G&R Body Shop

The California Autobody Association is holding its annual Leadership Conference, quarterly board of directors and membership meeting and our annual awards luncheon this weekend (March 5-6) at Sacramento’s Citizen Hotel. I’m honored to serve as treasurer of CAA.

All of our board meetings are open to all CAA members, but we’re expecting an especially good turnout at this meeting due to the Friday afternoon Leadership Conference, which will include chapter presidents and representatives from 16 CAA chapters throughout the state.

CAA is a non-profit trade association comprised of over 1000 individual and independent businesses within the automobile collision repair industry. Formed in 1967, CAA is committed to:

• Improving the collision repair industry through education and training;
• Taking a proactive stance to protect both the consumer and the industry through legislation.
• Benefitting the members through programs and services designed to make member shops professional, successful, and profitable; and
• Working toward establishing a fair and equitable relationship with the insurance industry.

 All of my fellow board members and CAA chapter leaders are business owners who volunteer to serve and take time away from our businesses because we believe those goals are important. To learn more about CAA, visit http: http://www.calautobody.com/index.cfm.

G&R Body & Paint is proud to have been a part of the recent Re-Writing the Future of Auto Claims symposium hosted by VeriFacts Automotive in Newport Beach.

About 350 people from the auto insurance and collision repair fields attended. I think all of us were a little wiped out by the end of a full day of workshops and panels that included presentations from experts in the fields of auto insurance claims and auto body collision repair—but there was so much great collaboration and sharing of knowledge that the work we put in there was definitely worth the trip!

We heard from large several body shop owners about business models they use to maximize efficiency, work quality and customer satisfaction.

Tricia Griffith, president of Claims for Progressive Insurance, spoke about a change in the corporate cultures of insurance companies that is improving the working relationship between insurers and body shops.

Wayne Sharrah, chief claims officer for online insurer Esurance Insurance Services, gave a presentation that was fascinating for anyone who trying to reach an online audience, providing great statistics on Internet use and its expected impact on the auto claims industry. It was the first time I had heard the term “Net Generation”—the 88 million or so kids who have grown up with a computer mouse in their hands. Esurance is another company that supports a closer, more collaborative relationship between insurers and the collision repair industry.

An Allstate representative gave a presentation on how that company works to provide claims services even for motorists and collision repair shops in remote locations, such as rural Alaska.

Capitalism, small business and the tough economy were hot topics of discussion, both in the formal presentations and during networking time. At the end of the day, I think all of us recognized that insurers and body shops have much in common, and that’s exactly why VeriFacts put this symposium together. All of us are trying to succeed despite a rough economic environment. We serve the same customers and have the same goals, including top-quality repair workmanship and timely service. When insurers and collision repair shops are able to work together as trusted partners, our customers are ultimately the winners.

For more about G&R’s collision repair and auto body and paint services, visit http://grbodyshop.com.

The Capitol Chapter of the California Autobody Association is holding a workshop this evening at the Rio City Cafe in Sacramento to train body shop owners and key staff on safety and labor regulations. The event is sponsored by Enterprise Rent-A-Car.

The CAA, of which I am proud to serve as vice president, places an emphasis on employee safety and compliance with all state regulations. The workshop will cover compliance with requirements of several state agencies, including the California Employment Development Department (payroll); OSHA (worker health and safety); California Labor Commission (employee rights); and more.

Tonight’s workshop is an example of the work the California Autobody Association does within our industry to uphold the highest quality professional standards. Staying informed about employee and workplace safety regulations is an important part of being a responsible auto body and collision repair shop owner. We know that responsibility and professionalism pays off in the top-quality service our G&R Body & Paint customers want and deserve!

As our long-time customers know, G&R Body & Paint has a proud tradition of exceeding customer expectations with excellent workmanship and the highest quality control standards. That quality has been part of our brand since 1969, and something in which every one on our crew takes personal pride.

 What you may not know is that G&R makes a significant investment in professional training and quality control coaching for our technicians—an investment we know pays off in customer satisfaction, word-of-mouth referrals and repeat business.

 One of the primary ways in which we invest is by contracting with VeriFacts Automotive, a leading-edge interactive coaching, measurement and verification service for collision repair centers like G&R Body & Paint. Newport Beach-based VeriFacts was founded in 2002 to help the collision repair industry keep its skills and knowledge base up-to-date as cars become more complex and new repair technologies emerge.

 Every month, our G&R collision repair technicians work with VeriFacts coaches in our own shop to hone their skills on the latest and greatest collision methodologies and best practices of our industry. The result is, our guys—who are already some of the most skilled and reliable professionals in the business—stay up-to-date on the latest repair trends and techniques and put them to work immediately for our customers.

 On Feb. 25, G&R Body & Paint will participate in an invitation-only symposium in Newport Beach sponsored by VeriFacts. The day-long symposium, “Re-Writing the Future of Auto Claim,” will feature expert presenters, including Shawn Hezar of Platinum Coach Works; Tricia Griffith, president of Progressive Insurance Claims Division; David Logan, best-selling author of “Three Laws of Performance” and “Tribal Leadership”; Sherry Mehl, Chief of the California Bureau or Automotive Repair, and more. We at G&R Body & Paint are honored and excited to join other leaders in our industry in this symposium and are looking forward to using the knowledge we gain there to continue improving our company.

 We look forward to coming back from the VeriFacts symposium with fresh ideas and the latest information, to uphold our long-standing traditions of quality and customer service, while providing the effective, efficient service our customers want and need in today’s fast-moving world!

G&R Body & Paint is proud to donate the wine for tonight’s Albie Aware Foundation Ambassadors Cocktail Party and Rose Awards. The event will be from 6-7:30 pm at Sierra Health Foundation, 1321 Garden Highway. G&R owner Dave Picton recently joined the board of the Albie Aware Foundation, an organization dedicated to breast cancer awareness and prevention. One of the Foundation’s primary efforts is to raise money to pay for breast cancer screening for women who are uninsured or don’t have financial means to pay for screening. For more information about the Albie Aware Foundation, visit http://www.albieaware.org.

G&R Body & Paint is proud to announce we have joined the Certified Green Investment Registry Program, an ongoing effort to reduce pollution and energy use in our auto body and paint shop.

To demonstrate our commitment to becoming a “greener,” more earth-friendly company, G&R is working with an agency called GRC-PIRK that keeps track of our monthly gas and electric use and the investments we make in new, environmentally friendly equipment. GRC-PIRK’s team of Registered Environmental Assessors (http://www.dtsc.ca.gov/REA/index.cfm) also helps make sure we are complying with all government environmental regulations, and they send us regular reports on ways we can do more to protect the environment and lower our carbon footprint.

For example, just in the past few months, G&R has invested in a new, state-of-the-art air compressor and filtration system. The equipment upgrade not only has improved the quality and efficiency of our auto collision repair and paint operation, it’s improved the quality of the air that is emitted from our shop: the air that comes through our new filtration system is clean enough to meet hospital-quality standards!

G&R already has replaced all the lights in our shop and offices with new, energy-efficient lighting. By making that simple change, we’re saving money on our monthly electric bills, but, more importantly, we’re reducing our impact on the environment.

Watch for more news soon about our coming switch to environmentally friendly, premium-quality water-borne paints. We’ve been testing several products to determine which ones will give our customers the premium quality paint finish they expect and deserve, while reducing the environmental impact of the paint we use.

GRC-PIRK monitors G&R’s and other body shop operations using guidelines published under The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, originally introduced in the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPACT) and amended in the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008. Minimum target goals under the guidelines include:

Cut energy use by 3% per year from 2009 to 2015

• Buy 3% renewable energy in 2009, 5% by 2012, and 7.5% by 2015
• Reduce water use by 2% per year through 2015
• Reduce pollution by 3% per year through 2015

 Those look like small numbers, but they’re huge in their impact on our children’s futures and the future of our planet—especially as more and more businesses and individuals begin to do their part. We at G&R continue to strive every day to provide the highest quality collision repair and auto body services for our customers, as we have since 1969. We also know there’s nothing more important to our customers than the health and safety of all our families and our community. As our motto says, “We take pride in exceeding expectations”! Our new Certified Green Investment Program is just one more way we’re doing that.

We’ve got big changes going on at G&R, lots to tell you about… a new quality control and training program that is ensuring the collision repair, auto body repair and paint services we provide are the highest quality–our goal since our company was founded in 1961! And changes and upgrades in our equipment and processes that are saving energy, reducing pollution and generally making G&R more earth-friendly. Stay tuned for lots more news!