In a packed, standing-room only venue, the second in a series of repairer-only meetings convened on Thursday, November 1 at the 2012 SEMA Show in the LVH Hotel Conference Center. Assured Performance Network (APN), the OEM Roundtable and the Society of Collision Repair Specialists (SCRS) sponsored the event.
This special event, reserved only for representatives of collision repair businesses, was the second in a planned series designed to provide a place where collision repairers could engage in candid conversation about the challenges facing their industry, without any undue influence from opposing agendas. Nearly 300 repairers were in attendance for the event.
According to Scott Biggs, CEO of Assured Performance Network, "Repairers have overwhelmingly expressed their interest to make the repairer-only forum-assembly an ongoing organized event to ensure there is always a place for repairers to express their opinions openly and without filters and interference."
To meet this request, the exclusive forum-assembly will meet on a quarterly basis beginning with Palm Springs events in January.
"There was a lot of emotion and passion as repairers articulated their concerns and discussed solutions," said Jordan Hendler, executive director of the Washington Metropolitan Auto Body Association. "This was a great start to bring repairers and repairer groups together to talk specifically about repairer issues and how to collectively resolve some long-standing problems."
While the Las Vegas gathering had no set agenda, the open discussion agenda provided for lively and passionate discussions covering a wide range of important topics. Insurer-mandated parts procurement programs dominated conversation, but a variety of other issues surfaced during the course of the two-hour event highlighting the mounting frustration felt by repairers.
"We attended the first two repairer meetings and were overwhelmed by the experience of the repairers that attended," said Eddie Okahara, president of Oka’s Auto Body in Hawaii. "We made new friends that have the same challenges as us, and we were hopeful that there would be future events like this scheduled."
"I was impressed with the turnout at this event and the level of participation from all that were in attendance," said SCRS Chairman Aaron Clark. "Every major organization, including SCRS, has a forum to discuss their issues. This style of repairer-only meeting that is not organization-specific seems to provide a great opportunity to allow repairers the time and place to talk openly and without filters or other interests muting the opinions."
The next Repairer-Only Meeting will take place in conjunction with the industry events scheduled for Jan. 23-25 in Palm Springs, Calif.
More information:
If you have any questions about the meeting, or any suggestions for discussion points, contact SCRS Executive Director Aaron Schulenburg ([email protected]) or APN Executive Director Liz Stein ([email protected]).
