By Steve McLinden
Gary Derusha’s recent live appearance on national TV was nothing extraordinary for the manager of the sprawling Bobby & Steve’s Auto World in Eden Prairie, Minn., near Minneapolis. Except, perhaps, for a big ask from Fox & Friends producers: be at the shop at 4:30 in the morning, primed for the camera. The media-savvy Derusha gladly complied.
In the segment, Derusha expressed his frustration about the supply-chain issue that continues to dog body shops across the nation: the chronic shortages of essential parts that can delay some customer jobs by weeks or even months. Chief among the hard-to-find parts are catalytic converters.
“There’s a lot of theft of those catalytic converters — some [replacements] are available aftermarket, some you have to wait for the dealers. We had one customer on a wait list for three months,” he said on the broadcast. “It’s frustrating.”
Derusha’s national TV appearance came on the heels of…
