The Society of Collision Repair Specialists has announced that it will hold an interactive presentation on insurer part procurement programs during the SEMA show as part of its Repairer Driven Education series. There has been a great deal of interest in the repair community of late regarding insurer driven parts procurement, partially in response to State Farm's testing of the PartsTrader program in the U.S. In Canada, much of the buzz concerns the program Intact Insurance is expected to roll out for members of its Rely Network. 

 

In general, parts procurement programs involve the shop uploading the parts list to the insurance company. The insurer then purchases the parts from various sourcesand pays to have them shipped directly to the shop. Under some programs, the insurer then pays a percentage of the cost of parts to the collision repair facility, allowing the facility to recoup the margin they would normally charge for the parts. 

 

The presentation will include a two-hour session given by David Newton-Ross, editor of The National Collision Repairer in Australia and The NZ Collision Repairer, and Rex Crowther, editor of New Zealand's Panel Talk Magazine. Their presentation is entitled “Bidding Wars: A Global View on the Possible Economic Impact of Insurer Involvement in Parts Procurement.” 

 

The parts procurement session will take place at 12:30 p.m. on November 1. 

 

For more information on SEMA, please visit semashow.com.