The Alliance of Automotive Service Providers of Illinois (AASP-IL) is offering a six-part webinar series on collision repair industry legal topics relevant to all U.S. states, including first- and third-party claims, total loss vehicle rules, and much more.

All six sessions will be led by attorney Patrick McGuire, who has spoken on industry legalities for more than 20 years. The first session will be held for a second time on June 13 from 12-1 p.m. CST on the Illinois Collision Repair Act. McGuire says he’ll go over the correct terms that are required on estimates and invoices under the law as well as definitions and documents repairers should be aware of.

“They’re all relevant to all states just because it’s the framework of what does your state law say? Do you have something like Illinois that has a collision repair act? If you do, then you’re going to have to figure out the details,” McGuire said. “But even if you don’t, it would give a lot of insight as to best practices and why you might want to follow what other states have done anyway, even if your particular state doesn’t have that law.”

The webinars will be held June 21, July 12, July 26, Aug. 16, and Aug. 30 at 5:30 p.m. CST. The June 21 session will cover the basics of first-party claims and following in the third session, McGuire will cover the differences between first- and third-party claims. Next, he’ll cover shop liability when it comes to advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) and OEM repair procedures.

Rules for total loss vehicles will be covered in the fifth session and the last will go over post-repair rights and remedies.

AASP-IL and McGuire came together to offer the webinar series to cover the basics of each topic in a concise hour-long session, including 10 minutes of Q&A, in an easily-accessible and convenient format to help educate the industry. Questions and answers will be held at the end of each webinar.

“This information is critically important to all collision shop businesses, both in the state of Illinois and throughout the U.S., as the topics of his content will be relevant to all of these types of businesses, both in terms of safety and protection of the business, but also to help stand up and advocate for consumers taking care of the most important person in the equation of collision repair,” said AASP-IL Executive Director Julie Lombardo.

Lombardo shared with Repairer Driven News some of the questions asked during the June 7 session. One has long been a hot topic in the industry — what establishes reasonable and customary labor rates for repairs? In response, McGuire explained that the local geographic market area or the types of businesses based on the specialties, the tools, the training, and the certifications becomes critically relevant to each business owner to establish their rate, Lombardo said.

McGuire also encouraged participants to use LaborRateHero to find out the rates near them. The tool was recently used by the California Bureau of Automotive Repair (BAR) to verify storage rates in varying California markets.

Another question asked was what repairers should do if an insurer won’t cover the price they ask for to cover following OEM repair procedures and the customer doesn’t agree to pay the difference. And, in a related question, whether following OE procedures trumps what an insurer may deem as “usual and customary” repairs.

Lombardo said the answer is a resounding yes — always follow OEM repair procedures for the safety of consumers. McGuire explained what liabilities are at stake and what would hold up in court when it comes to OEM repair procedures. However, it’s always important when there is a specific situation that comes up for shops to consult with counsel, Lombardo said.

The cost to attend all six webinars is $400 for AASP-IL members and $600 for those who aren’t members. To register on AASP-IL’s website, click here. The webinars aren’t recorded.

Those looking for more from McGuire can also take advantage of the virtual delivery of his Repairer Driven Education (RDE) programs, available on-demand at rde.scrs.com. The 2021 RDE series included a session from McGuire called “Using Consumer-Protection Laws to Get Paid and Avoid Claims Denials.”

The session similarly discussed the role consumer-protection laws play in the collision repair industry and the risks of not understanding and complying with such laws, establishing a better understanding of both minimum requirements and best practices for collision businesses.

Images

Featured image: File photo of Patrick McGuire (Provided by SCRS)