By Jeff Sanford
Penticton, British Columbia — January 18, 2016 — Executives and employees of CSN-Neighbourhood Auto Body of Penticton, BC, are proud to announce the have achieved I-CAR Gold Status. The shop, founded in 1989, is the “longest standing independent collision repair shop in” the Penticton area. It serves the South Okanagan region of British Columbia.
Paul Ash is the manager of CSN-Neighborhood Auto Body. In an interview with Collision Repair magazine, he discussed the path to certification: “It wasn’t too bad. Some of our technicians had already been doing training. I had to do some training as estimator. So we had to do a couple more courses, but not too much,” says Ash.
British Columbia, of course, has a province-wide insurer, ICBC, which is thought by some to be focusing more on its core mandate of simply offering insurance. Ash felt the smartest thing the shop could do was to go with I-CAR in terms of certification and training.
“For us, I feel the industry is going in this direction. I get the sense ICBC is going to let the independent organizations take over training. They haven’t said anything publicly. But I think that’s where it’s going,” says Ash. Let ICBC focus on the insurance; let the professionals from the industry do the training—it seems like a smart idea.
Ash went on to say the new status looks good on the shop, and that they’ll be getting the word out shortly. “We haven’t done any advertising yet. But we will,” says Ash.
Speaking to the quality of the course, he was emphatic. “I thought the courses were awesome. Personally, I had to do one on airbags and SIS systems. I got the a lot out of them. I thought they were great courses,” says Ash.
The next goal for CSN-Neighborhood Auto Body, says Ash, is achieving Honda OEM Certification.
For more information on CSN, please visit csninc.ca.
