ASA National Dues to Stay Same in 2009

Your membership in the Automotive Service Association is extremely important to us. With economic conditions as they are, the national ASA board of directors has voted unanimously to freeze national membership dues, foregoing a potential increase initially discussed for 2009. ASA is committed to helping shops trim their business expenses for the coming year, and freezing dues in 2009 supports that goal.

"We want to do everything we can to help our members who have suffered as a result of this tough economy," said Ron Pyle, ASA president and chief staff executive. "While some members in certain parts of the country have overcome these tough economic times and fared rather well, there are many ASA shops in other parts of the country that are struggling to stay afloat. Economic times will get better. We're here to help our member-businesses now and going forward."

ASA understands that by not increasing national dues for 2009, current members will be better positioned to continue their membership and take advantage of the many money-saving product and service benefits that ASA member shops rely on to reduce business expenses.

Members may also want to take advantage of ASA's Continuous Membership dues option. The payment plan has no service fee and will allow members to pay annual dues with an automatic credit card deduction quarterly, semiannually or annually. For more information about this program, call (800) 272-7467, ext. 220. For information about ASA's many member benefits, call (800) 272-7467, ext. 295, or access the electronic benefits portfolio within ASA OnDemand, which can be downloaded from www.ASAOnDemand.com.

ASA Missouri-Kansas Holds Tech Workshop

Jeff Bly, diagnostics technician, Maywood Transmission and Auto Repair, Independence, Mo.; and Jerry Holcom, owner of S&S Service Center, Kansas City, Mo.; presented "Faster Than the Speed of Sound - Fast, Accurate and Profitable Component Testing" at the ASA-Kansas City Chapter's November meeting.

The meeting provided a road map for shop owners, managers and service advisers to get a better return on their investment of equipment and technician training. The session taught attendees how to quickly and accurately diagnose components that can be tested using state-of-the-art digital oscilloscopes or "lab scopes" as they're more commonly known. At the end of their discussion, Bly and Holcom demonstrated just how fast a lab scope is by using it to verify the speed of sound.

Reminder of the Month: Exercise Your Membership Rights

Exercise Your Membership Rights
As an ASA member, you have the right to elect members to the national board of directors. The ASA board elections will be held Jan. 2-Feb. 28, 2009. All regular members in good standing with ASA are eligible to cast their vote for the two positions of general director.

The voting process will guide each member through the necessary steps to vote for general director. When voting opens, the entire process will be conducted electronically using a toll-free telephone number or by logging onto a secured Web site.

Once a member has phoned in or entered the Web site, he or she will vote by entering their member number plus a three-digit security code number and follow the prompts. These numbers can be found on the mailing labels of this issue and the January and February 2009 issues of AutoInc. The member number and security code are directly above the addressee's full name and enclosed by parentheses ( ). Example: (123456 789).

Caspersen Named Most Influential Woman

From left, the most influential women in the collision industry: Lillian Maimone, Marco’s Auto Body; Denise Caspersen, Automotive Service Association; Gloria Mann, Media Matters Inc.; Judell Anderson, Association of Automotive Service Providers; Rochelle Wicklund, Wicklund CARSTAR Collision, an ASA-member shop. – photo courtesy AkzoNobel

Each year, AkzoNobel honors women in the collision industry with its Most Influential Women (MIW) awards. This year, at an elegant event hosted by the company on Thursday, Nov. 6, at the Bellagio Hotel, Denise Caspersen, ASA Collision Division manager, took her place among the best and brightest females in the industry. Caspersen has been with ASA for 13 years; she started as the association's research management specialist before moving over to the Collision Division.

In selecting the MIW honorees, AkzoNobel looks at each nominee for three criteria:
• Innovation.
• Takes a stand on issues.
• Recognizes other leaders.

Cited for her dedication and determination to improve the industry, as well as her devotion to her family, Caspersen summed up her feelings with this statement: "I think the most beautiful thing about receiving the award is that without this wonderful group of gentlemen - the Operations Committee - this couldn't be possible. If it weren't for them, it wouldn't be me."

Akzo Nobel continued its tradition of awarding a scholarship of $25,000, in the name of the Most Influential Women, to the I-CAR Education Foundation. The funds will be used for prospective female students pursuing a career in the collision repair industry.