What the automotive repair industry was talking about throughout 2020
By John Yoswick
A year that began ordinary enough turned into something no one could have expected. Fittingly enough, this year’s collection of some of the most important, interesting or entertaining quotes heard within the collision industry over the past 12 months starts out with the type of topics most being discussed pre-pandemic, but then takes a turn part way through.
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“Place your bets, everyone. Which repair standard and whose authority will prevail in the next few years when it comes to vehicle repair? Will it be the insurers’ repair standard, or the OEM’s repair standard?”
— industry consultant Vince Romans, saying in a presentation that “the jury is still out,” on the battle about repair standards among shops, automakers and insurers
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“There’s a lot of frustration in the industry that instead of being on the ‘leading edge,’ we may have been on the ‘bleeding edge,’ as we’ve all spent money to become certified without seeing a volume of cars coming in. But my personal opinion is I’m not ready to give up on that strategy.”
— Marty Evans, chief operating officer of the Certified Collision Group, speaking early in the year about the lack of return on investment in automaker shop certification programs …
