Repairers interested in learning more about how I-CAR’s extensive 2019 revamp will affect their business won’t want to miss an upcoming Society of Collision Repair Specialists featuring one of I-CAR’s top executives.

I-CAR last week announced it would make significant changes to its offerings next year, affecting factors like pricing (Gold Class shops can subscribe to unlimited training), the Gold Class program and the nature of the organization’s courses themselves.

“On August 8th, 2018, I-CAR announced the culmination of nearly 5 years of work in improving upon the organization’s curriculum, services and recognition program,” SCRS wrote in a news release Tuesday. “The announcement highlighted ways in which the industry’s training program has been enhanced. Gold Class and Platinum requirements, and new purchasing options were introduced, along with new developments which specifically address emerging needs in the industry as it relates to education, knowledge and professional development solutions.”

SCRS’s Aug. 22 webinar will feature Nick Notte, I-CAR’s senior vice president of sales and marketing. He’ll take questions from the audience and explain the changes during the event, which is scheduled to take place live at 2 p.m. EDT that day.

“The I-CAR leadership team expressed the importance of communicating directly with collision repairers associated with SCRS to help inform those in the association’s circle of influence about the changes which will shape the future of collision repair industry training and to address questions from the industry,” SCRS wrote.

Register for the webinar at bit.ly/SCRSICAR.

The webinar might be of interest to other industries in the collision repair ecosystem. Both OEM certification and insurer direct repair programs have pegged network eligibility to body shops achieving criteria such as Gold Class status or I-CAR welding certification. Paint, tool or equipment manufacturers might be more likely to have their courses count for I-CAR credit.

I-CAR CEO John Van Alstyne last week presented a slide of “Strong Industry Support” for the changes; the image included logos of all Big 4 consolidators and CARSTAR, all Top 5 U.S. automakers, and all Top 5 insurers except Progressive. He said he had discussed the changes with the brands featured on the slide, many of which had Gold Class built into their network programs.

More information:

“Registration Open for SCRS Live Webinar with I-CAR”

Society of Collision Repair Specialists, Aug. 14, 2018

Register for SCRS-I-CAR webinar on upcoming I-CAR changes

I-CAR “Train to Gain” training overhaul website

“I-CAR® ANNOUNCES KEY ENHANCEMENTS TO ITS CORE EDUCATION & RECOGNITION PROGRAMMING FOR 2019 LAUNCH; ALL DESIGNED TO BETTER SERVE THE INTER-INDUSTRY’S NEEDS”

I-CAR, Aug. 8, 2018

Images:

I-CAR’s booth at NACE 2018 promotes its 2019 “Train to Gain” initiative containing major changes to I-CAR elements like pricing and its Gold Class program. (John Huetter/Repairer Driven News)

Nick Notte, I-CAR’s senior vice president of sales and marketing, left, participates in the Aug. 8, 2018, announcement the organization would change its curriculum and Gold Class requirements. (John Huetter/Repairer Driven News)