Collision Industry Conference at NACE honors March Taylor

Numerous attendees recognized the significant absence of Hawaiian shop operator March Taylor, who passed away in August. Close friend Toby Chess paid homage to Taylor with a video tribute, personal recollections and encouraged attendees to consider making donations to the March Taylor Memorial Fund through the I-CAR Education Foundation. “It’s so important that we step up…for March,” pleaded Chess in his address to the crowd of a couple hundred. Chess and others sported Hawaiian shirts in tribute to Taylor.

The memorial fund will serve as a resource for collision repair training. Supporters hope to maintain a permanent funding base of $100,000 and award annual scholarships as high as $10,000.

Several committees reported on the progress they have made in the past few months revolving around a few key issues:

• Lou DiLisio of the Database Task Force commended CCC Information Services for addressing several concerns the group had related to database inaccuracies, such as faulty information about materials used for refinishing non-metallic bumpers. Bruce Yungkans, a product manager for CCC Information Services, told the CIC body his company planned to make several changes to the database in the near future. “This was an issue that bothered a lot of people. I want to applaud CCC and all the work they did to come to the conclusions that they did,” said DiLisio.
• Kim Teal, environmental specialist with the Environmental Protection Agency, gave an update on the public comments she her office has received while putting the finishing touches on new air quality regulations. Teal said her office has received 250 comments, including 200 from shop owners. “It’s tough to debate that this isn’t what the industry wanted,” she said. Along with comments from shops the EPA received Small Business Administration input and the SBA asked for schools and hobbyists to be excluded from the rule changes, which may be finalized by the end of 2007. There was also a request for exceptions for miniature spray guns, although the Automotive Service Association asked that miniature spray guns be included in the new rule.
• The session was marked by several particularly notable moments. Dale Banda, deputy commissioner of the Enforcement Branch of the California Insurance Commission, noted that his office believed 40 percent of shops engaged in some degree of fraud. When pressed on the comment, Banda explained his office set up sting operations in which undercover agents posing as motorists queried shop employees on what steps they could take to make an insurance claim on damage not covered by a policy. Banda noted that instead of responding to the questions repairers should have demanded the agent leave their business.