News Briefs

By Levy Joffrion

How They Hear About Shops

In a national survey conducted for CertifiedFirst Network, insured Americans who had a repair in the past three years were asked how they had heard about the auto body shop they selected. Twenty-five percent said they were referred by a friend or relative. Another 25 percent had been referred by an insurance company. About 14 percent said they had used the shop previously. Ten percent said they knew of the shop or an employee there, and the same proportion said they had chosen a shop near them. Nearly 10 percent said a dealership referred them to the shop they used. Advertising, the telephone “Yellow Pages,” word-of-mouth and “other” totaled just over 6 percent.

Auto Clubs to Operate SEMA Lab

The Automobile Club of Southern California will operate a state-of-the-art automotive research laboratory being built by the Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) at its headquarters in Diamond Bar, Calif.

SEMA will lease the new facility to the Auto Club. The two groups' agreement calls for the Auto Club to have access to a wide range of aftermarket vehicle accessories for independent quality testing. The Auto Club's research provides technical information to the public, government agencies and the automotive industry about safety advances, emissions reduction, and vehicle performance.

The Automobile Club of Southern California will continue to be headquartered in Los Angeles, but its research center will move to the new facility in the fall.

Enterprise System Receives Award

Enterprise Rent-A-Car has received the 2002 CIO Magazine Enterprise Value Award (award name is unrelated to Enterprise Rent-A-Car). The award recognizes Enterprise's Automated Rental Management System (ARMS), a Web-based application designed to improve business communications between insurance companies, repair shops and the car rental company. ARMS technology saves time and money by making it easy for insurance adjusters, repair shops and Enterprise to update and share information, from initiating a rental car reservation and monitoring when repairs will be completed to authorizing payment through electronic funds transfer.

Transmission Guide Available Online

A new reference that makes it easy to determine which automatic transmission is in a particular domestic vehicle is available online at www.TransTec.com. Developed specifically to eliminate confusion over look-alike transmissions, the online reference identifies transmissions by vehicle make, model, year and engine.

The online reference complements the electronic version of TransTec's slide chart that identifies import vehicle transmissions by type and model, also available on TransTec's Web site.

3M Celebrating 100th Anniversary

3M Co. is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year. The company has grown from its original site on the North Shore of Lake Superior to locations across the United States and throughout the world. Its product portfolio has multiplied from a single abrasives product to more than 50,000 products.

Car-O-Liner Company Earns Blue Seal

Car-O-Liner Co. Technical Services Department has earned Blue Seal of Excellence Recognition as prescribed by the National Institute for Automotive Service Excellence (ASE). To be eligible for this recognition, a company must have 75 percent of its automotive professionals ASE certified. In addition, there must be a certified technician in each area of service offered. To remain in the program, a business must renew each year and confirm its professionals' certification status.

CARSTAR Offering Online Training

The Coordinating Committee for Automotive Repair (CCAR) has announced that CARSTAR Inc. has become the second nationwide sponsor of its program to offer free online training in safety and pollution prevention to students pursuing careers in the collision repair industry (the automotive service/mechanical module will be released shortly). CARSTAR joins BASF Corp. as a nationwide “Platinum Level” sponsor of the training initiative.

The goal of the program is to ensure every automotive instructor and student has the knowledge needed to avoid injury and protect the environment. Complete information on “S/P2” training is available online at www.ccar-traininglink.org.

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