CCCR Inaugural meeting promotes professional standards and collaboration
The CCCR’s first action topic was selected after a recent council member’s survey that prioritized three top issues facing the Canadian collision repair industry: unpaid administrative time, material costs and repair versus replace.
The Canadian Council of Collision Repairers (CCCR) held its inaugural meeting on February 16, 2023, to introduce the council’s mission and welcome shopowners and managers to come together for the benefit of the collision repair industry.
Conducted via Zoom, the meeting featured discussions on the council’s purposes, mission, and updates from regional representatives. Darryl Simmons, moderator, provided an introduction and background of the CCCR. He explained the council’s mission statement is to reflect the professional standards of collision repairers while providing advocacy, inspiration, knowledge and tools needed for shops to succeed to better serve their stakeholders and their clients. The council aims to achieve its goals through data-driven activities, and members will dictate future endeavors via email surveys and sub-committee development.
Kelvin Campbell, Atlantic Canada Representative, and Max DiFelice, Southern Ontario Representative, co-chaired the meeting and introduced themselves. The pair emphasized that the group is not designed to build walls with partners, but to establish goals that prioritize the needs of shops. They stressed the importance of working together to create positive results across the board.
Regional representatives from Eastern Ontario, Greater Toronto Area, Northern Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia also introduced themselves and provided updates on their regions. They discussed the importance of extending the group to be larger to establish further credibility, promote the value of the industry and improve its image. Tom Bissonnette, Director of Saskatchewan Association of Automotive Repairers (SAAR), shared his experience with SAAR to highlight the positive progress the organization has made by building relationships with its provincial insurer. The group also discussed the potential of having a live, in-person meeting, which would piggy-back with Collision Repair magazine’s “EV Repair Tour” this summer. They agreed that the council should only be open to shop owners and managers at this time, while group mandates are decided.
Regional reps will encourage more sign-ups and sub-committees will be established with smaller meetings.
Regional reps are:
• Atlantic: Kelvin Campbell
• Southern Ontario: Max DiFelice
• Eastern Ontario: Shawn Stenson
• GTA: Jeff Pabst
• Northern Ontario: Daniel Trevisanutto
• Manitoba: Joel McPhail
• Saskatchewan: Mike Mario
• Alberta: Steve Hammond
• British Columbia: Wade Bartok
The CCCR’s next step will address the issue of unpaid administrative time through a time study among its members. The first action topic was selected after a recent council member’s survey prioritized three top issues facing the Canadian collision repair industry: unpaid administrative time, material costs and repair versus replace.
“We are pleased with the participation of our members in this survey and are committed to addressing the issues that matter most to them. The time study will provide us with accurate data to understand the extent of the unpaid administrative time issue, which will help us to develop effective solutions,” said Campbell. “The CCCR has grown significantly since its inception, and this survey is a testament to our commitment to working together for the common good of the collision repair industry. We are excited to continue our progress by conducting this time study and addressing the issues that matter most to our members,” said DiFelice.
To conduct the time study, the CCCR will develop a survey or worksheet for members to share their data via the website’s “Info Sharing Group.” The CCCR will compile all the unpaid steps involved in getting a vehicle mapped out for repair, and the results will be prepared for public presentation.
The CCCR invites interested members and other shop owner/managers to sign up for these initiatives by visiting the group’s website at www. collisionrepaircouncil.ca. Members will gain access to the website firewall and the CCCR Action Groups.
In addition, the CCCR has updated its website with additional fields for registrants to complete to gain access to private discussion groups behind the website firewall. These chat rooms will be accessible by invite only to ensure confidentiality among group members.
The CCCR has also identified a need for regular meetings and will hold its first in-person meeting in conjunction with Collision Repair magazine’s EV REPAIR TOUR early this summer. Some members note that CCCR correspondences have been routed to their spam or junk folders. Please add the CCCR newsletter contact to your address book to ensure you receive all correspondences.
For more information, or to contact a regional rep,
Visit www.colliisonrepaircouncil.ca or email info@collisionrepaircouncil.ca.
