AASPI’s participation in the network, feedback into association matters and to supporting them in return through our nationally focused initiatives,” said Halcro. “We believe a lot of goodwill comes of the affiliation for repairers in Illinois.”
For more information about SCRS, or to join as a member, visit scrs.com, call (877) 841-0660 or email [email protected].
