Laval, Quebec — March 16, 2017 — Carrossier ProColor has officially announced its support for the Canadian Collision Industry Accreditation Program (CCIAP) managed by AIA Canada. A statement from Carrossier ProColor says this support reinforces the network’s position on the importance of staying up-to-date in regards to the highest standards.
“This initiative fits perfectly into our training objectives by allowing us to be proactive towards the evolution of new technologies,” says Sylvain Dufault, General Manager for the Carrossier ProColor network. “In addition to providing credible recognition to the collision centres, the AIA accreditation program will become the benchmark for all industry stakeholders looking to confirm the superior quality of repair services.”
The endorsement from Carrossier Procolor follows endorsements from other Canadian networks, including Assured Automotive, CARSTAR, CSN Collision Centres and Fix Auto Canada. Economical Insurance declared its support for the program in December 2016.
CCIAP establishes basic requirements for the business, equipment, operation and training required to perform collision repairs using up-to-date techniques in a safe and efficient manner. CCIAP accreditation requires collision repair facilities to meet established standards in three areas: Core Business Operations, Structural Repair Capabilities and Advanced Repair Capabilities. Details of exactly what is required under each of these broad categories are available at cciap.ca/cciap-guidelines.
At time of publication, only three collision centres have fully qualified under the program: CSN-Keizer’s Collision, Fix Auto North Bay and Fix Auto Courtenay. However, over a thousand shops across the country are currently enrolled in the auditing process.
Andrew Shepherd administers the program on behalf of AIA Canada. In an interview with Collision Repair magazine, he provided insight into how the program has managed to enroll so many shops so quickly.
“I’d love to claim that it’s my magnetic personality at work here, but truthfully it’s because Fix Auto, CARSTAR, Assured Automotive, Craftsman Collision and CSN have registered all of their shops into the program,” he said. “I’d note also that we have a Memorandum of Understanding with the Automotive Retailers Association in BC who had already developed their own certified collision repair (CCR) program that shops accredited in one program receive similar accreditation in the other. And we were hugely gratified to see Economical Insurance go public to say that CCIAP accreditation is required for its DRP network.”
To promote the program to its collision centres, Carrossier ProColor has invited Brigitte Pesant, Director of Body Programs, AIA Canada, to present the program and to highlight the importance and benefits of such accreditation at its annual conference, taking place in May 2017.
Several Carrossier ProColor collision centres are also in the process of obtaining ProFirst recognition from Honda Canada and Acura Canada. A statement from the network also notes that the opening of its own training centre in Boucherville in January also improves the tools and support offered by Carrossier ProColor to its network collision centres by facilitating access to training.
