According to the quit AssociationThis year’s most stolen vehicle in Canada is the Ford F-series of pickup trucks, most often of the 2018 model year.
STICKY SITUATIONS
Buyer beware; reports have begun circulating that vehicle thieves have been “re-vinning” stolen vehicles to sell to unsuspecting customers. Insurers are taking note of a new trend prevailing among car thieves looking to turn a profit. Re-vinning involves removing the VIN (vehicle identification number) sticker from the front dash of the vehicle and replacing it with a similarlooking fake sticker. This trend was brought to light by quit Association, a new company that has absorbed the Insurance Bureau of Canada’s (IBC) investigative services wing. Vice-president of investigative services at quit Association, Bryan Gast delved into a number of rising theft trends in an interview on Tuesday, alongside the release of the association’s Top 10 Stolen Vehicles in Canada list. In Ontario, vehicle sellers legally need to provide a used vehicle information package that contains its history in the province.
GOOD AS NEW
With inventory shortages rampant throughout the auto industry, that old beater car you let your teenager drive is actually becoming quite the hot commodity as Canadian Black Book reports used vehicles have retained 64 percent their value over the past four years. According to senior vice president and general manager at Canadian Black Book, Yolanda Biswah, this is the highest and fastest progression of used vehicle prices ever. The previous high was 61.5 percent, set back in March 2021. The numbers are calculated in preparation for Canadian Black Book’s Best Retained Value awards.
The top overall car brand for retaining value was Honda. Top truck or SUV was GMC, while the top luxury brand at retaining value was Porsche. Volkswagen came on top of zero-emission vehicles. The most improved winner was Kia.
The National Leadership Development Program for Women in the Skilled Trades is free of charge and is set to run over two days, from June 2-3 in St. John’s, N.L., during SWiT. For more information, email Shawn Watson at shawn@caf-fca.org.
FAIR TRADES
A new program from the Canadian Apprenticeship Forum (CAF) is aiming to uplift more female tradespeople into leadership roles in their industries. The CAF’s Supporting Women in Trades Conference (SWiT) is back on after a three-year hiatus and is introducing the “National Leadership Development Program for Women in the Skilled Trades”, to run during the event. The program aims to empower female tradespeople with skills and strategies that will give them a leg-up in the industry and ultimately help get more women into senior leadership positions. The program is being developed in partnership with the Office to Advance Women Apprentices and will be available to all tradeswomen including Indigenous peoples, LGBTQ2S+ individuals, immigrants, persons with disabilities and those from racialized groups.
THE DOS AND DON’TS
Auto Techcelerators has posted a 146-page guide to its website on how a collision repair facility can open and operate an ADAS calibration business. Covering topics from business goals and objectives, facility and equipment requirements, pricing the services, scheduling and KPI’s, the “Opening & Operating an ADAS Calibration Business” guide from Auto Techcelerators spans 16 chapters and delves into the ways these calibration practices can be tied into the company’s CoPilot range of software. The guide can be downloaded at autotechcelerators.com.
