Ottawa, Ontario — January 6, 2017 — AIA Canada reports that the Canadian Collision Industry Accreditation Program (CCIAP) is already off to a roaring start in 2017. The program, which officially launched in October 2016, has already seen over 300 collision repair facilities registered with the program. Over 20 shops have scheduled accreditation audits for the coming months.
A statement from AIA Canada says program administrators hope to see these shops join the ranks of accredited shops alongside Fix Auto North Bay, which received its accreditation in December 2016.
Andrew Shepherd is Senior Director of Industry Programs for AIA Canada. He notes that collision repairers are being asked more frequently to verify that they have the equipment, the processes and the training to handle modern complex vehicles.
“We’ve received a tremendous amount of feedback from shops that CCIAP, a not-for-profit program built by the industry and for the industry, is the preferred accreditation option,” says Shepherd. “We expect the majority of advanced repair businesses in Canada to be registered in the coming months.”
In late December, Economical Insurance became the first public insurance corporation to declare that its repair partners would be required to be accredited through CCIAP. This followed announcements by CARSTAR, Fix Auto, CSN Auto and Assured Automotive that they were behind CCIAP as a national, not-for-profit accreditation program. Program administrators also reached an agreement with the Automotive Retailers Association of British Columbia (ARA) under which the British Columbia program and the national program will be synchronized to avoid increased costs for repairers and duplication of efforts.
The essential function of the Canadian Collision Industry Accreditation Program (CCIAP) is to accredit collision repair facilities against a collection of standards which are contributed by participating OEMs and/or other stakeholders. The program is managed by AIA Canada, a national not-for-profit association.
Collision Repair magazine reported in December 2016 that CCIAP had made it easier for repairers to join the program by eliminating charges to create accounts and track a facility’s progress. Participating body shops are only charged when they indicate that they’re ready for an audit.
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.
