By CRM staff
Toronto, Ontario – March 18, 2019 – The Saskatchewan Association of Auto Repairers (SAAR) annual spring conference had a number of announcements, most of which was revolved around the SGI’s 2020 accreditation model for shops.
The SGI announced that starting in April 2020 SGI will be implementing differential compensation, a tiered accreditation model. In order to be accredited as tier one, shops will have to achieve I-CAR gold class status, purchase the necessary equipment to repair today’s vehicles (resistance spot welder, pulse Mig welder, self-piercing rivet gun, vehicle scan tools, and aluminum repair tools), have welding certification and refinish system product training.
Industry relations advisor for British Columbia’s Auto Retailers Association David Ribeiro announced during his presentation that SAAR, B.C. ARA, and Manitoba’s Automotive Trade’s Association will be forming a western alliance. The members from the associations will now be apart of not just one but all three associations. “For example, the ARA has a group plan that is not only extremely competitive, but they actually have higher levels of payouts to their members,” said SAAR executive director Tom Bissonnette.
The B.C. ARA has a third-party accreditation program called Certified Collision Repair that fulfills one of the conditions to become a tier one shop and they will be offering Saskatchewan bodyshops a $650 savings compared to other similar programs.
Bissonnette also announced that he will be joining SGI in their Town Hall meeting in April with hopes of offering a training session on estimating and the use of the Estimate Scrubber to help shops capture every line item they are entitled to. “Imagine what an extra $50 to $100 per claim could mean for your shop this coming year. It would certainly go a long way to paying a lease for any of the big-ticket items on the tier one SGI list,” said Bissonnette.
The fall conference for SAAR will take place in September at the Saskatoon Inn. On Sept. 20 there will be a seminar on Estimating with Roger Cada from Accountable Estimatics followed by another industry showcase. On September 21 there will be a SAAR AGM and an update from SGI on the new accreditation program.
