Vancouver, British Columbia — October 2, 2016 — Scanning, industry accreditation and OEM certification programs took centre stage at the latest meeting of the Canadian Collision Industry Forum (CCIF). The meeting, the last scheduled for 2016, drew over 300 stakeholders to the Vancouver Marriott Pinnacle Downtown.
CCIF Vancouver got underway with a welcome reception on September 29, before kicking off a full slate of speakers and panels on September 30.
Joe Carvalho, CCIF Chairman, welcomed industry stakeholders to the event and delivered the opening remarks before introducing Larry Jefferies, President of Jefferies Consulting.
Jefferies is well-known in the collision repair industry as the former Executive Vice President of CARSTAR, and through his work with AIA Canada and as former chair of CCIF. Jefferies provided an update on the ongoing First Notice of Loss (FNOL) project.
Consistent standards and improving how first notice of loss is communicated would be of benefit to both repairers and insurers. Jefferies presented some of the preliminary data from repairers on the impact of the FNOL system currently in place and discussed the success that insurers participating in the project are seeing.
The next item on the agenda was a discussion of industry accreditation and OEM certification programs. The industry first saw these programs come to the fore under high-end brands such as BMW and Mercedes Benz, but a number of mass-market OEMs now have them in place as well.
In addition, a number of programs have been developed that complement the OEM certifications. Stakeholders at CCIF heard details of three of these programs. Leanne Jefferies presented on Certified Collision Care, David Ribeiro discussed the Collision Certification Program developed by the Automotive Retailers Association (ARA) of BC and Andrew Shepherd AIA Canada/I-CAR Canada presented information on the Canadian Collision Industry Accreditation Program (CCIAP).
Next up was Terry Daniels, Managing Director of Impact Auto Auctions. The automotive recycling and salvage industry has strong connections with collision repair, and Daniels provided insight into the salvage business while sharing his insights at major industry trends.
Leanne Jefferies returned to the stage before the lunch break for a quick update on the CCIF Skills Program and the Haiti ARISE Technical School. Jefferies treated stakeholders to a video from the the 2016 Skills Canada National Competition and gave a preview of what the industry can expect to see in 2017. She also discussed the Corporate Sponsorship program for the Haiti ARISE Technical School Project. For more on this, please see “Haiti ARISE closing in on trade school goal.”
Following Jefferies, Andrew Shepherd, Executive Director of I-CAR Canada provided an update on class availability across Canada.
The focus on education and training continued following lunch, with Patrice Marcil, Learning & Development Director, North America for Axalta Coating Systems, highlighting what is sometimes referred to as the “education-industry disconnect” and exploring ways to creative positive change.
CCIF Chairman Joe Carvalho returned to the stage to discuss the latest information on diagnostic scanning and calibration. While this is relatively new to the collision repair industry, it has garnered a lot of attention, with several major American OEMs releasing position statements regarding the necessity of pre- and post-repair scans.
Carvalho remained on stage to moderate the meeting’s panel discussion, featuring panelists drawn from both insurance and repair sides of the auto claims economy. Panelists included Tony Sutero-Sardo of RSA and Christopher Hancock of the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia (ICBC) on the insurance side, with Rick Hatswell of Craftsman Collision, Derek Chao of AutoMind Collision and Steve Leal of Fix Auto providing the repairer viewpoint. The discussion focused on industry trends and the future of collision repair, including consolidation, scanning, attracting and retaining the next generation and the pros and cons of accreditation.
For more information on CCIF, please visit ccif.ca and watch for a complete report on CCIF Vancouver in an upcoming issue of Collision Repair magazine!
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