The Manufacturers Advisory Council (MAC) of the Automotive Warehouse Distributors Association (AWDA) has announced the release of “Industry Best Practices for Processing Labor Claims.” Under development for over a year, the best practices are the result of a combined effort by the Car Care Professionals Network (CCPN), AWDA and the MAC to address an issue that affects the entire traditional aftermarket.
“Processing claims related to damaged or defective parts constitute a huge drain on the traditional aftermarket supply chain,” said MAC chairman Frank Frederick, Walker Products. “Estimates of industry-wide costs due to inefficiency, delays and miscommunication run into the tens of millions of dollars. We saw this as an opportunity to help bring more efficiency into the market.”
Interviews with manufacturers, shop owners and parts distributors revealed several major deficiencies in the current system for dealing with claims, including: a multitude of forms for processing claims, the lack of timely responses to shops that perform the work and an uneven flow of information about the circumstances surrounding replacement of an allegedly defective or damaged part.
Central to the AWDA/MAC Best Practices is a standard claim form that includes data and information deemed most critical by manufacturers, shops and distributors.
“We surveyed a number of manufacturers, shops and distributors to create a form that can be used as-is by most parts manufacturers and with slight modification by many others,” Frederick said.
The involvement of the CCPN Advisory Committee was critical to the success of this project.
“We will continue to work with AWDA and its MAC to refine and improve these Best Practices over the coming months,” said CCPN chairman Vic Tarasik, Vic’s Precision Automotive. “We view this as just the start of a very productive effort to address a significant industry challenge.”
For more information on AWDA’s Best Practices for Processing Labor Claims, visit www.aftermarket.org or contact AWDA at 301-654-6664.
