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"To what extent should shop owners pay for technical education for their technicians?" "Part of our reputation is built on having the best educated technicians in town. We currently employ 40 percent ASE master certified body/paint technicians and aspire to 100 percent, as well as maintaining I- CAR Gold Class! Our policy is to promote from within so we believe the more educated our team members are, the better the long-term picture for our company. To that end we offer a nearly unlimited variety of classes to all employees, regardless of their position, and consider the fees an investment in doing good business."
-----Dianna Fowler, operations manager, J & W CARSTAR Collision Repair Center, McMinnville, Ore.Word-of-mouth Advertising Is Tops
When the need to choose an automotive service outlet arises, consumers are most likely to rely on either prior experience with an outlet or word-of-mouth, according to an independent study by Wiese Research Associates, Inc.On a scale of one to 10, with 10 being "very likely," the responses, "service outlet used in the past" and "word-of-mouth" received mean scores of 7.95 and 7.81 respectively. The next closest source relied on is the Yellow Pages, which received a 4.90 mean score.
The study was commissioned by the Yellow Pages Publishers Association for the Automotive Service Association (ASA).
Web Ways
Since the Automotive Service Association (ASA) started its site on the World Wide Web late last year, usage has rapidly increased. The latest available monthly usage report (January 1996) shows 24,068 total "hits" (accesses to pages). That's up by 17,911 hits, nearly 300 percent, over the 6,157 hits in the first month of operation last October.The most frequently visited pages on the site have been the "Find Nearest ASA Shop" page, followed by the "Automotive Tips" section. AutoInc. will periodically update readers on the site's usage level.
State Farm Insurance has given the go ahead to implement its Service First "claims handling" program nationwide. The program will use electronic assignments and estimates between State Farm and shops in the program, with plans to use digital photography in the future. State Farm will release details about the national program in April. State Farm began piloting Service First last year. In the pilot, customers who chose a shop that's in the program could go directly to the shop for an estimate without visiting a State Farm drive-in claims center. The pilot was potentially open to all shops whose owners agree to State Farm's repair facility criteria, as well as standards on equipment such as having a P-Page logic estimating system.
More than one out of every four oil filters sold in the United States is now recycled, according to the Filter Manufacturers Council (FMC). The FMC says 420 million oil filters are sold in the nation each year.
DuPont Automotive has announced that it will begin marketing its SUVA refrigerants in bulk and packaged form directly to customers in the automotive aftermarket. The company had previously used an exclusive intermediate channel.
The U.S. Small Business Administration has begun an electronic clearinghouse for small business -- The U.S. Small Business Advisor site on the Internet's World Wide Web. The site -- http://www.business.gov -- contains wide-ranging information for small business owners, links to other government web sites, and the ability to download paperwork such as tax forms and SBA loan forms.
Vehicle, equipment and tire recalls by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) involved a record-level 17.8 million vehicles in 1995, up from 6.5 million vehicles in 1994. More than 4 million 1995 recalls involved Chrysler minivan rear-door latches.
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AutoInc. Magazine ®, Vol. XLIV No. 4, April 1996