Al Estorga, a founder of the Collision Industry Conference (CIC) and former president of the California Autobody Association (CAA), died Friday. 

Estorga, 79, was the first chairman of the Collision Repair Conference in 1983. The name was changed to Collision Industry Conference in 1987. 

In a video posted by CIC Monday, Estorga says he found a lot of corruption in the body shop industry when he first opened his own business. 

“I wasn’t raised that way,” Estorga says in the video. “I was raised that if you were going to make a transaction to always be honest and try to do the best you can with the job.” 

At the time, estimators from the insurance industry would come into his shop and lowball the estimate, Estorga said. He said when he complained, the estimators would ask to be personally paid to raise the estimate. 

“I refused to do that because I didn’t want to ruin my reputation,” Estorga said. “I didn’t want to be a person that was known for kickbacks. That created a problem because then I started getting blackballed by some insurance companies or estimators.” 

Estorga decided he needed to get more involved in the industry and joined the California Autobody Association, where he later became president. 

“I thought the people in the industry were good people — hardworking people — but it was just a system that was not good,” Estorga said. 

Jeff Hendler, owner of J.D. Hendler Associates, founded CIC with Estorga and others. 

When Hendler was the Oregon Auto Body Craftsman Association’s executive director he would often run into each Estorga at trade shows and other industry events, Hendler said. 

During a panel discussion that Hendler and Estorga attended at an I-CAR summer convention, Estorga went to the microphone to ask a question. The moderator told him it wasn’t the time or place to discuss the issue. 

Estorga thought it was the perfect place for the discussion, Hendler said. 

“Three of us had to grab Al by the arms and drag him out of the room,” Hendler said. “Al made the statement that there needed to be a place and a time where we can always discuss the issues important to our industry.” 

It was from that statement that CIC was created, Hendler said. He said the first meetings coincided with other industry events that each of the original members were attending. 

Estorga said in the video that CIC started with about half a dozen individuals. 

“It took a while to get growth because in those days we were not the hot thing to come to,” Estorga said. “Whenever we heard there was a trade show or this and that, we would go to that trade show and have our meetings there to try to create growth.” 

During one of the first early meetings, Estorga said a federal marshal showed up to investigate the purpose of CIC. 

“Somebody from the other side reported to the attorney general that we were getting together to fix prices,” Hendler said expanding on Estorga’s comments. “So this guy shows up from the U.S. Justice Department.”

“We were all a little nervous,” Estorga said when he told the story. 

Estorga and Hendler said the U.S. marshal eventually realized that the group wasn’t breaking any rules and left. 

CIC continued to grow and when Hendler became chairman in 1987, other groups in the industry were invited to join, such as insurance representatives, aftermarket parts officials, and estimators. 

“Al was there all the time,” Hendler said. “He cared. He was in the room. He supported it always. He was honest and he cared. Because he was honest and because he cared, he was involved.” 

Estorga said while CIC has advanced throughout the years, with more quality topics, a few things have remained the same. 

“If you come to CIC, you’re going to learn from your peers,” Estorga said. “You get to actually talk to people that have gone through the same thing that you are going through in your business. My mom used to always tell us, ‘If you hang around with bums you’re going to be a bum. If you want to be somebody, follow the person that’s better or more educated than you and learn from him.’ So everybody that’s come through here has successfully advanced their demeanor and their thoughts and what they bring to this industry.”

CIC’s website lists quotes from past chairmen. The first quote listed is from Estorga.

“CIC is the opportunity the collision industry needed to achieve its full potential,” Estorga’s quote on the website says. “It belongs to all of us in our industry.”

Images

Photo screenshot from CIC video.